Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: The curse is spreading to more households as, like a plague, Kayako's rage infects others with a connection to her house.
Review: Okay, this just barely qualifies as a film since it is way too short (70 or so minutes!), like the first entry, except that this movie spends half of that running time showing scenes from the previous "Ju-on: The Curse!" That is unforgivable. I mean, there's padding and then there's fucking bullshit! Ugh, well, if you can ignore this aspect for a moment, there's some decent material that follows that compliments the first movie more. Like all the films, that fragmented style of storytelling remains present as we are given multiple shorts that reveal to us the events that led to each character's haunting, possession, or death at the hands of Kayako and crew. If you recall, I explained how the first film ended idiotically with no explanation...well, this film (eventually) picks up right at that scene except it goes into further detail whereby it is revealed that the ghostly woman that Kyoko, the psychic, had been staring at is possessed by Kayako. The first film did not make it clear, but apparently that woman was the one who moved into Kayako's old house? From that shot, it does not look like the same house to me but whatever. Also, if it's the same house, why would this woman be mailed Kayako's diary? So someone, we can assume the police, removed the diary only to mail it back to the house? Uh okay. Kyoko's brother, who was the realitor that sold the infamous Saeki house, moved into Kobayashi's old apartment which then spread Kayako's curse to him and his family. Even Kyoko is seemingly possessed as we assume the curse is not only spreading but growing more powerful. The other characters we see bite the big one are some of the detectives involved in investigating the original murders as well as the subsequent deaths and disappearances. The last person to go bye-bye is the realtor's son who is attacked by Kayako at school as we see multiple Kayakos running about seemingly to tell the audience that the curse is unstoppable. It was kind of funny because the lighting was far too bright and Kayako's fast crawling appeared humorous more than anything; it's worth noting that Kayako's dress was so short in this film that it should come as no surprise they lengthened it in all the following movies. Some things in this film feel off more than the first since now Kayako is much more malevolent than the previous film. The makeup effects seem more refined, but I preferred the bloody Kayako over the pure white skin with dark eyes look. There are some nice scenes and the direction to spread the curse was an interesting idea. But at the end of the day, this is half a movie and deserves a score fitting of that. I would have rated this film significantly higher if more effort went into making it feature length. As it stands, if you got rid of the first 30 minutes or so of recap, you could just tack what remained onto the first film to make it one longer movie. I also can't recommend this film unless you could watch it for free and even then be prepared for an extremely short ride with not much payoff. I'm glad the franchise would go in a bigger and better direction after this, but I still respect what they were able to accomplish with so little budget and creative ideas.
Notable Moment: When Kayako subtly walks past the detectives in the background while they are in shock that a young policewoman claims Kayako is at the station.
Final Rating: 4.5/10
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