Ju-on: The Grudge 2 Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: After a horror actress films a TV show episode at the Saeki house, she and the crew are haunted by Kayako.

Review: Now we come to my favorite entry in this franchise since I believe this is the scariest of the bunch even if there are some flaws to the story. I love the premise to this entry since no longer are we simply dealing with people moving into the Saeki house and the zany antics that ensue, but we are dealing with a film crew. The story feels more calculated and planned out than the other entries since they had multiple segments that felt disjointed from the overall plot while this film has all the events and characters tied specifically to the filming of the TV show episode at the Saeki house. The lead this time is an aspiring actress who has become a bit of a scream queen, named Kyoko; she is not to be confused with the psychic Kyoko from "Ju-on: The Curse 1 and 2." There is a mystery, albeit predictable, that steers the story since Kyoko is pregnant and the baby is seemingly possessed by Toshio after she and her fiance get into a car accident also caused by Toshio. Big shock, the baby is possessed by Kayako or is Kayako depending on whether we are to believe the original baby died. Also, Toshio serving as a more evil spirit this time worked better since I've always felt this franchise was confused about what it wants the ghosts to be. I think the ghosts were originally imagined as typical spirits from Japanese lure, but this concept of a disease-like, evil force was something new so it's better that they treat the ghosts more like evil forces than any kind of representation of their former selves. Meaning, Toshio and Kayako are not the ghosts of their living selves, but an evil force created through the murders that simply looks like them. Despite the predictability of the pregnancy plot, the scares, setups, and direction are further improved upon over the last film. This film's strongest aspect is the amazing background scares which there are so many. In fact, I would recommend watching this film a couple times to try and catch them all since most are subtle like a shadowy figure moving. This isn't to say that the big set pieces aren't just as scary because they are amped up big time compared to the other films. One of my favorite scenes is when the director is printing copies of Kayako's diary and the printer keeps making all black pages until they start to slowly form a really creepy outline of Kayako's face. Or another is when Kayako comes down the stairs to get this one girl, Chiharu, while Kyoko looks on and then Kayako suddenly turns to Kyoko; it's hard to explain, but you need to see the look on Kayako's face to get how scary that was. Speaking of our beloved Kayako, she looks amazing in this entry! This is by far the scariest she looks in the entire franchise even though I did like her look in "The Grudge 2" as a close second. But as much as I praise the improved makeup effects and scares, the story has continuing flaws. The time jumping aspect makes even less sense this time around since not only do we see more "haunting yourself" ideas, but we see time altering which really makes no sense. The Chiharu character, that I mentioned, keeps envisioning herself at the Saeki house dying, which would fit what Kyoko saw at one point of the film, but instead we are to assume she dies earlier? I don't know how to explain this one because it makes so little sense except if there were actual time traveling which I really don't think a ghost story should deal with especially if presented so confusingly. It is worth mentioning that Chiharu, played by the lovely Yui Ichikawa, played the same character (she was Izumi's friend) in the previous film so that was a cool connection. Lastly, the ending makes no sense yet again! So Kayako comes out of Kyoko at first in her normal adult form but then there is a baby form. Later, we assume much time has passed with a little girl Kayako as she, out the blue, decides to kill Kyoko. Kyoko seems quite pleased by this for some reason too as demon-girl Kayako just walks off into the sunset. I really don't understand any of this because what are we too assume? Kayako herself was reborn? The evil has taken a human form? How or why would any of this happen? Are we to believe there was an intelligence to this evil that had an actual plot to impregnate itself into Kyoko? Eh...anyone's guess is as good as mine since I strongly believe the writers just wanted to end the story with the audience left guessing. Kayako did look creepy though as a little girl so that at least made it chilling to see. Anyway, I highly recommend this entry even if it falls flat at the end and the time jumping can be confusing. This film is really scary and mastered the blend of in your face setups, jump scares, and subtle background scenes, a task not easily accomplished, while the cinematography, atmosphere, and direction feels superior to the other films. Don't miss this one since it's probably the most underrated entry in the franchise.

Notable Moment: I don't know if it was intentional or not, but when Megumi is sensing something in the shadows. We see an awesome shot of the camera slightly zooming in on her face, the lighting shifts, and Megumi's eyes seem to glow momentarily in a similar fashion to the other entries implying someone was possessed except she wasn't. Whatever happened, it was eerily effective.

Final Rating: 8/10