Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!
Plot Summary: Students and teachers alike find themselves wrapped up in the mystery surrounding the "hide and seek alone" internet game.
Review: Having almost no connection to the first film, save for a few of the internet handles seen in the first film, this entry involves a teacher, named Ryoko, as students at her school begin to disappear due to the ghost summoning ritual known as "hide and seek alone." Anybody want to play? It is of note that the ritual seems to have been tweaked slightly with a few more rules added. The storytelling formula is mostly the same as before with unsuspecting idiots trying to hide from ghosts until they bite the big one, but the main change up comes in the fact that Ryoko is something of a medium, whereby she sees spirits, although, she appears completely oblivious to this fact. It is implied that ever since a friend from her childhood was found dead she probably had this ability, but how convenient that she and her friend were playing hide and seek, right? The same depressed, emo-esque vibe to the students is there as they are aimless, coping with a meaningless existence. This would appear to be a common theme examined in Japanese cinema, but it feels off-putting in a horror movie for me; I feel the subject matter should be better explored in a drama. However, there were two individuals that got to me: I would have liked to have seen the Ritsuko and Aikawa characters get together. I know they are only hanging out with each other over mutual depression, but can't they just shut up, stop being emo, and hook up?! Like the first film, the tone, mood, and atmosphere are all great except it is even better this time around. That deliberate, slow placing remains intact and it truly enhances the tension building with each scene; an improved, eerie musical work, however simple, greatly adds to this effect. The scares are improved and more frequent while implementing some creativity and originality. There was a more subtle attention to details as well that made many scenes memorable and on par with the legends like "The Grudge" and "The Ring." The ideas and story are more fleshed out as we understand the ritual to summon the ghosts a little better and there is a more concise storyline without tons of padding; speaking of which, the scenes of just text have improved as they are layered onto the screen so the audience is actually watching something and the story is moving as we read the internet messages compared to the shenanigans of part one. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of plot elements we are still left in the dark about. For instance, are the people that are still playing "hide and seek alone" from the first film stringing people along or are they genuinely surviving the encounters? I find it hard to believe as much as the ghosts start to cheat, wouldn't these individuals have been killed by now if they weren't somehow involved in coercing others into playing the game? If someone is hosting the website that started this all, then surely someone has masterminded a lot of this. I would have liked to see more of the origins explained or at least hinted at, but I guess you can't have everything. Perhaps if there is ever a third entry we may have more of the mystery developed. Also like the first film, I wanted so badly to give this movie a higher rating, but the last 10 minutes or so really dropped the ball. The climactic final ghost is not scary, and, in fact, the makeup effects on that particular ghost are bad not to mention the lighting was way off. Oh, and of course they just had to end on a fucking zinger that makes no sense given the previous scene! You gotta love it when that happens! There were so many great things going on here I don't understand how they could let it all fall apart at the end when it was most crucial! Despite this, there were too many good things going on that mostly make up for the lame ending, so, of course, I highly recommend this film; actually, watching these two as a double feature is great and makes for a more engaging experience. I saw these films a long time ago online, but sources seem to have disappeared and there's not even a wikipedia page so I suppose you might have to just cough up the money for these bad boys like I did!
Notable Moment: When the one teacher, Ms. Tamura, is watching the "hide and seek alone" webpage, and we see a ghost just slightly creeping out from behind a closet door. Then the screen jumps and we see the ghost at the window behind the teacher. Then the ghost is behind the teacher!
Final Rating: 7/10
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