"They say that this is one of the most haunted houses in all of Japan."

- Miyuki

Welcome to our annual October festival named Happy Horrorween! I will be your host for the duration of the month, bringing you some of the best in horror from the past and present. And when I say the best, I mean it, as we’re doing something a little different this year: every full week of the month, we’ll be covering five movies that a certain horror celebrity has been associated with (either starring or directing) and on the sixth day I’ll be inducting that person into the Happy Horror Hall of Fame, where they’ll join the likes of Ted Cassidy and… well, Ted Cassidy’s the only one there, right now. But not for long!

Meanwhile, let’s kick things off right with another ghastly, ghostly epic. When I started my October festival (originally named Octoberfest), the first movies I reviewed were the original Ju-On and it’s sequel and remake. That year, Takashi Shimizu (a man who also deserves a spot in the HHHoF) released The Grudge 2 to the United States. A few scenes were, I believe, redone from the original Ju-On (the ghostly girls looking in through newspapered windows, for one), but for the most part the scenes are original to this film. It also somewhat brings the curse back to what the original Japanese films portrayed: jumping from person to person through contact outside of the house.

 

The film starts with a couple arguing over breakfast (after the usual Grudge opening showing the rundown of how the curse operates), when the woman, Trish, walks around behind the guy, Bill, pours hot bacon grease over his head, then rears the skillet back and smacks him over the head with it extremely hard, causing him to fall to the ground and shake, blood draining onto the floor. From here (after the opening credits where we see a review of what happened at the heart of the curse), we go to the International School in Tokyo, where a girl, Allison, is running to try to catch up with two others, Miyuki and Vanessa. Allison seems desperate to try to fit in with the other two who seem somewhat stuck up (Miyuki comments on how Allison’s only been there three weeks, but Allison corrects her by saying they’ve been in the same class for six months). Vanessa mentions that Allison should eat with them sometime, but balks again when Allison seems too eager.

The trio approach the house and Allison hangs back a moment, wondering what it is. The other two start to tease her a little, telling her that anyone going inside becomes cursed. Vanessa starts in first, then Miyuki follows, pushing Allison ahead of her, as we see through a peephole that someone seems to be watching. Inside, the place is trashed and burned, most likely from Karen’s efforts in the first movie. Vanessa tells Allison that this was where the girl from the international college killed her boyfriend two years prior. As Vanessa and Allison start upstairs, Miyuki hears a noise from the bathroom and investigates, seeing the tub full of water (and leaves). Suddenly the water starts moving and Miyuki backs out quickly, telling Vanessa (who’s happy Allison’s getting freaked out by the place) that they should go. Vanessa talks her out of it and leads the way back upstairs and down the hall to the room where Yoko found the way to the attic in the first film. Allison ends up in the closet on a dare, but then the closet becomes impossible to open from either side. Allison sees Kayako’s face in the panel up to the attic and starts panicking more, finally getting out through the closet door and confronting her "friends" before running out again…

There’s more to the film than just the trio, of course, but I don’t want to spoil any more for you than I already have. You also meet Aubrey, Karen’s sister who’s been sent by their emphysemic mother to bring Karen back to the States again. And there’s also more involving Trish and Bill, the couple from the intro. There’s a lot going on in this movie and just like the first film, the scenes aren’t seen in chronological order so don’t worry if a little confusion might creep in during your viewing. Just remember that all the clues are there, they just have to be viewed in the right order.

 

The acting in this movie was well-done all around. Returning from the previous film (at least, for some scenes early on) is Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen. She’s not on camera for long, but what she has in it is really good. You’ll also remember her from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2, among other things. Taking over as star this time is Amber Tamblyn who you might recognize from TV’s Joan of Arcadia, as well as playing Katie Embry in The Ring… she’s also in the non-horror Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, as well as its sequel. Playing Trish is Jennifer Beals, who’s probably best known for the 1983 film Flashdance, but she also played in 1985’s Frankenstein remake The Bride along with Sting and 1989 comedy Vampire’s Kiss with Nicolas Cage. Arielle Kebbel portrayed Allison, the unfortunate recipient of the closet’s locking. She stars in next year’s The Uninvited, as well as having a pretty good history with TV shows and a few non-genre movies. Reprising her role of Kayako, of course, is the lovely Takako Fuji. As for Toshio’s part, this time the part went to Oga Tanaka, as the original actor, Yuya Ozeki, had grown too tall between films. This is just a handful of the talented cast on hand.

The Unrated DVD has some really good features on it. Along with the usual behind the scenes featurettes and deleted scenes, they included Tales from The Grudge, three short films that are kind of offshoots of the series showing how the curse is growing and spreading outside of the house. Also, there’s a montage of the cast and crew goofing around with the scene clappers, set to the film’s spooky score, that is good for a laugh. Finally, as for languages, you can watch it in English or French. Mon dieu!

All in all, I’d be doing this film a disservice if I gave it anything less than a 5 out of 5. I’m looking forward to next year when The Grudge 3 comes out, although it already has a couple strikes against it in my book. First, it’s a straight-to-video offering, and the Grudge experience really works best in a theater environment. Secondly, the director isn’t Takashi Shimizu, but instead, the director of the Tales from The Grudge films, Toby Wilkins. However, Shimizu is producing the film and Wilkins did do a good job on Tales. So, I’ll be keeping an open mind (and wallet) when the third one comes out. In the meantime, there’s still a lot to enjoy about this film, and it definitely begs for more than one viewing. So, until next time, keep your eye out for creepy, meowing kids… and their creaking, croaking mothers… and this is Red Hawk signing out!

-- by Red Hawk of http://www.happyhorror.com

Tags: horror, japanese, movie

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 4:27 am and is filed under Horror Films. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.