The Grudge 2 (2006)

Three interwoven stories about a terrible curse. A young woman encounters a malevolent supernatural force while searching for her missing sister in Tokyo; a mean high school prank goes horribly wrong; a woman with a deadly secret moves into a Chicago apartment building.

Director:

Takashi Shimizu

Writers:

Stephen Susco, Takashi Shimizu (film "Ju-On: The Grudge")

Stars:

Amber Tamblyn, Edison Chen, Arielle Kebbel

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Michelle Gellar	...	Karen
Amber Tamblyn	...	Aubrey
Arielle Kebbel	...	Allison
Takako Fuji	...	Kayako
Edison Chen	...	Eason
Sarah Roemer	...	Lacey
Matthew Knight	...	Jake
Misako Uno	...	Miyuki
Teresa Palmer	...	Vanessa
Ohga Tanaka	...	Toshio (as Oga Tanaka)
Yuya Ozeki	...	Toshio (archive footage)
Jennifer Beals	...	Trish
Christopher Cousins	...	Bill
Zen Kajihara	...	Folklore Guy
Takashi Matsuyama	...	Takeo

Storyline

In Pasadena, Mrs. Davis sends her daughter Aubrey Davis to Tokyo to bring her sister Karen Davis, who is interned in a hospital after surviving a fire, back to the USA. After their meeting, Karen dies and Aubrey decides to investigate what happened to her and gets herself trapped in the same situation, being chased by the ghost of the house. Meanwhile in Tokyo, the three high school mates Allison, Vanessa and Miyuki visit the famous haunted house and are also chased by the ghost. In Chicago, Trish moves to the apartment of her boyfriend Bill, who lives with his children, the teenager Lacey and boy Jake. On the next door, weird things happen with their neighbor.

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Plot Keywords:

ghost | schoolgirl | haunted house | cat | urinating in fear | 

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Taglines:

What Was Once Trapped, Will Now Be Unleashed

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Pictures [United States] Sony Pictures (No Flash) [United States]

Country:

USA Japan

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

13 October 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

La maldición 2

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,825,300, 15 October 2006

Gross USA:

$39,143,839

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$70,711,175

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Ghost House Pictures, Mandate Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 108 min (Unrated Director's Cut) 137 min (Unrated Director's Cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Contrary to popular belief, this film was not a remake of Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003); it follows its own unique storyline.

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Goofs

(at around 1 min) Trish, under the influence of The Grudge, hits Bill, her husband in the head several times with a frying pan. In close scenes, the frying pan is a heavier cast iron model. However, when the pan is showing in closeups it's a much lighter non-stick model. While this would be very painful, the pan being as light as a nonstick unit, would have not been fatal as the film portrays it as being.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bill: [while Trish is frying bacon] You're gonna burn them... You gonna go shopping for three hours again today? Leave your cellphone off? You think I don't know what you're doing? You think I'm stupid, eh? Yet you can't make me a simple... damn breakfast.

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Crazy Credits

The Columbia Pictures title lady changed into Kayako Saeki with the torch light she was holding flickered on and off, also while flickering instead of saying Columbia it said Grudge 2.

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Alternate Versions

In the US their is a PG-13 rated version of the film which was shown in theaters, and Takashi Shimizu's unrated director's cut of the film which was released on DVD along with the PG-13 rated one.

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Connections

Referenced in The Grudge 2: Holding a Grudge (2007)

User Reviews

Mundane

Being a huge fan of the original Ju-On movies, as well as the original American remake, I was looking forward to this one. But my excitement dwindled right from the opening scene, as The Grudge 2 quickly became a predictable and mundane sequel. A typical American-ized sequel that sadly didn't follow the unique plot of Ju-On 2.

After Sarah Michelle Gellar's cameo, the movie focuses on her sister, but gives her nothing to do. What seems like a totally separate storyline inside an apartment building is more distracting than involving. The scares become very routine and there are so many characters here, that the viewer cannot become attached to any of them.

The movie does, however, kick it up in the final twenty minutes or so. And the ending is a lot darker and much more mean spirited than the original, and for that, it has to earn some points for not taking the safe way out.

The Grudge 2 is not a complete loss, but it could have been so much better.