Sarah Michelle Gellar

"Ju-On: The Grudge 2" - Takashi Shimizu (2006)

The original ‘Ju-On’, released in 2004, was certainly the most inventive and playful of the recent wave of Japanese horror (alongside the likes of ‘Ringu’ and ‘Dark Water’), crossing over from the art-house to a semi-cult, mainstream recognition. Using a character-based episodic structure and a potent mythology helped elevate ‘Ju-On’ beyond just another conventional ghost story, despite the recurrence of, frankly terrifying, children (there must be a union law somewhere ensuring they’re used). All three films were subsequently remade by Hollywood in increasingly diluted forms, despite the Sarah Michelle Gellar starring ‘The Grudge’ being directed by Takashi Shimizu, creator of the Japanese original. Maybe he’s making amends now, for here, two years on, Shimizu returns to the curse that proved so effective first time around.

Noriko Sakai plays a horror-movie actress, Kyoko, who is involved in a crash with her fiancé when the ghostly child Toshio makes himself known in the space underneath their steering wheel. Upon recovery she is invited as the celebrity guest on what appears to be Japan’s version of ‘Most Haunted’ and, in a wonderfully knowing move that would make Kevin Williamson (writer of the ‘Scream’ films) proud, the focus of their paranormal sleuthing is the house from the original ‘Ju-On’. At this point it wouldn’t be spoiling anything to say that people die.

And how, Shimizu building on the previous film’s narrative device with a greater confidence. Whilst the character based episodes are retained, they’re now part of a tighter plot which is all the more un-settling, thanks to the shifts in time, for underlining the fatality of certain characters. Think ‘Pulp Fiction’ but with, er, ghosts. Despite the exuberant death scenes and numerous scares, Shimizu’s greatest triumph with ‘The Grudge 2’ is this, his manipulation of time and space. Having previously talked of his research into what makes us, as viewers, psychologically scared, it’s also clearly no fluke. There’s dread in the empty frames, the repetition of lines hideous sign-posts to un-escapable deaths (the entire Tomoka sequence in particular is astounding. Seriously, it’s worth going to see this film just for those ten minutes of quite horrid, dreadful ingenuity).

Performances are uniformly strong (just as well, seeing as two of the principal characters are meant to be actresses within the film), as is the use of sound, (where, for example, incidental moments such as the boiling of a pan are substitutes for an artificial score). The only gripe is that often, particularly near the end, Shimizu sacrifices subtlety for what in lesser hands would be plainly gruesome and bloody moments, though the images that remain are admittedly still startling and indelible. Besides, anyone familiar with ‘Ju-On’ will know that leaving nothing to the imagination can still be pretty damn alarming.

‘The Grudge 2’ is one of those rare species, a long-awaited horror sequel that, despite returning to the same concept and structure of a much beloved original, still manages to surprise. Judging by this, we have to wonder what ideas Takashi Shimizu will have next.