WTF Japan (Kind Of)?!?: The Grudge 2 (2006)

At last, I've reached the end!  Yes, I know there are like 7 more Grudge Films- don't ruin this for me!  This is The Grudge 2, the 2006 Sequel to the Remake that is not exactly a Remake of the Sequel.  Trying saying that one times fast.  The Film basically breaks down into 3 Parts, which I'll cover in the *actual* proper order.  Yeah, screw the Film's random-ass narrative!  At least they give you some hints as to the order before the end- such as saying that it had been 2 years since the house was burned-, but it is still annoying.  Put your Films in order!  I will also say *to be fair* that there is some minor pay-off to the order switcheroo, but I still would rather see the Film properly.  As such, you will.  Yes, Screen Capping this was fun!  Talking about the reaction to these Films by Audiences is a fun study in contrast.  The first Film grossed more than the Budget on opening night, whereupon it was immediately given a Sequel Order.  Said Sequel did well...but not as well as they had hoped.  Basically, it had a decent, but lower-than-previous opening and saw a big drop from Week 1 to 2.  As such, any Sequels were temporarily-shelved (more on that later) and the Blu-Ray release (in North America) was cancelled.  Damn!  What could make such a big drop-off in popularity?  Well, the Plot, as noted, has 3 sections.  One of them, I'm guessing, is the big issue for viewers, but I'll get to that.  Is it as bad as Audiences and Reviewers said (it has an 11% on Metacritic vs. the first Film's 39%)?  To find out, read on...

In the wake of the House Fire and the boyfriend's death, the Police blame Gellar.  Her Sister flies in to see her, although it must have been pretty damn fast, since Kayako hasn't gotten her yet.

Oh and what about the Cop's body?  Was it discovered?  Oh right- nobody cares!

While her Sister is trying to sort things out, Gellar does her best Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween Resurrection by going to the roof and being dropped by the killer.

Did she want out of this as badly as Jamie Lee did?

Sis- Amber Tamblyn, the daughter of the guy who sold Golden Shovels on Twin Peaks- and a Reporter look into the case, which is driven by the latter's having already gone into the House off-screen.

As for Tamblyn, she stays outside until the kid ghost, I guess, teleports her in.  I'm glad that this isn't complete bullshit or anything.

Just like the girl and guy solving basically this same case in The Ring Films, it doesn't end well for him.

He's killed by the spirit crawling out of media too- it is just his photo developing fluid and not a TV.

As for Tamblyn, she tracks down Kayako's Mother and learns that she had powers that were passed on to her Daughter, which later passed on with her death.  This is ALSO from The Ring!  Come on!

Oh and Tamblyn dies a vicious, cruel death for...flying to help her sister and being literally dragged into an evil House.

2 years (and vague amounts of death) later, 3 girls go into the House.  It is part of a prank to scare the new girl and, well, it works.

This is one of the bits that is supposed to be clever out-of-order and with cheap edits, as the ghost she sees here is Tamblyn's.  Ha?

Kayako picks the girls off one-by-one.  It is pretty by-the-numbers stuff too, as each one gets exactly one 'ooh scary and then run away' Scene before death.

One of them is pretty blatantly 'inspired' by the Film Into the Mirror (remade in 2008 as Mirrors).

The last one left is scared by the Guidance Counselor, who is revealed to also be a Ghost.  This raises SOOO many questions!

Some vague time later, a new Family moves into an Apartment Building in Chicago.  Yes, Chicago.

See the problem yet?

The curse seems to be in effect there as people start to act weird, irrational and violent.  To be fair, though, it is Chicago!  Zing!

This leads to the wife...killing her husband?  Wait- you got it backwards, Movie!  Enjoy the opening Scene, even though it is from nearly the end.

The Final Kid comes back later to find all of the bodies and confronts the hoodie-wearing stranger in the building, who has been hiding and acting weird.

It turns out to be Allison, whom Kayako allowed to travel for a THIRTEEN HOUR FLIGHT to Chicago, waited about a week and then shows up to kill her.

It did all of this since...um...she moved into a new House and now it is your fault for being there...I guess.  The End (until The Grudge 3).

More of the same, but somehow even less interesting.  In the last Film, they picked and chose parts of that Film to keep.  One bit that was excised was a small part involving some Schoolgirls going into the House and being killed.  That somehow made its way into *this* Film and was vastly expanded.  I want to give Shimizu credit for being less random and padding out the previous Films with lots of random characters.  I just wish he could have done more with the expanded time for them.  They are all one-note Horror Film Characters.  They each get one 'ooh scary' Scene.  While Allison *technically* gets more time and Scenes, her only other actual Scene after said 'ooh, scary' Scene is her being killed.  There are at least some good visuals- albeit brief- to make up for the nothing Plot.  The one kill with the mirror- while not original- was good and the body vanishing into the coat like she was a dead Jedi was good.  The pay-off scenes tend to be good- it is just everything else that feels so tedious.  All of the characters are just there to be scared and not much else, save for Edison Chen.  He is at least proactive, even if he is just as effective.  For this Film, I have the Special Edition DVD, so I got to see a Deleted Scene where apparently he sees a future Allison escape the closet.  Time Travel sure was necessary!  The big problem here is the same as the rest- there is no hope.  No matter what you do, you die.  No matter where you end up, you die.  These Ghosts are just assholes that kill people for progressively-sillier reasons.  The turn of the Ghost simply moving to chase Allison and acting like the rules were just updated for it are kind of insulting.  This was clearly an attempt to excise the last bit of Japan from the Film for future Sequels.  It's a weird thing to just not do from the start, but whatever.  The Grudge 2 isn't that good in actual order and is kind of annoying out of it.  At least 'Peek-a-boo' guy from Ju-On 2 is back...for no reason. 

****

Next up, I take a break from bleak Japanese-style Horror.  In its place, a random Anime Film I know nothing about and bought months ago, since why not?  Stay tuned...

WTF Japan (Kind Of)?!?: The Grudge (2004)

Oh boy, this again.  

After the Original (which is actually kind of a Remake anyhow), we got the 2004 American Remake of Ju-On: The Grudge.  

Mind you, that Film came out right when The Ring came out (thereabouts) and we got this Remake less than 3 years later).  

It's not like they discovered some hidden gem from way-back-when and Remade it- it was pretty damn new.  

Never one to turn down a chance to make basically the same Movie again (he'd also do the Remake's Sequel AND Reincarnation, which is basically just this again), Takashi Shimizu took on this Film.  

They brought in a new Writer, but that doesn't change much.  

The idea here is kind of strange here, so try to follow.  They wanted to make the Movie again...for some reason...and change very little, so they brought in the same Director.  

They kept the same location (Japan), but replaced most of the Cast with White Actors.  That means they have to keep pausing to explain why they are even in Japan, which is a distraction.  

Fun Fact: Chyna was teaching English in Japan as her last job before her death.  No joke- all fact.  

Is this just the same Movie with newer, more Caucasian Actors?  

Is this an improved Version like Shimizu was hoping for?  To find out, read on...

Even though there's a new Writer, this Film STILL ISN'T SHOWN IN ORDER.  I'm fixing that here (mostly), so deal with it...

A crazed man kills his wife, kid and cat (not the cat!!!!) after he learns that she was obsessed with...Bill Pullman.

I believe in Rage Ghosts more than I believe that people are obsessed with banging Bill Pullman (no offense)!

Bill shows up later and finds the bodies.

In this Screen Cap, Gellar is there.  She shows up later and I'm too lazy to go back and get one without her.

Oh crap- I put the Movie back out of order!!!!

He kills himself.

He doesn't seem scared.
Was he possessed?

The Film never says, because f**k you.

A new (all-white) family moves into the House some time later.

After mostly-forgettable Scenes with them, they all die- none of them on-screen.

The Caretaker checks on the Mother- the one in the middle- as she actually dies last.  She just goes into shock and becomes comatose (I guess).

The spirit (Kayako) kills her, but isn't done with her just yet.

Another Caretaker- Sarah Michelle Gellar- comes over and is scared, but not killed by Kayako.

Why does it leave her alone (relatively- it just keeps spooking her)?  Has White Privilege finally paid off?

Will I end up a 4Chan target for that joke?  Oh well.

The bodies of the son and his wife are found in the crawlspace, but the Caretaker's body is missing, save for her lower jaw!

Said body shows up later to kill Ted Raimi since, well, that's what happens to him in these Films.

I sure hope that my Brother becomes a big-time Producer and kills me in his Films too.

Gellar finally tracks down more about the House and confronts the lead Cop about it.  He tells her that other Cops have died.

Obvious question- why hasn't the house been demolished?  The crimes in it aren't a secret and their are at least a dozen deaths tangentially-related to it.

I mean, we demolished Gacy's House (only for people to rebuild it and summon his bisexual ghost), so why not this place?

To make a long (out of order) story short, Gellar sees the flashback combo mentioned earlier (even that is out of order as she sees Pullman and then the B&W kills shown here first).

The Cop fails to burn the place down, but Gellar lights a match and...I guess fails, but also slows down Kayako.  She's in the Hospital now...somehow and still haunted.  The End.

The Grudge could be worse, but could be miles better.  The Cast does their best, but they really just get 2-3 Scenes before they die.  The interconnected nature of the tale barely works, since most deaths happen off-screen.  Gellar does fine- granted.  It has Tom Cruise's Cousin in it, so the nepotism level is up a bit here.  The best parts here are usually the pay-off to the haunting bit.  Kayako can be seen more in this version of the Story/Film, so that's something.  Due to the misaligned nature of the Scenes, we get some better payoffs early, which feels weird.  In the final bit, they build up to her showing up in full, but...I mean, she's done plenty already.  Jason Voorhees is intimidating almost every time, but he is only the MOST intimidating or scary the first few times.  It's weird that a Film like this can't figure it out.  To connect this to something nobody saw coming, it acts like a higher brow version of Son of the Blob.  That Film is basically a 'Shadow Play' (Comedy Scenes that are one-offs and end with the lights going out).  They do that, but with longer build-up.  In case you missed it, I wrote some of the summary out of my normal order- is it better this way?!?  Despite all of the supposed questions Films like this are supposed to make you ask, I have a weird one- why do you need a SECOND Carpenter waiting in the wings at all times?!?

Next time, I cover the sequel to the first Remake.  I know that the new one technically a Sidequel, but can we at least not get a Sequel to that too?  Stay tuned...

Leave the House!: Ju-On- The Grudge 2

Another Grudge- what did I even do to you?!?  This is Ju-On: The Grudge 2, the 2003 Sequel.  Are you sure they couldn't make this Title any longer?  Maybe Ju-On: The Grudge 2- First Blood or Ju-On: The Grudge 2- Your Sister Is a Werewolf.  I guess Ju-On: Another Grudge as my joke Title was too much too.  What is the Story here?  Well, it is more of the same.  We get a META aspect as a Film is being made about the previous events that occurred.  Wait- this guy did Reincarnation, a 2005 Film about people making a Movie about a family murder in the same House it happened.  Was he that short on ideas or is that a super-common trope in Japan?!?  I don't have much more to say here that I can't say in the Review, really.  The same Director is here, so that's good.  He only skipped one Film in the main Series (the DTV Sequel called The Grudge 3), so...yea?  To find out if this one makes more sense, read on...

In a strange opening, a woman and her husband are *sort of* attacked by the Grudge ghost(s).  One makes the accelerator stay pushed, but nothing really makes him crash (at least not visibly).

In the aftermath, the husband is severely wounded in the head, while the woman seems to have lost her baby.

She's a Horror Actress who hadn't told people about the pregnancy due to how it might affect her career.  One problem resolved itself in the darkest way possible!

After that, the Film is...more of the same.

More Vignettes that somewhat overlap and don't ever quite play out in order.
We also get the same strong visuals for the major moments too, so it is just as much of a mixed bag.

The little bit of clear story involves people filming a Movie about the cursed house...in the cursed house.  This time, the ghosts can also more clearly make you see its victims from earlier.

Are their ghosts trapped now too?
Will this matter that much?
Why named a Character 'Kyoko' when you have a Character already named 'Kayako?'  You don't see how confusing that can be?

Along the way, Kyoko ends up pregnant due to the spirit(s).  She takes it well.

Oh and her husband is in a vegetative state.  That might be bad too.

The spirit- Toshio- continues to kill random people who happened to go in/around the House as part of the shoot.  A pair of them die off-camera...which is odd.

The oddest bit- the sad Sub-Plot of this random lady.

We see her as an Extra for the Film within a Film who screams.
As it turns out, she's zapped around different times...somehow...by the ghost(s) and dies.
Why so mean to this poor girl?!?

The ghost's final act is to be born from Kyoko (killing the Doctors in the Room) and to grow up to kill Mom...in broad daylight.

Will this go anywhere?  I have to find out (at some point).  The End.

Consider this a slight improvement- only slight.  I can kind of tell what the main Story is here.  Progress!  I still needed a Wiki page to keep the Plot straight a few days after seeing it- not so much progress.  I still don't know why this can't be in chronological order.  Anyone want to explain it to me?  The visuals are strong and there are some good ideas here.  Like the last Film, I just couldn't connect to it as much as I should due to the format.  It is what it is- an Arty J-Horror Film that suffers for it.  I'd still recommend it overall, but don't expect a simple, easy to follow narrative.

Next time, I take a break from J-Horror to wrap up some overdue reviews.  It's a new Year, so let me play catch up as part of my resolutions.  Stay tuned...

Leave The House!: Ju-On- The Grudge (2002)

At long last, I tackle another J-Horror Series.  It's fitting that I cover Ju-On- The Grudge in 2020, since I apparently covered Ringu in 2010.  Yes, even I'm surprised that it has been that long.  What happened to my life?!?!?  Enough ennui for now- the Film is bleak enough.  The Plot is that an angry ghost or ghosts will kill you if you go into/live in this House.  That's basically it.  Since this was inspired by stuff like Pulp Fiction, they decide to tell the Narrative OUT OF LINEAR ORDER.  Yeah, that's going to be fun to summarize.  Is it really a Modern Classic?  Are people being generous?  If you haven't already made up your mind beforehand, feel free to read on...

Anyone that enters a cursed House will be tormented by a ghost (or two).

You get the creepy kid, plus some stuff with cats and the girl, so I'm a bit confused about the hierarchy here.

The Film proper is roughly 8 Scenes of people at various points in the Story wandering around, hearing about a curse, wandering around some more and being killed in some way.

Wikipedia is nice enough to put the Plot in *actual* order, which helped me quite a bit.

You won't be so lucky.  After all, it's 'part of the experience,' right?

Without a straight-forward narrative and a consistent Lead, the Film basically turns into a series of vague vignettes.

Granted- it would make some sense, at least, if presented in chronological order, but, nope.

In lieu of that, we do at least get some creepy imagery in each section.  Some of it very overt, but most of it subtle.

For instance, seeing the ghost in a glass door's reflection, but not in the other shots.

When the Film wants to have some direct payoff, it is usually quite good.

You just have to linger through lots of confusion and slow glances around a room to get there.

It all leads to a big climax that may or may not actually be the proper end to the Story.  I can only trust Wikipedia (and it's anonymous Editors) on this one.

Given how hard it was to summarize, I kind of just wrote my Review in those lines above, didn't I?  The Film isn't bad.  It would be sacrilegious to Film Gods to say that about this Film.  My main problem is just the presentation.  If it was presented normally, the scares and story would mean more.  It still wouldn't have one Main Lead, but at least I wouldn't need a Wiki to clarify which part is supposed to take place in which order!  As it is, Ju-On: The Grudge is a series of vignettes that kind-of connect, but mostly work for a Horror Anthology Film.  Instead, they are supposed to act as overlapping parts of a Story...which barely works.  Here's hoping for more coherency in the Sequel, which I'll obviously be tackling next.  In the meantime, enjoy the mystique being ruined...

Next up, the obvious follow-up.  Will he learn his lesson or double down the confusion?  Stay tuned...

Forgotten Sequels: The Grudge 3

Don't take it personally now!  After two films in the series, it's only natural that The Grudge would become a Direct-to-DVD fare.  For those of you who don't know, here's the basic plot.  Long ago, some people died with anger in their hearts and came back as ghosts that killed random people.  No, really.  I guess it makes more sense in Japanese.  Basically, the film series consists of two Japanese films and then two remakes of said films (UPDATE: I was way off on the number of Films in this Franchise).  This film, however, is brand new territory.  I totally trust this film, especially considering that it's the only one in the series NOT Directed by Takashi Shimizu & written by a guy with only two other credits- both of which are After Dark Horror Fest films.  Oh yeah, the chick from Saw is here too...just because.  Incidentally, this is a 2009 film, so be wary of SPOILERS...assuming that you care.    Let's get to the bottom of...

Over the credits, we see a Japanese man killing his wife and kid before killing himself.  Um...Chris Benoit joke, I guess.  After the credits finish, we see Shawnee Smith as a psychiatrist treating a kid who was a survivor of his family being killed.  He is afraid of 'her,' but doesn't actually explain what 'it' is.  Naturally, the people don't believe his talk of vague ghosts and it's lack of context.  By the way, something mysterious killed your whole family- they might believe you!

Shawnee leaves and the kid is killed by an unseen creature.  Yes, draw out the reveal of the creature...IN THE THIRD FILM!!!!  Seriously though, the image of the kid's CG double being killed on CC TV is kind of funny.

You know how every other film is a series of vignettes.  Well, this one isn't.

No, it's just about this family who manage an apartment building, which is open despite a family being murdered there.  Hello, plot convenience.  Good-bye, logic!

Basically, the evil spirit is loose in the building because...um, some guy came there in the second film.  If the logic is that it can't leave the building due to the curse, then why does 'she' go to the Hospital to kill the kid and later to kill someone else?  It just seems like a plot hole, is all (UPDATE: I guess can do whatever the Plot wants- never mind).

In addition to our heroes- a young guy, his teen sister and their younger sister- we also have a Japanese woman who moves into their building to deal with the spirit.  This doesn't stop it from killing a bunch of people, including an older lady we saw for one scene (where they totally steal the visual from The Ring- see above) and the young guy's boss.  Say good-bye to Shawnee, as she is killed after a lame chase-stop-chase scene.  Damn you, doors that I should be very familiar with when you consider that I have worked here for years!

My favorite part though: a bit where the sister comes across the pale-white ghost of a little kid that is only wearing a pair of tiny shorts.  She doesn't think that this is weird until she talks to Shawnee at the kid from the beginning's funeral.

Really- nothing about that was weird?!?

Things take a turn for the worse- even by comparison- when more people start dying.  The Japanese lady- whose husband is so important that he appears for one scene in the beginning- tells the girl about the Ju-On curse, but she doesn't buy it.  It's around this time that the brother starts to act mean and bitchy.

Stop me if you've heard this premise before- a caretaker of a building starts to go crazy and attacks his family.  Yeah, it's The freaking Shining!  The Japanese lady explains that the whole thing wasn't entirely the dad's fault.  I mean, he did commit the murder and all, but the source of this goes back to a sillier and even less responsible action.

You see, the mother was a priestess who took evil out of people in the form of their blood...which she gave to her youngest daughter!  I can't see how that could turn out badly!  They try to do the same ceremony, only with putting the blood in the little girl.  The brother attacks, killing the Japanese girl when she fails the simple task of walking backwards.  The little girl completes the ceremony, vanquishing the Ju-on...right before the new one appears.

When she did take part in the ceremony, by the way?  She kills the brother and, in the aftermath, we see that the little girl is now possessed...by the Sister's Ghost...apparently.  The End.

I still hold this against you!  The plot of this movie is just silly.  Then again, when you take the Creator away from the thing for the first time ever, what do you expect?  The whole thing just feels like an awkward step-child that really wants to be part of the series.  Make no sense- check.  A simple plot that still has holes in it- check.  A film that abandons the narrative structure of the series- big check!  The movie has some decent scares in it, but the film just feels cheap.  Kudos to them for actually connecting it to the series.  Of course, by doing so, it makes the plot holes and confusion stand out even more.

As a whole, this is not a terrible film.  Does it work as a Horror Film?  I guess so.  Does it stand up to the rest of the series?  No.  You can do worse, but you can also do better.  I mean, there are four other films in the Series (UPDATE: Give or take like 7 more)...

Up next, we begin Killers of the Sea Week.  The first movie on the block- a film about revenge, murder and the world's smartest whale.  Stay tuned...