As i promised on my comment to the first Ju-On, this is the text for "Grudge" in the Oxford Dictionary: "Be unwilling to give or allow; Resentment; ill will". As you see, has nothing to do with the film. This is another Surreal movie and well done. Surrealism is still alive, in various areas of art, although converted to Expressionism, "Abstract Expressionism". See works from Pollock; Jasper John, Rauchenberg and so on. I myself am a painter and took the same evolution. You can see my work in YouTube with the TAG: sapocem. This movie is a masterpiece of the surreal thinking, closer to dreams than to reality. It makes you wonder about your inner conscience.

I found this even more confusing (and even less frightening) than the first Grudge film, with which it shares many features: The same lack of coherent plot (again I had to refer to the synopsis (above) to find out what the film's actually about), the same white-faced children, the same girl from The Ring (nice effect the first time I saw it, getting a bit passé now), same pools of water (ooh, scary, scary water), same silly hairpiece dragging itself across the floor (couldn't the characters just squash the thing with a heavy book or something?). Not scary in the slightest: would probably have been better billed as a light comedy, or a soporific.

~Spoiler~ Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on 2 is another series of vignettes following the vengeful ghost, Kayako, and her lovable son, Toshio. This time around, however, I had a much harder time following the deconstructive narrative. There are so many characters this time and the disjointed story really does nothing but to confuse the viewer. If I did not know that abrupt changes in time was Shimizu's style, I would have been infinitely more dumbfounded. The main story of Ju-on 2 is about a television camera crew investigating haunted houses that eventually go into the dreaded house with a grudge. Needless to say this does not end well for anyone. This plot is pretty much what I expected in the sequel. But, there is a subplot about a pregnant woman that gets very bizarre and another one about a girl that never even went into the house, only dreams about it. I can't say that I enjoyed those particular stories. There are enough eerie moments here to keep J-horror fans satisfied, but don't expect the story to come together perfectly. It's not the same cohesive package that the first film was. With that said, Ju-on 2 showcases a few decent scares and not much else.

Kyoko is in a car accident with her husband one night and she loses her unborn child and her husband falls into a coma. We learn that this was no ordinary accident, as Kyoko is a horror actress who was part of a film crew who filmed and investigated a haunted house. Soon the crew start falling pray to curse that surrounds the house and strange occurrences fold out.What a strong and innovative sequel to one of my favourite (if formulaic) modern j-horror flicks. Atmosphere is laid on thick, that's dark shadows and cold chills. Visually it's perfectly choreographed and the non-linear story seemed to be more focused with some refreshing ideas executed. The episodic stories are neatly tied together with the main the story and the characters are fleshed out rather evenly. That said, I thought it lacked the terrifying and claustrophobic images of Taskashi Shimizu's previous effort on "Ju-on: The Grudge". Yeah, there are some standout scenes, but less so than "Ju-on". The big difference you come to see in this sequel is that the house isn't much of an imprint as more often the action occurs outside it, but the presence of it is still embedded. Shimizu's polished direction is definitely sure-footed with great use of film techniques to entertain while keeping you on the edge. Making foot-way are eerie sounds (you can't go pass that drawn out burping!), an effectively well-balanced score and spacious photography. He keeps the story on the move with very little pauses and lapses of logic. Although, repetition can creep in, but for me that factor wasn't that disrupting. Performances (especially Noriko Sakaiare) are relevantly tidy and solidly delivered. The actors do a good job in trapping you in this horrifyingly harrowing ordeal of dread that you simply can't escape when it takes hold. The special effects aren't top draw, or very explosive, but piercingly detailed make-up FX goes a long way in tapping into those unnerving spells that cloud the air.An unnervingly morbid, taut and cracking sequel, which is basically just as good as it's predecessor.