The Grudge 2

I love collecting DVDs. In particular I like collecting comic book/ video game movies and Stephen King related movies. Where normally I'd buy a movie because because I'd want to watch them, comic book and video game movies are fun because they can be so bad (Alone in the Dark) or so good (Spider-man 3).

This explains why I have anything on my shelf directed by Uwe Boll.

A good place to hunt down the worse offenders is the "4 for $20" bit at the local Blockbuster. The only problem is that you HAVE to get 4 titles at once, so I have to wait until there are 4 things I need to see. Usually I can pull together 4 titles that I'm interested in, though most of them are bad (the good ones I inevitably already own).

Last week I got a title that I've been eying for some time, though I couldn't find 3 counterparts to buy with it. The Grudge 2. I was not a fan of "The Grudge" but I am a huge fan of the original Japanese "Ju-on". I eventually grew to like the Sarah Machelle Geller version, but not enough to see Grudge 2 in the theaters or home video. My gripes about The Grudge are another post, however.

The surprise is, I actually liked Grudge 2! It was a welcome surprise, as I was seriously bracing myself. I'll go into why I liked it, but be wary of SPOILERS.

First off, they fixed the problems I had with the first flick, namely the opening. The first Grudge opens with Bill Pullmen waking up and explanationlessly jumping out of his 8-story balcony to his grisly death. On paper, I'm sure the seemed creepy; but having the death so early without establishing mood just made it ridiculous. In fact, when I saw it in the theater, the opening got laughter from nearly everyone. Not a good way to start a horror movie.

The Grudge 2 opens in a similar way, showing a man waking and getting murdered by his wife with little explanation (he accuses her of an affair). It sounds similar, but the murder is so cold and gory, that it totally gave me the heebie-jeebies. Granted, I saw this movie alone and not with a crowd, but I'm thinking their reaction would have been somewhat better.

Second off, they movie structured itself around the elements of Ju-on that didn't make it into the remake. Namely, the episode with the Japanese Schoolgirls and the ending. This made the movie great for die-hard fans of the original Ju-on, like myself.

All in all, the movie stayed true to it's Ju-on-ity and that was great. I'm not sure I want to see Grudge 3 or Ju-on 2, but I'm glad I have this disk in my collection!

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