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JU-ON
2
AKA:
Ju-On: The Grudge 2
Year:
2003 Reviewer: Rob
Daniel
Takashi
Shimizu's horror franchise rumbles on with 'Ju-on 2'.
Misleadingly titled, this is actually the fourth movie
in the 'Ju-on' series, following on from the previous
cinematic outing and two initial straight-to-video
offerings.
Working
from the credo, "If it ain't broke don't fix it",
Shimizu provides more of the same in 'Ju-on 2', but luckily
his nightmarish spectres remain sufficiently chilling to make
this a welcome return.
Kyoko
(J-Pop singer Sakai) is a low-budget horror actress called in
as a guest presenter for a haunted house TV show.
Inevitably the house is the hellish locale from the
previous 'Ju-on' instalments, and the grudge is soon affecting
Kyoko and other cast and crew from the show.
Shimizu
carries many things over from the previous movies, most
notably the episodic structure, each chapter named after a
different character, and a non-linear approach to
storytelling. Like
its theatrical predecessor this sequel plunges into a sea of
horror from the opening, as Toshio, the blue-skinned terror
tyke, manipulates Kyoko's husband into crashing his car,
resulting in her gruesome miscarriage.
With
her husband in a coma, Kyoko becomes embroiled in an
investigation of the demonic house, while flashbacks depict
events leading up to the TV crew disturbing the malevolent
tenants.
While
Shimizu's first big screen 'Ju-on'
played on the illogicality of pure horror, this sequel's story
is more conventional fare, settling for the "vulnerable
female investigating the supernatural" plot of so many
other Asian horror offerings.
While never as pedestrian as 'Ring
2', 'Ju-on 2' does not demand as much of its audience and
answers most questions by the inevitable final shock.
It
also slots more comfortably into a tradition of horror,
referencing 'The Blair Witch Project', 'The
Eye', 'Dark Water' and, with Kyoko's mysterious re-pregnation
and its memorable pay off, Lars Von Trier's 'The Kingdom'.
Shimizu
again stages fine moments of bewildering plastic reality, such
as a schoolgirl (Ichikawa) flitting between nightmare and the
waking world until the distinction is erased, and various
unrelated disturbances foreshadowing a double murder.
The irresistible idea that electronic recording
equipment can detect the supernatural is again put to good use
with unseen spectres revealing themselves on video and audio
tape.
A
naturalistic, at times near TV-movie, style is once more
employed to place the chills in a recognizable universe and
the cast convey a requisite amount of terror to, for example,
convince that a malicious wig actually is scary.
And for such near-comedic moments, Shimizu expertly
uses his killer punchline; Fuji's Kayako.
Ozeki may get more poster coverage, but with her
bug-eyed stare of unchecked fury and jerky, editing assisted
movements Fuji's creation proves herself scarier than 'Ring's
Sadako, and a genuinely monstrous image of fear.
Shimizu
has carried a simple premise of random terror and death
through four homegrown instalments and a Sam Raimi approved
remake.
While 'Ju-on 2' is another rewarding journey through a
landscape of fear and loathing, now is the time for its
creator to terrorize avenues new.
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