MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Grudge’ just won’t die
This film is a mess (and not in a good way like a Baz Luhrmann film or a Jackson Pollack painting).
Immediately upon the ending of this monotonous fright fest, I heard a female audience member say, “Are you kidding me?” My thoughts exactly, lady.
Serving as the sequel to its moderately frightening 2004 predecessor, “The Grudge 2” takes us back to Tokyo where Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar, “The Grudge”) is strapped to a hospital bed after her traumatizing encounters with pale, Japanese ghosts.
Now enters Karen’s sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn, “Joan of Arcadia”) to try and make sense of things. Too bad she doesn’t realize that the mysterious curse starts to tighten its grip around her and a variety of other unrelated victims.
Throughout the entirety of this film, the only parts of my body that moved were my eyelids (from blinking as well as drooping). While “The Grudge 2” features the same style of spooky scenarios-manipulations of space, tricky plays on shadows, and that weird, guttural moaning sound-it proves to be even less effective than the original adaptation of the Japanese horror film.
Aside from being a humdrum, meandering continuation of the evil curse’s power, we get to watch various girls scream their guts out, hide under pieces of furniture, and even wet themselves. With so much embellishment in the performances, there is no inclination to be even remotely afraid.
The bland writing doesn’t help either. Some of the dialogue, and plot organization, seemed like it was written on the spur of the moment just so the screenwriters could meet their deadline. Nothing memorable here, I’m afraid.
Caseyl T. Allen is a movie critic for The Utah Statesman. Comments can be sent to him at caseyal@cc.usu.edu.