The James Logan Courier

By Carmen Shiu, Courier Entertainment Editor

The Grudge 2
Rated PG-13
95 minutes

The Grudge 2, sequel to The Grudge released in 2004, is only mediocre. The first few lines of the Grudge 2 already displayed the fact that the acting is not the best. Although it is supposed to be a horror movie, they rely highly on shock value of the viewers. However, the graphics were scarier than the first movie.



In the first scene, three high school girls in Tokyo, Japan go to the most haunted house in Tokyo. This is set in the present. Next scene, they switch to two years before the present to when the mother of Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar) finds out there was a house fire and Karen was in the hospital ñ which is where the first movie ended. Then they show the next scene, which are in the present with the high school girls in the house. Are you confused already? Well, that is how the entire movie is ñ switching back and forth the two years.

This sequel unravels what happened in the first movie. Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) and Eason (Edison Chen) team up together to figure out what exactly happened with her sister, Karen. With the high school girls, Allison (Arielle Kebbel), Vanessa (Teresa Palmer), and Miyuki (Misako Uno), they enter the house where the original killings that happened two years ago and caught the curse of the grudge. While explaining and continuing what happened in the first movie, the Grudge 2 also shows how the curse continued to spread because of the girls.

Shock value or not, many viewers still leave the theaters paranoid and scared. There are quite a number of scenes, including the switching back and forth of the time periods, which will leave you in confusion. The killings of some of the characters remind you of The Ring (released in 2002). The ending leaves you in wonder whether or not there will be The Grudge 3. Honestly, Sony Pictures should not waste money and time on it. In fact, donít waste your money either by watching it in the theaters ñ just wait for the DVD to come out and rent it instead to save money.