tadcranky

The Grudge 2
I fell asleep in a San Antonio theater during the original Grudge. I think this had more to do with me just being sleepy than it being a dull movie.

I stayed awake during all of The Grudge 2. I'm still not sure exactly what the supernatural forces are that we're dealing with in The Grudge movies, despite reading several explanations. Sometimes it involves the presence of a ghost-like creature, sometimes it's a child-like creature that always reminds me of a character that Bobby Lee from Mad TV might play. And it involves hair, long black hair.

We are introduced to Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) who is the sister of Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who we met in the first movie. Since the two actresses look nothing at all like sisters, they are given similar hairstyles. Audrey is asked by her bitchy and sickly mother to go to Japan and find out what the deal is with her sister, who is recovering from the fire that ocurred at the end of The Grudge. The mother has one of those old-school phones with a dial, which makes you think that you're watching a flashback, but you realize that she just has an old phone when Aubrey breaks out her new-school cell phone.

Meanwhile, some bitchy high school girls in Tokyo teach their new friend Allison to appear cooler by rolling up her schoolgirl skirt, then scare the bejesus out of her when they take her to the house that Karen set on fire. And a father's girlfriend moves into the gloomy Chicago apartment that he shares with his two children. So it's kind of like three different stories, none of which really make sense. There are scary moments, though, as you never know when one of the Grudge demons will pop up underneath someone's desk or strangle someone.

Though The Grudge is impossible to fully understand, you should be able to stay awake during it, and there are some cool Tokyo-related things, including a scene where you learn about Tokyo love hotels.