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THE GRUDGE 2
by Lindsey Saldin, Staff Writer
Once one becomes too
old to be dressing up in their Spiderman costume, and the families
at the door start to grudgingly give away their candy when they see
trick-or-treaters at the door taller than they are, high school
students have to turn to a different source of entertainment on
Halloween. Hollywood realized that they have a whole audience of
retired trick-or-treaters, which is why the Grudge 2, the sequel to
the first film directed by Takashi Shimizu, debuted at No. 1 on the
ominous day of Friday the Thirteenth.
When we last saw Karen Davis (Sarah Michelle Gellar),
she was a nursing aide from the United States working in Japan. She
was assigned to take care of a new patient in a house supposedly
cursed because its original inhabitants died in a furious rage. If
you saw the movie, you know the curse lived up to its promise.
The sequel opens with Karen in a mental hospital, and
her sister Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) flying over to find out what drove
her sister to this state. Aubrey meets up with a journalist and
together they try to end the curse which is all consuming, all
hating, and never forgiving. There are also two parallel stories
going on at the same time. One is about three school girls who enter
the same house on a dare. In another, someone has brought the curse
into an apartment building. In the end, the audience will find
resolve to the cliffhanger from the first Grudge, and find how all
the parallel stories are related.
Many people have complained about how the three stories
were confusing to follow and difficult to keep straight. Other
frequent comments that were heard throughout the viewing were, "When
is this going to end?" Although the movie is only ninety-five
minutes long, for many it seemed to be longer than the line to get
into Coronation (i.e. an eternity). There are only so many times
that blue people can pop up from behind closets and bath tubs before
it loses its effect. In fact, the audience could usually predict
what was coming up next because of the telltale music and the
pattern that seemed to be consistent throughout the movie…people in
horror flicks who usually are missing a common-sense chip and
blindly run into situations that most people with half a brain would
avoid. (Yes! walking into that haunted house, the one which made
your sister emotionally unstable, is definitely the best plant of
action). It was almost as if the director tried too hard to make it
scary, but he should have remembered that sometimes less is more,
especially if it is kept in moderation.
On the positive side, the conclusion was clearly
thought out and not unsatisfactory as some endings can be. Also, the
acting carried the movie because the actors' performances and
emotions were believable and their fear was portrayed clearly. On
its opening day, the Beach Cities Cinema was packed and many times
during the show, packs of middle school girls would get up and run
out screaming, only to come back in a couple of minutes later and
repeat the process. Sophomore Jared De Nicola could relate, “It had
me on the edge of my seat...I had to cover my eyes!” So, if
hair-raising was what they aimed for, the directors did achieve
their goal.
Did the sequel live up to the success of the first
Grudge? Junior Elisa Buckner said that she preferred the first,
while Sophomore Kei Takamura said that he liked neither and
recommended, “Go see the Japanese versions,” the originals that
inspired the American spin-offs. Junior Caroline Hawks refuses to
see the sequel altogether because “It will give me nightmares for
six months.”
Overall, horror flick veterans might not be impressed,
but for the common viewer, the Grudge 2 is an alternative to trying
to fit in one's old ghost costume.
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