Hold a 'grudge' against Grudge 2

Director of the original Japanese version of "The Grudge," as well as this English-language remake, Takashi Shimizu could have done something interesting instead of doing more of the same. We already know that those exposed to the curse of fatally abused wife Kayako (Takako Fuji) are mentally tortured before being killed. "The Grudge 2" just shows us that the curse can travel outside Tokyo - and Japan, for that matter.

Shimizu gives us three vignettes that are intertwined with little cohesion. Sarah Michelle Gellar returns for a brief cameo as Karen Davis, an international college student hospitalized in Tokyo after trying to burn down the house where the curse originated. Karen's ailing mother (Joanna Cassidy) gets the call that her daughter has been in an accident and books a flight for Karen's estranged sister, Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn). In Tokyo, Aubrey meets a journalist named Eason (Edison Chen) seeking answers of his own.

Also in Japan (but apparently nowhere near Aubrey), Allison (Arielle Kebbel) is an international high school student eager to make friends with the cool girls. Unfortunately for Allison (and those around her), she learns just how real the curse is after being dared to enter the cursed house by two classmates.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, where the curse has spread to an apartment building, Trish (Jennifer Beals) has just moved in with her fiancé and his two children. The young, angst-ridden, and overly curious Jake (Matthew Knight) is the first to realize that something is amiss in his neighbors' apartment and is possibly the most likeable character in the film.

Despite the fact that "The Grudge 2" may be the first film to show a possessed teenager drinking mass amounts of milk and purging it back into the half gallon, it provides nothing fascinating or shocking. With so many promising films being released around this Halloween, there is no reason to see "The Grudge 2." Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sexuality, it doesn't matter that "The Grudge 2" is accessible to teens - they won't enjoy it anyway.

"The Grudge 2" lacks creepiness and suspense, supplying instead a plethora of unfulfilling in-your-face money-shot scares. I felt like, at best, the film spent most of its nearly 90 minutes vaguely teasing my mind only to leave me without a satisfying climax or any fond memories.

Originally published in The Chronicle in October 2006 as Jade Lee Culberson