When Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn) travels from Pasadena, California to Tokyo, Japan to bring back her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who is currently confined in a hospital after trying to set fire to the Saeki house, she sees her sister killed right before her eyes, so Aubrey and journalist Eason (Edison Chen) attempt to investigate the cause of Karen's strange behavior. In Tokyo, two high school girls—Vanessa (Teresa Palmer) and Miyuki (Misako Uno)—take new student Allison (Arielle Kebbel) to the Saeki house in order to play a prank on her. In Chicago, young Jake Kimble (Matthew Knight) is caught between his abusive father Bill (Christopher Cousins), his father's new wife Trish (Jennifer Beals), and some strange goings-on in the Flemings' apartment next door. The Grudge has somehow spread from the Saeki house and crossed the ocean.
The Grudge series is based on Japanese writer and director Takashi Shimizu's Ju-on series. The Ju-on series includes six movies: Ju-on: The Curse (2000) (aka Ju-on: The Curse) (2000) and Ju-on: The Curse 2 (2000) (aka Ju-on: The Curse 2) (2000), the first one went straight to video, second one had cinematic release in Japan. Ju-on: The Grudge (2002) (aka Ju-on: The Grudge )
(2003) was made for Japanese cinematic release and followed by Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003) (aka Ju-on: The Grudge 2) (2003). Two more feature films were released in 2009: Ju-on: Black Ghost (2009) (Ju-on: Black Ghost) and Ju-on: White Ghost (2009) (Ju-on: White Ghost). In 2014, the seventh Ju-on film, Ju-on: The Beginning of the End (2014), was released. The Grudge 2 is the second movie in the English "The Grudge" franchise, which includes the prequel The Grudge (2004) (2004) and a straight-to-DVD sequel, The Grudge 3 (2009) (2009). The Grudge 2 was scripted by Stephen Susco.
It is explained at the beginning of the movie that, when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage, a curse (the grudge) is born. The grudge gathers in that place of death, and those who encounter it will be consumed by its fury. In other words, the curse is an "imprint" of psychic energy that is left behind when a person dies traumatically. The imprint is not only about rage and hatred but about everything that occurred to the victim(s). The curse manifests itself as the ghosts of its victims and supernaturally re-enacts the events that left the imprint in the first place.
Anyone who enters the Saeki house where the grudge dwells becomes infected with it. It's like the murders left an atmosphere in the house and, if anyone passes through it, sooner or later it's going to catch up with them.
Yes. The Grudge 2 is a continuation of The Grudge. Consequently, the first movie explains in more detail the events that happened prior to the second movie. Some of the details are touched upon in The Grudge 2 as flashbacks or in conversation, e.g., the Saeki murders and how Karen Davis wound up in the hospital. But, for a good foundation of the storyline and how the grudge came to be, it is best to have seen the first movie. It is not necessary, however, to have seen the Ju-on series.
The Aubrey/Karen plot is set a few days after the first film ends (still in 2004). The "schoolgirl" subplot is set two years later as evidenced when Vanessa tells Allison, "This is where the girl from the International College (referring to Karen Davis) killed her boyfriend two years ago." The Chicago subplot is set three weeks after the schoolgirl subplot.
Kayako Saeki was murdered by her husband Takeo. Takeo apparently found his wife's journal and read about her love for a certain college professor. Takeo went into a deep rage, killed Kayako, and then drowned their son Toshio in the bathtub. Takeo then hanged himself. In a deleted scene on the Director's Cut for The Grudge, it is explained that he had actually been killed by Kayako, having been hanged by large clumps of her long black hair that had sprouted from the ceiling.
To recap Karen's fate at the end of The Grudge: she tried to burn down the cursed Saeki house in order to stop the grudge from spreading to more people. Unfortunately, the house was saved, and Karen was sent to the hospital. Karen's storyline opens in The Grudge 2 with her still in the hospital awaiting arson charges. Mrs Davis (Joanna Cassidy) sends daughter Aubrey to Tokyo in order to bring Karen back to America. Karen continues to be stalked by Kayako (Takako Fuji), who pushes her off the hospital roof right in front of Aubrey and Eason.
The movie opens with a scene in which Bill Kimble is complaining to his wife Trish about the bacon she has cooked for his breakfast. Trish suddenly pours hot bacon grease over his head and then whacks him with the skillet, killing him. The storyline then reverts to weeks earlier and explains how Trish and Bill got to this point.
In the "Ju-on" films, the curse freely spreads from a person who got cursed to other people or places. In this film, however, it is implied that Karen's fire worsened the curse (even though Kayako's mother denies this and tells Aubrey that "it's not the house. It's a Rage"). Eason explains to Aubrey early in the Karen/Aubrey thread that Karen tried to end the curse by burning the Saeki house down, but she only succeeded in changing something and making it worse. Later in the thread, it is revealed by Kayako's mother that Karen's actions destroyed the spiritual bonds holding the curse in place, resulting in Kayako being able to gather victims who haven't previously been inside the house.
Aubrey's story: Aubrey takes the train to the village where Kayako's mother (Kim Miyori) still lives. When Aubrey accuses Mom of poisoning Kayako by making her eat the spirits she exorcised from sick people, Mom explains that Kayako created the curse herself when she was killed by her husband. Kayako wants everyone to suffer as she did, Mom says. It is a rage that will grow and cannot be stopped. Suddenly, Kayako's mom sinks to the floor, realizing that Aubrey has brought Kayako with her. Kayako kills her mother. Aubrey phones her own mother to tell her that Karen is dead. Her mom berates her, as usual, and Aubrey tells her that she won't allow her to talk like that anymore and hangs up. She then returns to the Saeki house, goes inside, and starts hollering at Kayako for killing everyone. She has a vision of Karen going upstairs in search of her boyfriend Doug (Jason Behr) and follows her. The vision of Karen turns into one of Takeo Saeki (Takashi Matsuyama) reading Kayako's journal. Takeo turns on Aubrey and attacks her as she tries to crawl down the stairs, breaking her neck exactly as he broke Kayako's neck, with Toshio watching from the landing. As Aubrey's death rattles can be heard, we see her face turning into that of Kayako's face.
The Chicago subplot: The opening scene in the film (where Trish kills Bill with the frying pan) is repeated. When the Kimble children, Jake and his sister Lacey (Sarah Roemer), come home from school, they find that the lights don't work. Filled with apprehension because he knows that something bad is happening in the apartment building, Jake gets a flashlight and goes looking for his dad and Trish. When he comes upon Bill lying dead on the floor, he panics and goes in search of Lacey. He finds Lacey with her head submerged in the bathtub and Trish sitting in the water. "It's time for your bath," Trish says to Jake as two small hands rise up and pull her back under the water. Jake runs out into the corridor where he hears crying. It is the sweatshirt-wearing person from the Fleming apartment. As she turns to look at Jake, we can see that it is Allison. "They followed me here," she sobs. Hands suddenly rise out of the sweatshirt and pull Allison into it, leaving only the sweatshirt lying on the floor. As Jake picks up the sweatshirt, a hand reaches out from the sleeve and grabs his arm. A head begins to emerge, and we can see that it is Kayako.
The Chicago subplot: The opening scene in the film (where Trish kills Bill with the frying pan) is repeated. When the Kimble children, Jake and his sister Lacey (Sarah Roemer), come home from school, they find that the lights don't work. Filled with apprehension because he knows that something bad is happening in the apartment building, Jake gets a flashlight and goes looking for his dad and Trish. When he comes upon Bill lying dead on the floor, he panics and goes in search of Lacey. He finds Lacey with her head submerged in the bathtub and Trish sitting in the water. "It's time for your bath," Trish says to Jake as two small hands rise up and pull her back under the water. Jake runs out into the corridor where he hears crying. It is the sweatshirt-wearing person from the Fleming apartment. As she turns to look at Jake, we can see that it is Allison. "They followed me here," she sobs. Hands suddenly rise out of the sweatshirt and pull Allison into it, leaving only the sweatshirt lying on the floor. As Jake picks up the sweatshirt, a hand reaches out from the sleeve and grabs his arm. A head begins to emerge, and we can see that it is Kayako.
Eason is a newspaper reporter who has been following the Saeki murders for the past three years. He is the one who pulled Karen from the house after she tried to burn it down in The Grudge. Ever since Eason went inside the house to save Karen, he, too, has been plagued by the same visions and apprehensions that Karen was experiencing.
She didn't mean to go inside. Karen warned her not to go into the house, and Eason made her wait outside when he went back into the house. However, while Aubrey stood there waiting, a hand reached out and pulled her inside.
Like all of Kayako's victims, Aubrey became part of the grudge. Throughout the film it is hinted that Karen was their mother's favorite daughter and that Aubrey held a grudge against her mother for it. Some viewers have concluded that Aubrey took Kayako's place in haunting the Saeki house and that it was Aubrey whom Vanessa, Miyuki, and Allison encountered when they entered the house. Other viewers argue that, because of the fire, the grudge and all of its ghosts are free to wander, including Aubrey and Kayako. They are no longer bound to the Saeki house. Since Kayako is listed as a character in The Grudge 3, she probably has not been replaced by Aubrey.
Jake does live. He returns briefly in The Grudge 3.
As in The Grudge, the storyline of The Grudge 2 can be confusing because it is told through a non-linear sequence of events. When watching the film, be aware that there are three stories being told. The story continuing from the first movie revolves around Aubrey and the events that her sister Karen experienced and then unleashed when she tried to burn down the Saeki house in 2004. The "schoolgirls" subplot takes place two years later when three girls enter the house and Allison gets trapped in the closet. Allison then travels back to the U.S., taking the grudge with her. The grudge then begins to attack families in Chicago. Follow the subplots this way, while realizing that they aren't told in a timely order, and the movie will make more sense.
The unrated Director's Cut of the movie features an extended storyline and some more violent scenes that presumably had to be cut for the PG-13 rating of the theatrical version. Altogether the unrated cut runs more than 5 minutes longer than the theatrical version.
No. According to Takashi Shimizu, the film follows a different storyline; however, it does borrow one plot element—the schoolgirl subplot—from the original Ju-on: The Grudge.
No. However, the short films do reveal more about the curse and how it spreads. The shorts were just merely designed to be part of a digital marketing strategy, as outlined here.
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- How long is The Grudge 2?1 hour and 42 minutes
- When was The Grudge 2 released?October 13, 2006
- What is the IMDb rating of The Grudge 2?5 out of 10
- Who stars in The Grudge 2?
- Who wrote The Grudge 2?
- Who directed The Grudge 2?
- Who was the composer for The Grudge 2?
- Who was the producer of The Grudge 2?
- Who was the executive producer of The Grudge 2?
- Who was the cinematographer for The Grudge 2?
- Who was the editor of The Grudge 2?
- Who are the characters in The Grudge 2?Karen, Aubrey, Allison, Kayako Saeki, Eason, Lacey, Jake, Miyuki, Vanessa, Toshio Saeki, and others
- What is the plot of The Grudge 2?Three interwoven stories about a terrible curse. A young woman encounters a malevolent supernatural force while searching for her missing sister in Tokyo; a mean high school prank goes horribly wrong; a woman with a deadly secret moves into a Chicago apartment building.
- What was the budget for The Grudge 2?$20 million
- How much did The Grudge 2 earn at the worldwide box office?$70.7 million
- How much did The Grudge 2 earn at the US box office?$39.1 million
- What is The Grudge 2 rated?PG-13
- What genre is The Grudge 2?Horror and Thriller
- How many awards has The Grudge 2 been nominated for?3 nominations
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