2004's The Grudge was not a favorite of mine, but at least it was a simple story about a girl, a haunted house, and a pair of ghosts who seeked to kill anyone who set foot within it. In comparison, The Grudge 2 seems downright top heavy. What was once a simple ghost story seems to have expanded into a complex and convoluted series of linked plots that are filled with too many holes and don't make much sense when exposed to the light of logic. It would seem that returning director Takashi Shimizu (who also directed the original Japanese film that inspired the US franchise) wanted to expand his own story, and in doing so, may wind up losing his own fans. Though competently made and watchable, The Grudge 2 is just too complex for its own good.

The film cuts back and forth between three separate storylines, all set during different time periods. Its central plot takes place two years ago shortly after the events of the original film. Previous heroine Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) has been hospitalized after trying to burn down the haunted house that caused her so much grief the first time around. Her sister Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) is sent to Japan by their ailing mother to bring Karen back home to the States. Unfortunately, before the two sisters can have a truly happy reunion, Karen is thrown off the roof of the hospital by the vengeful female spirit who tormented her throughout the first movie. With Aubrey's sister dead (a trauma she seems to quickly walk off), she decides to investigate the house and the truth behind what happened with the help of a local journalist named Eason (Edison Chen).

In two supporting subplots, both set in the present day, we learn that the dreaded curse of the house may be spreading. First we get a story that follows three students from an International High School in Japan. When two stuck up girls (Teresa Palmer and Japanese pop star Misako Uno) dare their shy and meek friend Allison (Arielle Kebbel) to enter the notorious house, they unknowingly set off a chain of events that may lead to the evil entities within escaping from the confines of the house. It would certainly seem that way, for on the other side of the world in Chicago, a young boy named Jake (Matthew Knight) begins to notice people in his apartment building acting very strangely, including his father (Christopher Cousins) and new stepmom (Jennifer Beals). Could the curse be spreading, and is it too late to stop it?

The Grudge 2 seems to follow that faithful old rule of sequels in trying to take everything that made the first film successful, and crank it up. Screenwriter Stephen Susco certainly gives us more of those vengeful ghosts, and has them popping up in the darndest of places. They're under desks, they're on tabletops, they're in the shower of the girls' locker room, they're in books, they're in a discarded pile of clothes, they're coming out of the walls, they're in phone booths, they're on a bus, they're in the shadows, they're under the bed covers...I don't think any movie monster has ever got around quite as much as these two do, and though it may sound somewhat comical having these ghosts pop up seemingly everywhere, it does kind of create an ominous feel that you're not safe no matter where you go. Where Susco's screenplay starts to falter is in explaining itself. The movie is told out of sequence for one thing, with the film constantly jumping back and forth between three entirely different stories and time periods. Oh, and there are flashbacks too, which take us even further back. Though I never became completely lost, I still felt like my mind was running to try to keep track of it all, and keep who's who straight. Horror films should not be about trying to sort out the details of the plot. They should be simple, fun, and a form of escapism. While any of the three stories would work as individual stories (even if the central one concerning Karen's sister is a mere rehash of the original film's main plot), they don't quite come together as a coherent single entity due to the fact that the film feels the need to jump about its plots at random and with little warning.

Even if the film is a structural disaster, filmmaker Shimizu knows how to craft an impressive looking picture to take our minds off of it. He uses primarily dark colors or dimly-lit interiors, yet the picture quality is never murky or muddled. He knows how to use the darkness and shadows to his advantage, creating some beautiful yet ominous imagery that stick around in your mind more than anything that happens in the movie itself. He's very good at using exotic locations around Japan to the film's advantage, as well as portraying something simple and everyday as an apartment complex in Chicago in an increasingly ominous light as the curse slowly overtakes its tenants. The scares featured in this movie are also mostly effective, with some genuinely creepy set pieces taking place in a guidance counselor's office, a love hotel, and in the apartments. With so many recent horror movies focused so much on torture and having its cast rolling around in blood and muck, it's somewhat refreshing that The Grudge 2 tries to create scares out of its environment instead.

Where Shimizu is slightly less successful is with his cast. Taking over for Gellar, Amber Tamblyn is a passable heroine, but she doesn't seem as deep as she should be. We know she's had some past issues with her sister and her mother, but other than this, we know very little of the emotions that tie the two sisters together. The way that she seems to go on with her life quite shortly after Karen practices her diving skills off the roof of a hospital onto the pavement below is somewhat disturbing. In fact, everyone in this storyline seems like they're going through the motions, most likely because they know there's nothing new in this half of the movie. It is the storyline about the three teenage schoolgirls that holds the best performances. Arielle Kebbel gets some good scenes as a girl who only wanted to belong, and winds up paying the price. She is able to bring more emotion and feeling to her character than Tamblyn is, and almost makes you wish the film had focused on her instead. The final plot holds a mixed bag of performances. While young Matthew Knight makes for a suitable protagonist, some of the other actors leave less of an impression, especially Jennifer Beals as his new mom. Many people have wondered where her career went after Flashdance, and she seems to be wondering the exact same thing in many of her scenes.

The Grudge 2 is a movie that gives the audience what it wants, but doesn't offer a lot of sense or coherency to go with it. In trying to tie these three stories together, the film winds up giving us more questions than answers. Maybe the screenplay should have narrowed its focus a little, or dropped the rehashed storyline concerning Karen's sister entirely. To its credit, the film does not disrespect the original, and those who liked that are sure to find something to like here. It just could have been and should have been so much more.

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