Movie Review: Ju-On: The Curse 2

Ju-on: The Curse 2 (a.k.a Ju-on 2)

Toei Video Company, Japan, 2000.

The sequel to "Ju-on: The Curse"  and prequel to "Ju-on: The Grudge"

This film continues directly from where the first film ended (actually it repeats about 30 minutes of the first film). Like the other films in the series this is divided to segments.

Kayako

Toshio Saeki's (Ryôta Koyama) teacher Kobayashi (Yûrei Yanagi) tries to find his parents. Mother Kayako Saeki (Takako Fuji) had an unhealthy obsession with Kobayashi. Father Takeo Saeki (Takashi Matsuyama) has a horrible surprise for Kobayashi.

Kobayashi

Kyoko

Real estate agent Tatsuya (Makoto Ashikawa) asks her sister Kyoko (Yûko Daike), who has psychic skills, help to sell the cursed house. Tatsuya and his son Nobuyuki (Tomohiro Kaku) now live in the former apartment of Kobayashi.

Kyoko

Tatsuya

New residents Yoshimi (Kaori Fujii) and Hiroshi Kitada (Hua Rong Weng) meet the curse. Tatsuya tries to save his family.

Yoshimi

Tatsuya

Kamio

Cops Kamio (Tarô Suwa) and Iizuka (Reita Serizawa) try to make sense of the mysterious deaths.

Kayako

Noboyuki

At school other students think he is acting weird.

Noboyuki

Saori
Schoolgirl Saori and her friends trespass the haunted house.

This was a difficult film to find. I tried to order a secondhand DVD two years ago but the seller disappeared mystically from the web. Creepy. The second copy was finally found from video store surplus shelf. However the film contains a lot of material from the first film and many of the events are reprised in the sequels so missing it would not been so big a loss except for seeing every film of the series. The story has some creepy scenes especially in the middle of the story but overall it does not feel as scary as the other of the series, as it lacks the surprises of the first film. Maybe the films 1 and 2 should have been cut to one film.

Rating: Average

Starring: Yûrei Yanagi, Takako Fuji, Takashi Matsuyama, Ryôta Koyama, Yûko Daike, Makoto Ashikawa, Tomohiro Kaku, Mayuko Saitô, Yue, Miyako Nakatsuka, Kenta Ishikawa, Ganko Fuyu, Kaori Fujii, Hua Rong Weng, Taizô Mizumura, Harumi Matsukaze, Duncan, Denden, Tarô Suwa, Reita Serizawa, Kiriko Shimizu, Nagisa Takemura, Hayato Ichihara, Akihiro Toyotome, Shiori Yonezawa, Mashio Miyazaki

Director: Takashi Shimizu