"this will never end." (re: The Grudge 2)
For starters: this is not a movie afraid of the non-linear narrative. You essentially have two movies going on here: Aubrey (Karen’s sister) and the Chinese reporter, and the teenage girls in Japan and Chicago. It’s like the editor spliced together the movie, then cut it into 20+ scenes and threw ‘em in the air, then put them back together with slam-cuts to black. I love that, since it’s basically the same way the Japanese movies are shown, except *those* have title cards.
--Events of the original Japanese films (barring the end of Ju-on: The Grudge 2)
--Events of The Grudge (American film)
--The Grudge 2 Timeline A: Aubrey, Karen’s sister, comes to investigate reports that her sister tried to commit arson, killing her boyfriend in the process
--End of Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (re: Kyoko’s daughter being born)
--Events of The Grudge 2 Timeline B: Sally, Vanessa and Miyuki enter Saeki house; Vanessa and Miyuki disappear; Sally returns to Chicago and begins curse *again*, this time in America.
(You could argue that Ju-on: The Grudge 2 negates what happens in the American ones, but I don’t see any reason Kayoko couldn’t be reborn *and* simultaneously keep haunting her burned-out house. As you know if you’ve seen any of the previous movies, the curse itself is in no way linear; it’s completely believable that Kayoko can be reborn *and* keep haunting people at the same time, especially with Toshio and Aubrey as her apprentices. Or whatever the equivalent is for ghosts of people killed in a terrible rage.)
Since Karen set the fire, things “are different now”, according to the Chinese reporter (Edison Chen, which I will be calling him, since I cannot remember his character’s name to save my ass). Fire is considered a transformative element in Japanese belief systems; it’s not surprising to find that attempting to burn down the house didn’t help, that it actually *made things worse*.
The house itself served as some kind of protective element: as long as you don’t go in the house, you’ll be fine. (This is complete BS when compared to the original films, where it started with people who went in but spread to people they knew, too.) But setting the fire loosed Kayoko, somehow; so when Vanessa and Miyuki lure Sally in, and Sally goes back to the States, Kayoko just…hitches a ride. And keeps going, because that’s the whole idea: “It will never end.”
I’d say see it, but try to find it at a matinee: save your eight bucks for Saw III. (Yes, I’m going to see it. Duh.)
* I don’t love that they made Kayoko’s mom a priestess of some kind, or that she used Kayoko as a sin-eater; it’s waaaaaay too Ringu for me. That said, I wanted to smack Aubrey when she started in with “you did this to her!” No, as the mom said, being murdered by her husband did that to her. I won’t say that being used as a sin-eater didn’t tip the scales from “lonely sad ghost you see on the Sci Fi Channel” to “murderous revenant”, but if she’d lived to be ninety and died in her sleep, she could have been fine. Like the title card says - and characters keep repeating - it’s because someone died in the grip of a powerful rage. I’m pretty sure being strangled/having your neck snapped by your husband would do that to you (especially if, as is implied in this one, she didn’t die right away - that she lived long enough to watch him drown their son).
Seriously, though, that lady was channeling Sissy Spacek in The Ring 2, which I did not need flashbacks to, thanks.
* I can differentiate between the kanji for “tree”, “woods” and “forest” now. Which is great, because…that’s the only kanji I can do. Dammit.
* Ryo Ishibashi! In one scene, but still. And even better, he’s grizzled. I have missed you, Japanese baby daddy!
* It is really, really weird seeing a love hotel in an American movie. It took me a minute to realize that’s what it was, but “Hotel Sweet Love - 3300 yen for 3 hours” kind of tipped me off.
* If you want to bring a nine-year-old child to the movie, ma’am behind me, fine, but don’t let him ASK YOU QUESTIONS THE WHOLE GODDAMN TIME, let alone ANSWER THEM. “Who’s that girl?” “She’s Buffy’s sister.” “Why is she in Tokyo?” “Their mom couldn’t go.” “Why not?”
Now imagine that for almost two hours. Hello! Welcome to my moviegoing experience!
* Would I want to see The Messengers normally? Probably, because it’s got Dylan McDermott (mrrrrrrrr) and the production values look decent. Do I want to see it more now that I know it’s directed by The Pang Brothers? Hell yes. (For the record, it looks more like The Eye than The Eye 2 or The Eye 10.
--Events of the original Japanese films (barring the end of Ju-on: The Grudge 2)
--Events of The Grudge (American film)
--The Grudge 2 Timeline A: Aubrey, Karen’s sister, comes to investigate reports that her sister tried to commit arson, killing her boyfriend in the process
--End of Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (re: Kyoko’s daughter being born)
--Events of The Grudge 2 Timeline B: Sally, Vanessa and Miyuki enter Saeki house; Vanessa and Miyuki disappear; Sally returns to Chicago and begins curse *again*, this time in America.
(You could argue that Ju-on: The Grudge 2 negates what happens in the American ones, but I don’t see any reason Kayoko couldn’t be reborn *and* simultaneously keep haunting her burned-out house. As you know if you’ve seen any of the previous movies, the curse itself is in no way linear; it’s completely believable that Kayoko can be reborn *and* keep haunting people at the same time, especially with Toshio and Aubrey as her apprentices. Or whatever the equivalent is for ghosts of people killed in a terrible rage.)
Since Karen set the fire, things “are different now”, according to the Chinese reporter (Edison Chen, which I will be calling him, since I cannot remember his character’s name to save my ass). Fire is considered a transformative element in Japanese belief systems; it’s not surprising to find that attempting to burn down the house didn’t help, that it actually *made things worse*.
The house itself served as some kind of protective element: as long as you don’t go in the house, you’ll be fine. (This is complete BS when compared to the original films, where it started with people who went in but spread to people they knew, too.) But setting the fire loosed Kayoko, somehow; so when Vanessa and Miyuki lure Sally in, and Sally goes back to the States, Kayoko just…hitches a ride. And keeps going, because that’s the whole idea: “It will never end.”
I’d say see it, but try to find it at a matinee: save your eight bucks for Saw III. (Yes, I’m going to see it. Duh.)
* I don’t love that they made Kayoko’s mom a priestess of some kind, or that she used Kayoko as a sin-eater; it’s waaaaaay too Ringu for me. That said, I wanted to smack Aubrey when she started in with “you did this to her!” No, as the mom said, being murdered by her husband did that to her. I won’t say that being used as a sin-eater didn’t tip the scales from “lonely sad ghost you see on the Sci Fi Channel” to “murderous revenant”, but if she’d lived to be ninety and died in her sleep, she could have been fine. Like the title card says - and characters keep repeating - it’s because someone died in the grip of a powerful rage. I’m pretty sure being strangled/having your neck snapped by your husband would do that to you (especially if, as is implied in this one, she didn’t die right away - that she lived long enough to watch him drown their son).
Seriously, though, that lady was channeling Sissy Spacek in The Ring 2, which I did not need flashbacks to, thanks.
* I can differentiate between the kanji for “tree”, “woods” and “forest” now. Which is great, because…that’s the only kanji I can do. Dammit.
* Ryo Ishibashi! In one scene, but still. And even better, he’s grizzled. I have missed you, Japanese baby daddy!
* It is really, really weird seeing a love hotel in an American movie. It took me a minute to realize that’s what it was, but “Hotel Sweet Love - 3300 yen for 3 hours” kind of tipped me off.
* If you want to bring a nine-year-old child to the movie, ma’am behind me, fine, but don’t let him ASK YOU QUESTIONS THE WHOLE GODDAMN TIME, let alone ANSWER THEM. “Who’s that girl?” “She’s Buffy’s sister.” “Why is she in Tokyo?” “Their mom couldn’t go.” “Why not?”
Now imagine that for almost two hours. Hello! Welcome to my moviegoing experience!
* Would I want to see The Messengers normally? Probably, because it’s got Dylan McDermott (mrrrrrrrr) and the production values look decent. Do I want to see it more now that I know it’s directed by The Pang Brothers? Hell yes. (For the record, it looks more like The Eye than The Eye 2 or The Eye 10.