from Film Forum, 10/19/06
Takashi Shimizu is breaking new ground by taking the popular and successful horror series he has already made in Japan and now re-making it for Americans.
You might think that would make The Grudge 2 something worth catching. And surely the participation of Joan of Arcadia (I mean, Amber Tamblyn) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I mean, Sarah Michelle Gellar) makes it something to see!
No, wrong. The movie amounts to little more than a freaky wraith killing one empty-headed teenager after another.
Critics aren't wasting any time calling it a piece of trash. But not most American moviegoers, apparently, who happily sent the movie to No. 1 at the box office.
Adam R. Holz (Plugged In) sums it up: "In a nutshell … the film teaches that there are evil spirits, they can kill us, and there's nothing we can do to resist them. Hope and redemption have left the dark building these spirits inhabit—not to mention the script of The Grudge 2."
David DiCerto (Catholic News Service): "Emphasizing creepiness over coherence … [the director] provides some chills, but the spooky effects are wasted on a nonsensical script, made all the more confusing by its nonlinear plot."
Mainstream critics would like to take this franchise and snap its neck.