The Grudge 2 (PG-13, 2006)

common sense media says

Again with the grumpy ghosts. Too scary for kids.

parents & educators say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that, while this teen-targeted horror sequel features relatively little actual gore, the scary scenes are tense and aggressive, with loud soundtrack effects, jarring editing, and insinuated violence. There's some brief nudity (male and female characters appear in showers and bathtubs) and a scene that sets up sexual activity (a couple goes to a hotel room and begin to undress) but doesn't deliver because the ghost strikes. Ghost attacks throughout the movie are discordant and sometimes alarming. The ghosts are very creepy looking, shadows and noises establish scary spaces, and characters scream and show fear and pain repeatedly. There is some actual violence (someone is slammed with a frying pan in the first scene, and murders are referred to repeatedly), as well as lots of abstract and menacing visual references to violence: blood on the walls and on a couple of faces, a broken neck in a contorted ghost figure, and drowned bodies.

Positive messages: Ghosts bent on revenge; victims consistently tempt fate by entering the "haunted house" they're instructed not to enter. Strong female characters.

Violence: Murders and disturbing disappearances; frequent jump-scenes; scene shows woman throwing hot grease on her husband, then smashing his head with a frying pan (bloody dead face visible in subsequent/repeat scene); repeated scary images of ghost faces and sounds of ghost's screams; a young boy is terrorized by ghosts and the sight of his father's corpse in the kitchen; ghost hands repeatedly take hold of victims' faces and pull them away to offscreen horror; a body falls off a roof, landing with thud in front of a horrified character; a man holds keys so tightly that his hand is bloody; a father breaks his wife's neck and drowns his young son (these legendary first murders are repeated in the original and other forms); very brief look at the "stair ghost" (jerky movements/contortions).

Sex: Girls roll up school-uniform skirts to "show off legs" glimpses of nudity in tub/shower (long shot of boy from side and back; close ups of girl's face in shower as she's frightened); a high school girl and her boyfriend rent a hotel room for sex, but she disappears before they can do it (she mistakes ghost under the covers with her for boyfriend -- creepy suggestion that the ghost is tickling/touching her below her waist).

Language: Mild language ("hell").

Consumerism: Not applicable.

Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Not applicable.

Our ratings and reviews are informed by child development guidelines. Learn more.

What to talk about

Talk to your kids

Families can talk about the idea of revenge. Why do people want to inflict pain on and get "even" with those who they think have wronged them? Does revenge ever help you feel better, or does it just prolong the bad feelings and pain? How do Aubrey's relationships with her sister and mother suffer in the context of revenge? Families can also talk about the enduring appeal of ghost stories and their own views on whether strong emotions can continue to "occupy" a place.

What's the story?

THE GRUDGE 2 has three storylines that deal with the theme of vengeance that has shaped all of the movies in the Ju-on franchise. When Aubrey (Amber Tamblyn) learns that her sister, Karen (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is in a Tokyo hospital, she flies to Japan to get Karen back. In addition to Aubrey's trip to Japan, the movie follows Trish (Jennifer Beals), who moves in with Bill (Christopher Cousins) and his two kids. All will suffer the effects of the Grudge curse. Trish's family arrangement repeats -- but also refracts -- that of the original Grudge family. The Japanese family appears again in grainy video images, signaling both their existence in the past and their continuing presence in a perpetual loop. Insanely jealous husband Takeo (Takashi Matsuyama) again breaks his wife's neck and drowns his young son. These original victims become the ghosts who terrorize new prey. Among these are schoolgirls Miyuki (Misako Uno), Vanessa (Teresa Palmer), and Allison (Arielle Kebbel), who come to the family's house on a dare and then pay dearly.

Is it any good?

Rethinking the very concepts of remake, sequel, and translation, director Takashi Shimizu's seventh film in the Ju-on/Grudge series is actually a series of events that must be assembled by the viewer at the end -- the events occur at different times, or maybe at the same time, but they most definitely don't occur in linear time.

For all its jump-out-at-you surprises, grim shadows, and anguished victims, The Grudge 2 isn't very scary. More abstract art than conventional horror cinema, it's more interested in parsing the idea of repetition and the basis and method of revenge. Rejecting formula by reconsidering formula, it is, perversely, singular.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details

Studio: Columbia Tristar
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Genre: Horror
Run time: 95 minutes
Theatrical release: October 13, 2006
DVD release: February 6, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: mature thematic material, disturbing images/terror/violence, and some sensuality.

This review was written by Cynthia Fuchs

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What parents & educators say

Most useful reviews by all members

silly_samsters
teen, 17 years old

Not for little kids

This movie is really good if you like scary movies and movies that will keep on going. I love this movie but they keep on ending in weird places

What other families should know

Movie Details

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The Grudge 2 (PG-13, 2006)

common sense media says

parents & educators say

What parents need to know

More on The Grudge 2

What to talk about

Talk to your kids

What's the story?

What's the story?

Is it any good?

Is it any good?

Movie themes & details

Movie Details

Review It

Review The Grudge 2

What parents & educators say

Most useful reviews by all members

Not for little kids

Iffy Iffy Iffy

Iffy Iffy Iffy

Iffy Iffy Iffy

about 10-12 and up

This is a scary movie

Scary and funny at the same time

good for teens, but it may give you nightmares

made originally in japan...a little confusing to us

not as good as the first

Wow..

Better dan da first

Scarier and better than the first

The Grudge 2

SCARY!

hahahhaha

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