Ju-on: The Grudge 2

Does Japanese director Takashi Shimizu have a grudge against us? His ‘Ju-On’/‘Grudge’ tally to date includes two straight-to-video titles, two features, an English-language remake of ‘Ju-On: The Grudge’ featuring ‘Buffy’ star Sarah Michelle Gellar and an upcoming remake of this movie with… Well, you get the idea. Perhaps we wouldn’t curse him quite so much if this latest Japanese entry had introduced something new, but it merely rehashes the now familiar formula.

While filming a reality TV programme at a house where a gruesome double murder was committed, the show’s cast and crew, together with their pregnant ‘scream queen’ guest star Kyoko (Noriko Sakai), are menaced by the unquiet spirits of a blue-faced boy, Toshio, and his pallid, lizard-like mother, Kayoko. If more had been made of the film-within-a film conceit – à la ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ – this random ragbag of bite-sized stories might have gelled into a coherent whole. Instead, we’re left with a few genuinely eerie images and the feeling that this well of supernatural ideas has long since dried up.