(2003)
Dir - Takashi Shimizu
Overall: MEH
More of the same except the same, Ju-on: The Grudge 2 would end up being the last Japanese installment of the franchise from its creator Takashi Shimizu, who would immediately cross the Pacific to helm the first two American remakes as well. Still told out of order, still revolving around the same contemporary haunted abode, still featuring the long-haired/creaky-noised/mascara and blood-covered female specter, still featuring the pale blue boy specter in his underwear, and still a rinse and repeat series of spooky set pieces, the effects of such a structure inevitably wear thin with what is now the forth time around. By changing so little, an air of redundancy reigns paramount since there is no mystery to solve and no further supernatural details either necessary or delivered that expand on what is purposely a simple vengeful spirit story whose singular goal is to go for balls-out creepiness. In this respect though, Shimizu is still skilled enough to make the gradual pace and relentlessly dread-fueled tone work to his favor, crafting some moments that should cause goosebumps to appear for anyone new to the series. For the rest of us though, there is nothing new to see here.
(2009)
Dir - Ryuta Miyake
Overall: MEH
Some new blood and new narratives were taken after a several year break in Japan at least for the next two, simultaneous installments in the Ju-on series which were released simultaneously to mark the franchise's tenth anniversary. First up is writer/director Ryuta Miyake's Ju-on: White Ghost, which like its companion film Ju-on: Black Ghost, clocks in at just sixty minutes and features a whole new setting and backstory around the rageful specters that curse everyone who interacts with them. Though the Toshio Saeki ghost boy makes a cameo here, (awkwardly since it is played for laughs and arrives immediately after a scene that directly implies child molestation, yuck), the reoccurring granny spirit is a ridiculous-looking old crone who is wearing the slasher killer mask from Richard Ciupka's 1983 movie Curtains and likes to play with a basketball for no reason. Miyake had plenty of horror experience on the small screen before this, which makes him ideally suited to work within the low-budget, minimalist mode that hearkens back to Shimizu's first two SOV installments that kick-started the whole shebang. Still, the results are more goofy than creepy and there have been a plethora of imitators that have come in the decade since the first Ju-on: The Curse, making this intentional homage something that is neither unique nor necessary.
(2009)
Dir - Mari Asato
Overall: MEH
The second of two anniversary films for the Ju-on franchise, Ju-on: Black Ghost, (Juon: Kuroi Shōjo), is just as formulaic as the concurrently released Ju-on: White Ghost, but if fares better due to a more inventive plot that jettisons the entire haunted house idea for an unborn fetus with a vendetta one. While it may introduce a significant enough tweak for the series, there is still nothing here that will not be predictable to seasoned genre fans, since it simply recycles the age ole "one good twin, one bad twin" motif, only fitting into the anachronistic structure of these particular J-horror entries. This creaky-voiced ghost is all ashy in color, yet we are never given a reason why besides simply assuming that it needed to look that way in order to justify the title. This is made doubly head-scratching since the main focus is on the aforementioned, unbirthed sibling that causes all sorts of despair in order to take over its sister's body, prompting the usual curse shenanigans as well as resulting in a bizarre exorcism ceremony where a young girl's stomach swells up as a creepy face. Director Mari Asato does her best within a framework that she has no choice but to adhere to and there are one or two effective jolts here or there, but most of the spooky bits arrive with an unceremonious whimper. It seems like there was a better, singular movie lurking here instead of one that had to have a Grudge, but for what it is, it came out as well as could be hoped.
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