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Grudge 2 Trailer
Premiere
Jen
Yamato writes:
"J-horror
vet Takashi Shimizu and stars Amber
Tamblyn and Arielle
Kebbel
presented an all-new trailer for their upcoming pic, "The Grudge
2" --
and shared a few story tidbits with the audience, revealing just how much
Sarah
Michelle Gellar there is in the scary sequel.
But
on to the main event. Shimizu was introduced to the stage by pal and “Grudge
2” producer Sam Raimi, who
then brought out Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia”)
and co-star Arielle Kebbel (“John Tucker Must Die”). Shimizu, of course,
directed 2004’s “The Grudge” as well as the Japanese original versions,
“Ju-On” and “Ju-On 2” (amazingly, two even earlier video-only versions
of “The Grudge” bring Shimizu’s “Grudge” film tally up to six, with a
third Japanese-language sequel forthcoming).
The
trio presented the world premiere of footage from “The Grudge 2,” in the
form of a creepy, tension-filled extended trailer. Fans of the first
American
“Grudge” will recognize a few returning characters like scary Japanese
hair-ghost Kayako, scary little Japanese boy ghost Toshio, and Buffy the
Vampire
Slayer. Yes, Sarah Michelle Gellar is back, but as the trailer quickly
reveals,
she ain’t sticking around too long.
It turns out that after the end of “The Grudge,” caretaker Karen Davis
(Gellar)
became afflicted with the curse, and now lays coma-like in a hospital bed.
Her
sister Aubrey (Tamblyn)
arrives in Tokyo to find out what happened, and Karen jolts up to warn her,
“Don’t go in that house!”
Soon enough, Karen is dead – suicide, perhaps? – and we see her laying on
the ground, a pool of blood seeping from her head. Aubrey says, “My sister
is
dead. Why? What do you want?”
We see flashes of scary “Grudge” faces. A Japanese guy (Edison Chen) is
developing photos in a darkroom when he notices something in a picture; he
leans
in closer to the pan, and the scary “Grudge” girl leaps out of the pan,
grabbing his head. Freaky!
Next, we see scenes of mousy brunette schoolgirl Allison Fleming, who sees
the
scary little Japanese boy under her desk during class. We also see Allison
standing, black hair growing superfast down her body as she watches, frozen
in
horror.
The trailer ends with the scary little ghost boy, with a red number 2 in his
eye.
In a session with the press,
Tamblyn
and Kebbel revealed more about the movie, the story, and their characters
(and
Tamblyn confirmed that Gellar’s character Karen does indeed die):
Instead of taking its story from “Ju-On 2,” “The Grudge” and “The
Grudge 2” serve as part one and two of the story from the first “Ju-On.”
There will be three separate storylines, each involving Aubrey, Allison, and
Trish (Jennifer Beals), and all will eventually interconnect.
Aubrey, following her sister’s death, goes to investigate the “Grudge”
house; along the way, she learns of other cases involving the curse and its
victims.
Allison is the new girl at the International High School in Tokyo. She is
ugly
and unpopular, and the cool girls play a trick on her by pretending to
befriend
her. They take her to the cursed “Grudge” house to scare her, which brings
out the curse.
As with the other “Grudge” films, “The Grudge 2” will bear director
Shimizu’s signature filmmaking style, with non-sequential time order, quick
cuts, psychological rather than gory scares, and a story that makes the
audience
think a lot to figure it out.
Tamblyn also joked to
watch
out for a dance scene with Kebbel and Takako Fuji, who plays the frightening
ghost girl, Kayako.
"The Grudge 2" is directed by Shimizu with a screenplay by
"The
Grudge" (2004) writer Stephen Susco, and hits Halloween-time theaters
on
October 13."
www.rottentomatoes.com
July 25,
2006
By:
Jen Yamato
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