Ju-On: The Curse 2

Ju-on: The Curse 2 (呪怨2), also known as simply Ju-on 2, is a 2000 Japanese V-Cinema supernatural horror film and the second installment in the Ju-on series being a sequel to Ju-on: The Curse. The film was released in Japan on March 25, 2000, and was later released on video on April 14.

Ju-On: The Curse 2
Directed by	Takashi Shimizu
Written by	Takashi Shimizu
Produced by	Takashige Ichise Kazuo Katô Masaaki Takashima
Starring	Taro Suwa Denden Yūko Daike Makoto Ashikawa Kahori Fujii Takako Fuji Ryōta Koyama Takashi Matsuyama
Cinematography	Nobuhito Kisuki
Music by	Gary Ashiya
Release date	2000 (2000)
Running time	76 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$196,200 (Thailand)

Much of the sequel is a recap of the first film, nearly 30 minutes of retelling out of 76 minutes. The rest of the film introduces new information on those events, and new characters, as well as briefly introducing events that would play into the later theatrical films.

Plot

The first 30 minutes of this film is a recap of the previous film, with only the remaining 46 minutes being new material.

Teacher Shunsuke Kobayashi visits the Saeki household but finds his student, the young Toshio Saeki, alone. He finds the corpse of Kayako Saeki hidden in the attic and receives a phone call from her husband Takeo Saeki who reveals he has killed Kobayashi's pregnant wife Manami and butchered her unborn child, believing Kayako was being unfaithful upon discovering she has an obsessive crush on Kobayashi. Kayako's body rises as an Onryō and kills Kobayashi, before tracking down and killing the rampaging Takeo.

Sometime later, a woman named Kyoko helps her brother Tatsuya, a real estate agent, to examine the Saeki house and put it on the market. Disturbed by the house, Kyoko leaves, visiting her nephew Nobuyuki in the apartment once owned by Kobayashi. They witness a vision of Takeo murdering Manami and are affected by the Saeki curse. Tatsuya moves them to his parents' house in the countryside, where Kyoko is seemingly possessed and rocks back and forth, whilst Nobuyuki has become mute. Convinced the Saeki house's curse is responsible, Tatsuya heads off to investigate. The current residents of the Saeki house, Yoshimi and Hiroshi Kitada, become affected by the curse. Yoshimi murders her husband by bludgeoning him with a frying pan and kills Tatsuya when he visits. All of Tatsuya's family save Nobuyuki die from the curse.

Around a month later, detectives Kamio and Iizuka observe Nobuyuki, who is still mute. Both visit police officer Yoshikawa, who has been driven insane by his investigation of the deaths surrounding the Saeki house. After the visiting detectives leave, Kayako appears in Yoshikawa's home and kills both him and his wife. At the police station, Kamio gets frightened when he sees Kayako, alerting Iizuka and another female officer who go to check his office. Kamio remains outside out of fear and is killed when Kayako reappears.

At school, Nobuyuki spots Kayako outside the window, and she suddenly opens and crawls in through it. Nobuyuki flees whilst pursued by Kayako. A second Kayako appears while he attempts to escape through the stairs. Both ghosts corner Nobuyuki in a science lab and kill him.

Meanwhile, three schoolgirls named Saori, Chiaki, and Ayano visit the now-abandoned Saeki house on a dare and drink from a bottle of sake lying around, finding that it tastes horrible. In the end, as they explore the second floor, they notice something bad has happened inside the attic.

Cast

Main article: List of The Grudge characters

• Yūko Daike as Kyoko Suzuki (鈴木 響子, Suzuki Kyōko)
• Makoto Ashikawa as Tatsuya Suzuki (鈴木 達也, Suzuki Tatsuya)
• Kahori Fujii as Yoshimi Kitada (北田 良美, Kitada Yoshimi)
• Yūrei Yanagi as Shunsuke Kobayashi (小林 俊介, Kobayashi Shunsuke)
• Ryota Koyama as Toshio Saeki
• Takako Fuji as Kayako Saeki
• Takashi Matsuyama as Takeo Saeki
• Kaei Okina as Hiroshi Kitada (北田 洋, Kitada Hiroshi)
• Tomohiro Kaku as Nobuyuki Suzuki (鈴木 信之, Suzuki Nobuyuki)
• Taizo Mizumura as Taiji Suzuki (鈴木 泰二, Suzuki Taiji)
• Harumi Matsukaze as Fumi Suzuki (鈴木 ふみ, Suzuki Fumi)
• Yue as Manami Kobayashi (小林 真奈美, Kobayashi Manami)
• Denden as Yoshikawa (吉川)
• Taro Suwa as Kamio (神尾)

Release

Ju-On 2: The Curse was released in Japan on home video on March 25, 2000.

Stage adaptation

A stage play adaptation of Ju-On was developed in 2023. It adapts the plots from this film and its prequel.

Reception

The website Moira Reviews wrote that, although Ju-On: The Grudge was the high point of the film series, The Curse, although a B-budget film, did "produce a number of uncanny scares – the images of the mother’s croaking body crawling down the stairs; the eerie appearances of the little boy. Especially effective is the scene where a mother sees her bloodied daughter walking up the stairs and follows a trail of bloody footprints."

Sources

• Choi, Jinhee; Wada-Marciano, Mitsuyo (2009). Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-9622099739.
• Kalat, David (2007). J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond. Vertical Inc. ISBN 978-1-932234-08-4.

External links

• Ju-On: The Curse 2 at IMDb
• Ju-on 2 (Ju-on: The Curse 2) at Rotten Tomatoes