When The Grudge opened in October 2004, horror fans around the world embraced Takashi Shimizu’s hauntingly disturbing thriller, elevating it to almost $190 million at the global box office. The enthusiastic reaction to Takashi Shimizu’s tale of a horrifying curse that causes its victims to die in the grip of a powerful rage hit a nerve with English and non-English-speaking audiences and only whetted their appetite for more.
Shimizu decided to delve further into the fascinating revenge-seeking curse he first explored in the Japanese-language hit Ju-On. As Shimizu explains, “If The Grudge 2 had been the same story as Ju-On 2, I would’ve said no to directing it, because it would no longer have been fun for me just to remake the same material. When the producers promised me a new story, however, I was eager to delve deeper into the mystery of ‘The Grudge’ character and her new victims.”
Screenwriter Stephen Susco, who adapted the first film, was given the challenge to create the next step in “The Grudge” legend. “We knew that we wanted the latest installment to blaze a new trail, to deepen and enrich the story we already knew,” he says. “So the development process was much more intensive than on the first film. We explored a variety of different storylines and a myriad of characters and continued to refine them until we had the core of a strong narrative.”
Adds Shimizu: “The mystery of the curse, which was not explained in the first Grudge, is now revealed. Yet, even for those who never saw the first film or any of my Japanese versions, I have told the new story in such a way that everyone can understand and enjoy it without any previous knowledge or background.”
“While the house is still the core of this movie, the ‘Grudge’ travels to many different places in The Grudge 2,” promises Shimizu. The new storylines further explore the mysteries of the “Grudge” and also demonstrate how the curse has spread beyond the doomed house where it began.
Amber Tamblyn, who stars in The Grudge 2, says that what captivated her about the script was the interconnected storylines. “When I was reading the script, I remember jumping between my story and the others that were woven around it and being excited to see what was going to happen next to the other characters.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who returns in The Grudge 2, offers, “From the start everyone agreed that this was scarier than the first movie, mainly because you get to meet the characters and know so much more about them personally. For example, the character of Allison, played by Arielle Kebbel, is someone the audience really gets to experience and learn what her life is about before she meets ‘The Grudge.’”
As Kebbel herself explains, “Since The Grudge 2 is a horror film, there is not a lot of time for character development. Shimizu-san and I made Allison the type of character you need no words to understand. When you first see her trying to catch up to the ‘cool’ girls at the international high school, you just can't help but feel bad for her. From her uneven socks, brown penny loafers, funny outfit, all the way down to her awkward posture ... it would simply be a pity to not pity Allison.”
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