The Grudge 2

Once again, we're treated to loosely aligned scenes of half-formed characters getting a faceful of director Takashi Shimizu's croaking, implacable, and, yes, still scary housewife-geist.

Once again, we're treated to loosely aligned scenes of half-formed characters getting a faceful of director Takashi Shimizu's croaking, implacable, and, yes, still scary housewife-geist.

While The Grudge 2 feels like a second-generation copy - a little faded, with less impact than the first - there are still plenty of moments that will linger in your nightmares.

There are fun distractions, but it's easy to focus on the flaws.

Puberty causes an exponential increase in evil -- and in incoherence -- in The Grudge 2.

This is not the cool, eerie déjà vu, but the "Hey, isn't that exactly what happened in the first movie?" déjà vu.

A movie so bewildering and impenetrable that I believe it siphoned off a good 40 IQ points.

This is not the cool, eerie déjà vu, but the "Hey, isn't that exactly what happened in the first movie?" déjà vu.

A movie so bewildering and impenetrable that I believe it siphoned off a good 40 IQ points.

Puberty causes an exponential increase in evil -- and in incoherence -- in The Grudge 2.