Have to say...

I actually liked this more then the first film (the U.S. release).

To get the obvious out of the way - the film is a mess, plot and stricture wise. I wasn't entirely against them cutting back and forth between Japan and the U.S. (although I can understand why people would find this jarring, and would instead prefer they focus on one story). I have to think this decision was made to appeal to the U.S. market more.

But at least for me, it didn't bother me that much. The problem I had was how the film absolutely failed to connect the two plot lines together. They tried to sell it like the "rage" of the spirits isn't tied to a location, yet completely fumbled why Karen's sister also became a raging spirit.

It would have made more sense, if we found out that Karen's sister actually had gone through the same things as the spirit girl. So let's say, she also had a lot of rage. So she connects with the spirit. And I guess you could very loosely argue, that her relationship with her mom being rocky, might parallel the spirit's relationship to her mom. But the film never makes that connection.

Instead, Karen's sister is defeated, and gives up. She's upset that the spirit killed her sister and won't stop. So then she...relives what the spirit did, and then that makes her a spirit? Wtf.

So the films plot absolutely falls apart, and the ending itself is a massive failure. But the reason I liked this more then the original, is I found the film to be a lot more engaging.

I recently re-watched the first film, and actually found it didn't hold up that well. The pacing is really slow in spots, the story with Karen barely sets up and never takes off, and then the film hobbles together with the spirit going after others (people we don't care about or even know about). The film is actually kind of baffling, in how underdeveloped the plot is.

And I can't help but feel, the first film focused on visual creepy moments, that were kind of cheesy. Whereas the second one had a lot more atmosphere. The spirit and creepy parts are a lot more aggressive. But the film also has a ton of atmosphere.

So yeah, I can understand why people think this film is bad. Because it kind of is. The plot feels so jumbled, and it all falls apart in the end. And yet, I still feel what we get, is a lot more to chew on. Plus I just found myself enjoying the actual film more.