my very brief thoughts on.... 'Ju-On 2' (2003)

if you watched 'Ju-On' (2000) the movie that started the whole franchise machine of 'Ju-On' and the American counterpart 'The Grudge'.... then you've seen 30 minutes of 'Ju-On 2' already.... yup, they recycle a whole lot of the footage from the first movie.... which doesn't lend itself to a great sequel.... not that the original was all that great to begin with.... it was death after death and a confusing plot inbetween.... the second one kind of follows the same formula, but with only an hour of new movie.... kind of feels like cheating, you know....? i personally found the remakes of part 1 and 2 to be much better than the originals.... i rarely say that, but it's true.... i did hate part 3, but they can't all be winners.... the same thing holds true for 'Ringu' and the American counterpart 'The Ring'.... the remake was so much better than the original.... actually, 'The Ring' holds up as a great horror movie all on its own.... but stay away from 'The Ring 2'.... good god it's a trainwreck of a movie with no redeeming qualities.... ugh....

i can't say that i even remember exactly what the plot was from this movie.... but what i do remember is that the house from the first one is re-visited and the killings start again.... the woman and the little boy start popping up all over town killing those who've entered the home.... that is pretty much it....
in the end, i'm kind of surprised that i gave this 2 out of 5 stars.... i guess i'm a sucker for the stringy haired ghosts from Japan.... they creep me out.... but in this movie, she's not scary.... the story isn't great.... there just isn't much good to mention about this movie.... nothing at all.... which all in all is a damn shame.... it just means that it's one more nail in the coffin for these types of ghost stories.... maybe they're overdone, but i don't care.... i like em'.... just not this one.

if you actually watch this, don't blame me.... i didn't make you

my brief thoughts on.... 'The Toolbox Murders' (1978)

i'm not sure if you saw the remake of this movie by Tobe Hooper.... but this movie and that one have no real connection other than the fact that they both involve tools.... that's where the similarities end.... one of the big differences is that this movie is one of those, "Based on an actual events" movies.... whether or not that's true, i didn't research.... but that's what they say.... now if you're coming into this movie expecting murders by someone with a toolbox.... well, you're half right.... for the first 20 -30 mins or so, that's what happens.... but for the remaining hour.... there is no such occurance.... it's all creepy monologues and some twists and turns.... really slow twists and turns.... this is by no means an exciting movie.... it has very little redeeming qualities and is not something i would readily recommend to anyone else.... not that the Tobe Hooper version was any better.... but at least it had Sheri Moon Zombie in it for the opening scene....

as the story goes.... someone is killing the residents of an apartment complex with a toolbox full of tools.... he's killing those who are impure.... women only.... after killing 4 women, the police have no leads and no clues.... all they have is 4 dead women and a 5th that seems to have been kidnapped.... the brother of the girl begins his own search for her as the police aren't being very helpful.... they soon reveal who the killer is and add a twist.... it kind of brings the story to a screeching halt and it sputters to an end with a whimper, not a bang.
i honestly had hoped for something more.... as this is brought up a lot in slasher movie circles.... but sadly, i was let down.... 1 out of 5 stars is all i could muster for it.... this movie just suffers from all of the bad cliche's of the 70's cinema.... and it hasn't aged well at all.... the killer is lame.... the story is confusing and dull.... the fact that it's based on actual events doesn't seem to help either.... it seems like an attempt to be like 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or something.... uninspired, boring and not worth the hour and a half it takes to watch it.... find something more constructive to do with your time.

if you watch this, go watch something better: 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974), 'The Burning' or a Lifetime original movie