Ju-On: The Grudge 2 DVD Review

This time we are treated to English menus... so at least I know exactly what I'm missing with Grudge 2! Sadly, unless you can speak Japanese or read Korean text you're going to lose out on the full supplemental features experience - there are no English subtitles again.

Disc one has the movie, a thirty minute Making Of documentary, a twenty five minute Cast And Crew interviews feature, a Teaser, two trailers and T.V. Spots. Disc 2 has more of the same... with a few “now we know why they're not in the movie” deleted scenes. Continuity is a storyboard feature and Promotion Clip is pretty self-explanatory. A great package... as long as you're Japanese or Korean, and interesting if somewhat unintelligible if, like me, you're not!
Until reviewing these Ju-on DVDs I knew absolutely nothing about the movies. Now I've seen them - they will find themselves added to my collection.

The first thing that's immediately apparent is how clean the image is - unlike the first Grudge there are no scratches or flecks of dirt here - and although not as sharp as the very best DVD has to offer, Ju-on: The Grudge 2 is reasonably sharp and detailed throughout. I didn't notice any edge enhancement this time, either. There is a grey/green quality about the image, but I assume that's deliberate - it certainly enhances the horrors that take place! Blacks are deep and strong and fairly free of video noise - all in all this is a very nice transfer.

Following the same setup as the first Grudge we have a very meaty full bit rate DTS offering that simply and fully plumbs the depths of bass tones to the limit - and I love it! There is also a 384 Kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 offering that is a good eight decibels quieter than its DTS counterpart, and fails to shake the foundations of ones abode in quite the same fashion. The DTS track offers a much fuller and more intense experience here, and the only really negative thing I have to say audio wise regards the high pitched screaming of some of the actresses involved - at reference levels it all becomes a little too shrill; when the guys scream (yes, men scream also!) things aren't quite so bad. I also found that the rear channels were used a little more this time round, and the whole audio side of things is a definite step up from its predessessor.