The Grudge 2

The moral of this story seems to be don't venture into creepy houses or accuse Jennifer Beals of serving up a badly cooked breakfast.

Either way, you're likely to be despatched to the next world - by virtue of a murderous apparition or the base of a flying frying pan.

This remake of the Japanese horror sequel Ju-on: The Grudge 2 bears only a passing resemblance to the original even if is directed by Takashi Shimizu.

Amber Tamblyn plays the sister who is despatched to Tokyo to bring back her sister (Michelle Gellar) after her shattering experience in the city's most haunted house.

Under arrest in hospital on suspicion of murdering her boyfriend in an arson attack, she briefly meets sis before plummeting to her death from the clinic roof.

Amber and journalist Eason (Chen) now attempt to halt the insatiable revenge of murdered mum Kayako (Takako Fiji) and her lethal nipper Toshio (Ohga Tanaka).

However, "the grudge" is spreading its deadly net - to a trio of Tokyo schoolgirls who foolishly enter the house and Beals' new family thousands of miles away in Chicago.

Followers of the death-dealing curse will be familiar with the modus operandi - the appearance of a blue-skinned nipper or his flowing-barnetted mom as presagers of an early grave.

Although the grudge has cast its tentacles further afield, the net result is still the same - a series of unrelated deaths of those that cross its path with a nasty creaking noise as a disturbing accompaniment.

"There can be no end to what has started," gasps one old crone ahead of her imminent despatch. And she might well be right. Shimizu is on his sixth variation of a theme...and just about to start the seventh.

Tim Evans