Through their "lunatics-run-the-asylum" production house Ghost House, producer Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Spider-Man 1 & 2) has enlisted the talents of Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On: The Curse, Ju-On: The Grudge), the creator of the film on which this is based, to bring this to life. The result is a bigger budget version with the same wickedly frightening sensibility.

The plot has expatriat American Karen Davis (Gellar), a trainee social worker, living in Tokyo.  When one day she agrees to cover for a social worker who hasn't shown up for work, she is sent to a house that has been cursed. The curse, born when someone dies in a fit of rage, haunts anyone who inhabits the house. Karen must go to any lengths to discover the cause of the supernatural curse and unravel the mystery behind the grudge before any further deaths.

In terms of the filmmaking, the dialogue has undergone a little U.S. polish and the structure, while similar and just as disturbing, is more cohesive. As a result, this is a tightly wound spring coil just waiting to be unleashed. Unlike The Ring, which was a sanitised if successful version of the original, The Grudge has the same trademark visceral aesthetic and eerie feel of the original. It also doesn't have the linear chronology of most American horror films (or most American films in general), but it has a great strength in being uncompromising, no doubt attributable to Shimizu's input. Visually this apple has not fallen far from the tree.

A post-Buffy Gellar is well suited to the role, despite it being a million miles away from the Vampire Slayer, her second skin for almost a decade. Away too from the ludicrous Scooby Doo franchise, she proves her move from prime time TV to the big screen wasn't for naught. Her take on Karen has a subtlety that should never be confused with underperformance.

Director Takashi Shimizu is in familar territory (he even employed a few actors from Ju-On). By the time he made this film, he'd been around the mythology of Ju-On: The Grudge in two Japanese films, and has signed on to direct the American sequel. Although the story will be familiar to those who've seen the original, you haven't seen this film before. It's as strikingly haunting and atmospheric as any film in recent memory.

It has a gritty look with a very dark texture. The scenes in bright sunlight are fully saturated with no evidence of bleeding. There's nary a foreign element here, and the few strays that are present don't dampen the spirits. There are a lot of dark scenes in the feature, and black levels have been rendered satisfactorily.

In fact, it might not be unfair to say the film's just a little too dark at times, but this is probably a choice based on style rather than a technical deficiency.  Some of the jump starts are more effective the way things are.

The VBR is kept really high, which is almost expected as the feature has quite a short running time.

It's a visually stunning film that has had a solid transfer to DVD.

The audio mix is almost like another menacing character, with tense music, and heavy industrial sound effects, to say nothing of the screams, howls and screeches from various castmembers. There are also many moments of complete silence - that are pin-drop quiet, with no hiss at all.

There are some distinctive uses of surround information. At the 32 minute mark, a character moves ethereally all around the entire sound stage, and there is a stairway sequence with incredible spatial sound as well. These scenes, and many others, get all speakers firing and make the surround track really worthwhile.  The score is heavy on the violins, and generally the film works from the same industrial blueprint.

While it doesn't have the normal surround sound staples (explosions, helicopters, machinegun fire, etc) it has an incredible presence that will make full use of most systems.

A Powerful Rage: Behind the Grudge is featurette that takes an ample look at the shooting on the streets of Tokyo. It interviews core cast and crew and doesn't end up being overly self-congratulatory.  There is a lack of English subtitles for interviews given in Japanese that might be a little annoying for English-only audiences.

With the help of a psychologist, the Under the Skin featurette delves into the physiological effects of the fear response, and illustrates how they've been targeted by intercutting with appropriate footage from the film. It is shorter than A Powerful Rage, but arguably infinitely more interesting and relevant. Last but not least, the theatrical trailer is very flashy indeed, and generates a tremendous amount of interest for the film.

With the only real negative being some audiences won't get the maximum benefit out of the extras (with no subtitles at some times), the assembled extras are of good quality, both in terms of content and quality.

The DVD is the whole package: stunning visuals, and a chilling audio mix, including a phenomenal surround track. A generous compliment of bonus materials rounds out a fantastic overall package.