Takashi Shimizu's follow-up to the American remake of his own celebrated horror opus bears little resemblance to the Japanese sequel Ju-On 2: The Grudge.

The story line is completely different, employing a confusing multi-layered narrative to delve deeper into the back-story of vengeful long-haired spirit Kayako (Fuji) and her son Toshio (Tanaka), whose violent deaths in a Tokyo house give birth to the malevolent curse.

Sarah Michelle Gellar reprises her role as care worker Karen Davis, who endured the full force of The Grudge in the first film and tried to escape the spirits by setting light to the house.

In the aftermath of the blaze, Karen is confined to hospital, haunted by her hellish experience.

The local police are preparing to charge her with the murder of her boyfriend, who was trapped inside the house.

Back in America, Karen's bed-ridden mother (Cassidy) learns of Karen's predicament and she entreats her other daughter, Aubrey (Tamblyn), to travel to Japan to escort Karen back home.

At the hospital, Aubrey meets handsome photographer Eason (Chen), and together they become embroiled in Karen's battle with Kayako and Toshio.

Meanwhile, in one of the city's schools, misfit Allison (Kebbel) tries to win the respect of popular girls Vanessa (Palmer) and Miyuki (Uno) by accompanying them into the burned-out haunted house.

In a third storyline, set in a Chicago apartment building, Trish (Beals) moves in with her fiance Bill (Cousins), whose young son Jake (Knight) resents the new woman in his father's life.

Aside from a couple of cheap shocks like Kayako suddenly emerging from a black and white photograph, The Grudge 2 fails to thrill or unsettle.

Kayako, with her raspy guttural breathing and jerky movements, appears so frequently that she loses her power to spook us.

Performances are perfunctory - Tamblyn and Kebbel look like rabbits caught in the headlights of the plot's wild leaps of logic - and most of the characters are undernourished.

The Grudge 2 will doubtless spawn a third film in the series, but Shimizu should probably lay Kayako and Toshio to rest now.