Female Beauty

“The Grudge 2” is a sequel, a remake and a remake of a sequel, which — as far as Hollywood is concerned — makes it a safe bet three times over. True to predictions, the movie was a cool hit for the early Halloween spirit season, being the top-grossing film of the weekend. With the slim sexy, 23-year-old actress, Amber Tamblyn, best known as the title character in the critically acclaimed, sadly short-lived series “Joan of Arcadia” (2003-2005), the Sony Pictures’ PG-13 horror film soared to a respectable to $20.8 million opening, handily claiming the top spot for the frame.

Amber Tamblyn, this time playing a woman terrorized by angry spirits, knows a little something about horror.  Her father, Russ Tamblyn, starred in the classic “The Haunting” (1963), as well as in the likes of “Dracula vs. Frankenstein” (1971) and “Blood Screams” (1988). Based on her background, and knowing Takashi will direct the movie was a really important element to her so she said yes, when she was offered the chance to star in “The Grudge 2.” Takashi Shimizu, who had directed both “The Grudge” (2004) and “Ju-On” (2003), the Japanese film on which it was based, as well as a couple of Japanese sequels, according to The New York Times. “So I was a little excited after I heard all of that about ‘The Grudge 2′, then I read the script and was even more excited.” said Tamblyn.

“The Grudge“, a haunted house movie, had Sarah Michelle Gellar playing Karen, an American woman who moves to Japan only to find herself dealing with a malevolent curse that overwhelms its victims with fear before moving on to someone else. Karen tried to burn the spooky house down but the curse still holds: anyone who goes in there will have the stringy haired-girl and her creepy blue little boy breathing down their necks.

In “The Grudge 2“, Tamblyn plays Karen’s younger sister, Aubrey. Karen is the good girl, all-American, great in school, really close with her mother, while Aubrey is timid and quiet and doesn’t really know what she’s doing. She’s sort of living in her sister’s shadow, the underdog of her family.

“Her mother, who is really, really sick, then calls upon her to say, ‘Your sister is in the hospital. We don’t know what the hell is going on. She tried to burn down a house. She’s in a mental institution. She might die. Go see her.’, says Tamblyn.  “And so Aubrey has to go to Japan by herself”.
“That’s really interesting because, to me, metaphorically, it’s very much the same element of her going in to try and figure out what the Grudge actually is, trying to figure out that mystery and getting caught up in it through the web that her sister has spun.”

Tamblyn also revealed that when she was accepted to play in The Grudge 2, her “initial reaction was much trepidation, only for the fact that I’d done the first ‘Ring’ film. I was thinking, ‘Well, I’ve done my horror movie.’ There’s always a fear of being put in this weird typecast position of, ‘Oh, she only does this.’ Plus ‘Grudge 2′ is another horror film, and there have been like a ton of really crappy horror films that have come out that I’ve seen in the last two years, that I really wasn’t stoked about. And it’s a sequel. So it had a lot of things going against my doing it.”

Tamblyn’s role as Naomi Watts’ cousin in The Ring (2002) was a bit part, so she was certainly safe from being typecasted solely on the basis of that movie. She also played in an episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (2001) as a guest-star.

Amber has signed on to star next in The Blackout, a new thriller directed by Rigoberto Castaneda and written by Valerio Morabito and Ed Dougherty. The movie revolves around three people who are trapped in a hospital elevator for almost 24 hours as what at first seems like an inconvenience turns into a nightmare. Tamblyn will play a young woman who is trying to get to her grandmother in the hospital who is moments away from death.
 
With a strong opening, “The Grudge 2″ looks as if it will hold well into next weekend, earning most of its box office before Lionsgate releases its horror behemoth “Saw III” on Oct. 27. However, if exit pollster Cinema score means anything, “The Grudge 2″ is likely to fall pretty severely next weekend. The film earned a C- from audiences, with even younger audiences rating the film with the average score. Directed by Takashi Shimizu, the Japanese-helmer who directed the original version as well as its Japanese sequels, “Grudge 2″ drew in horror fans but that may not continue if negative word-of-mouth spreads.

Here are the top 10 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday (13 Oct) through Sunday (15 Oct). This data compiled on Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:

1. “The Grudge 2,” Sony, $20,825,300, 3,211 locations, one week.
2. “The Departed,” Warner Bros., $19,034,294, 3,017 locations, two weeks.
3. “Man of the Year,” Universal, $12,299,380, 2,515 locations, one week.
4. “Open Season,” Sony, $11,112,795, 3,687 locations, three weeks.
5. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning,” New Line, $7,485,290, 2,820 locations, two weeks.
6. “The Marine,” Fox, $7,138,774, 2,545 locations, one week.
7. “The Guardian,” Disney, $5,866,998, 3,044 locations, three weeks.
8. “Employee of the Month,” Lionsgate, $5,271,088, 2,579 locations, two weeks.
9. “One Night With the King,” Gener8xion Entertainment, $4,106,862, 909 locations, one week.
10. “Jackass Number Two,” Paramount, $3,329,091, 2,330 locations, four weeks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 at 1:08 am and is filed under Career, Entertainment, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.