Reviewed - Jo-On: The Grudge 2: ONE could be cynical and re-title this Japanese sequel as Jo-in the Dots 2, such is the familiarity of its plotting and motifs. Having had huge success with the first Ju-On movie in his native Japan, writer-director Takashi Shimizu has found it impossible to resist returning to the subject again and again through sequels and US remakes, all of which he has directed. And there's more on the way.

At least he manages to conjure up a few decent scares in the sequel released here today, and he reveals a playful sense of humour, however twisted, when a schoolgirl extra screams during the shooting of a film and gets berated for not sticking to the script. What none of the crew realises is that she has witnessed something terrifying that they haven't seen.

The sequel again follows the structure of chapters named after individual characters and feature overlapping scenes as observed from different perspectives. The most interesting character is pregnant actress Kyoko (Norika Sakai), who is tiring of her image as a horror-movie queen and planning to move on after appearing in a TV documentary set in a supposedly haunted house where the occupants have disappeared mysteriously or been murdered.

As the movie follows its circuitous narrative arc, the plotting is generally formulaic and predictable, but there are incidental details to savour. When a TV reporter asks Kyoko if she undergoes ritual purification before making a movie, the actress replies, "Yes, but only for horror movies." This horror movie introduces what has to be cinema's first haunted photocopier, and a wig that moves menacingly along the floor and extends itself into the form of a noose to hang unsuspecting minor characters. It is not recommended viewing for anybody who is pregnant.