10 Horror Movie Sequels That Started In Surprising Ways

2. The Grudge 2

The Grudge 2 Karen Davis Kyako Sarah Michelle Gellar
Columbia Pictures

Having survived plentiful supernatural chicanery in 2004's The Grudge, Sarah Michelle Gellar's Karen Davis was back for another round of spooky shenanigans for that movie's 2006 follow-up.

As The Grudge 2 begins, we come to learn that Karen is laid up in a Japanese hospital following the fiery finale of the first film. When Karen's sister Aubrey heads to Tokyo to retrieve her elder sibling, things immediately take a turn for the worse during the picture's opening moments.

When Karen panics after seeing the sinister Kayako spirit which plagued her in The Grudge, she bolts from her hospital bed and winds up on the building's roof. Convinced that the visage of Kayako is merely her own mind playing tricks on her, SMG's character finds out the hard way that that's not the case, with Kayako flinging Karen to her death from the hospital rooftop.

In a surprise move, it then becomes clear that The Grudge 2 will instead follow the story of Amber Tamblyn's Aubrey as she takes centre-stage and has to deal with her own supernatural chicanery in this so-so sequel.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.