THE GRUDGE 3

Following the death of his family, Jake is locked in a psychiatric hospital, followed by Dr. Sullivan who believes he is involved in the massacre that occurred in a Chicago apartment. Meanwhile, in the same building where the mysterious bloody events took place, the deaths continue until Naoko arrives from Tokyo who seems to know how to put an end to the curse that drives the ghost of Kayako and her son Toshio to reap countless victims. The curse dictated by the resentment of those who die in violent circumstances shows no sign of abating, so, after a TV series, two Asian films and their respective American remakes, a third made-in-USA episode arrives, but – surprise – for the first time in the saga's history, it's not Takashi Shimizu behind the camera. The Japanese director, in fact, has been the undisputed author of the entire "The Grudge" franchise, writing and directing all episodes of the saga, both the Japanese and American ones; this time, however, Shimizu passes the baton to the young Toby Wilkins, director of the splatter "Splinter," taking on only the role of executive producer. It must be made clear from the outset that "The Grudge 3" is a product destined for the home video distribution market only, so it has a significantly reduced production cost compared to the two projects that preceded it, but despite this, it presents a dignified package, showing that at Ghost House Pictures there is still some care for any film produced. It is disappointing, however, to note that the merits of "The Grudge 3" are limited to the good packaging, because for the rest, they have managed to do worse than the already questionable second episode. The first thing that stands out – and to the mind – of the viewer is the total inconsistency and uselessness of the work, a film that adds nothing to the saga, that never takes off and that fundamentally has nothing to say. Let's say that the screenwriter Brad Keene ("The Gravedancers") tries timidly to insert a "novelty" concerning Kayako's family circle and a possible solution to the evil that drives her to kill. But if the intention was there, in practice nothing is really added to the saga's mythology and that little is thrown into the story in a superficial way, as if even the screenwriter did not have clear ideas about what to say or if he did not believe it himself. The character who should represent a turning point in the development of the story, namely Kayako's sister, is poorly defined and is reduced to a few insignificant appearances, just as the insertion of flashbacks about the two women's childhood is not convincing, clumsy and absolutely inconsistent in explaining the "why" of the evil. But the pinnacle of nullity is reached by the film's epilogue, in which the climax unfolds in a hurried and confused manner, taking for granted some fundamental elements to the film's mission itself, namely explaining the "how" to stop the curse. In short, an approximate and superficial work that does not find a point in its favor even in the entertainment component, since the film unfolds in a slow, boring and repetitive way, relying on the same scenes of supposed tension that involve the appearance of the ghosts, recycled from the previous chapters and therefore now ineffective, also because they are handled in a more bland way than usual (and here the lack of Shimizu's hand is felt). The director, who comes from the world of special effects and can count on the almost cult aura of his previous film ("Splinter"), has fun accentuating for the first time in the saga's history the gore component, unfortunately failing in the attempt, given the gratuitousness of some scenes and the general ineffectiveness of the blood scenes (though scarce). The cast loses two fundamental faces of the saga, namely Takako Fuji and Yuya Ozeki, the actors who played Kayako and Toshio respectively in the entire "The Grudge" saga (Asian and American), here replaced by Aiko Horiuchi and Shimba Tsuchiya. The rest of the cast only features the known face of Shawnee Smith, the Amanda Young of the "Saw" saga, here reduced to a tiny role that sees her in the role of a psychiatrist, and a cameo is also reduced to the young Matthew Knight ("Skinwalkers"), the only point of connection with the previous film. "The Grudge" is a saga that has been over-exploited and every additional film demonstrates the difficulty of adding any novelty to a plot that already seemed flimsy at its debut. This third chapter is useless and frankly bad in every aspect, so avoiding it would be the best thing to do, even for the die-hard fans of "The Grudge".