|
Two
siblings, Lisa and Max, are living in the haunted
Chicago apartments from The Grudge 2 together with their
younger sister who has a chronical disease. Almost
everyone else in the building has died under mysterious
circumstances and there aren't many tenants left. Now,
the curse is taking over the family of three. Will they
be able to stop it or will the curse consume them?
When I saw the first Japanese The Grudge movie I was in
love. I loved every movie in the franchise until the
sequel to the American remake was released. That movie
was just ridiculous and the box-office numbers proved
that I wasn't the only one who thought so. Perhaps this
is why they decided to send The Grudge 3 straight to DVD.
So what's this DTV sequel like? Well it's SLIGHTLY
better than the last movie in the franchise but what
ruined it completely for me was the fact that there
was no sign of Yuya Ozeki or Takako Fuji (more
commonly known as Toshio and Kayako - the ghosts from
the previous six movies). It's just not the same
without them you know. Instead we have a new Toshio
and Kayako and they are just terrible replacements.
Toshio didn't even look Japanese. I mean, what the heck.
Story-wise, The Grudge 3 isn't bad. In fact I would
have to say that it's filled with potential and that
it could've been quite good had this actually been
intended for a theatrical release. It's about a little
girl who lives with her older brother and sister in an
apartment complex in Chicago - the same one where The
Grudge 2 ended. The complex is almost completely abandoned
due to all the freak deaths in the building and the
family of three are struggling with the income. Soon
enough the grudge starts to affect them and they have
to figure out a way to stop it before it's too late.
The movie goes pretty much where you expect it to go
and doesn't add much new stuff to the story - and
the little back-story that it adds is pretty ridiculous.
When it comes to the production it looks on par with
other high-end DTV horror sequels such as Vacancy 2
and Boogeyman 3. I will say though that the acting is
slightly better than expected. In fact, the only thing
really weighing it down are the scares. The suspenseful
scenes where Kayako and Toshio aren't involved work
brilliantly - it's only the ghost scenes that are down
right terrible. In fact, there's a scene where Kayako
is crawling out of a painting (I know right) that is
so hysterical that you can't help but to laugh. Mainly
due to the lousy acting. She looks more like a discoloured
blow-up doll than a creepy ghost.
You know, for a DTV sequel to a crappy last entry shot
mainly in Bulgaria despite the fact that it's supposed
to take place in Chicago it's not that bad. I'm sure
that many teen girls will get a kick out of this one
and it even has some decent gore in it. However, this
shouldn’t have been an entry in The Grudge franchise,
it should've been a stand-alone movie without Kayako
and Toshio in it. A good story gone to waste to say the
least. Not worth checking out unless you liked The
Grudge 2 - and who did?
A pretty gory scene where one gets a knife through the
throat. Also, there's a quick flash of a cool gory body.
Am I repeating myself often here? Anyway, it's nothing
spectacular. Standard stuff.
It's unintentionally funny, it's got two of the worst
ghosts ever in it and it's just not that great. Unless
you were a big fan of "The Grudge 2" I can't recommend
this sequel. It's certainly not on par with the other
five The Grudge movies if you ask me.
|
