[The Grudge 3]
Plot:Follows a young Japanese woman who holds the secret to ending the curse of the Grudge. She travels to a haunted Chicago apartment building where she encounters a family battling to survive the ghosts. Together they confront the ghost of Kayako to save their souls from their impending tragic fate.

Cast:Matthew Knight, Shawnee Smith, Beau Mirchoff, Johanna Braddy.

My Thoughts:She's back, she's pissed, and she's pale!

Review:After "The Grudge 2", it was a slam dunk that there'd be a third film. But what no one expected was that it'd be a straight-to-dvd release. But alas, Ghost House and Sony decided to take this series to home disc, and the end result? An obviously budget-cutted...yet still satisfactory third film. Picking right up where "The Grudge 2" left off, where Jake's family was killed, Allison was the last person to be taken by Kayako, and she had her sights set on snatching Jake away next...it's been a window of time (although unspecified), since those events. Jake hasn't aged much though, so it's seemingly as if maybe a few months have passed?

Jake is now in a psychiatric clinic under the care of one Dr. Ann Sullivan (Shawnee Smith), who is trying to do what most doctors do in horror movies. Convince Jake that he's insane, and there is no ghostly pale woman with a chilling croak, stalking him. This is the films opening scene, and this movie opens on a really awesome note as Kayako soon shows up in typical out-of-freaking-nowhere fashion, and proves Dr. Sullivan wrong in very graphic and bloody fashion.

So after the opening credits, we're taken back to the building in Chicago from part two, where apparently Kayako still resides because not everyone in the building has been claimed by the curse. Although the finale of part two made it seem that way. Now she must be stopped before she kills what's left of the buildings residents. One of the major players in part three is the buildings landlord, who is being pressured by a corporate suit because he cannot rent out the apartments where Kayako's most recent victims once lived. And who would wanna live there anyways right? He's also taking care of his younger sister and a sick little girl who has some sort of non-asthmatic breathing issues.

So what do we find out in the third film as far as new secrets are concered? Well we find out that Shawnee Smith has alot of range as an actress, as she plays Dr. Sullivan very well in the movie. Her character is similar to Amanda from the ''Saw" movies as far as when she gets emotional is concerned, but beyond that the two characters are extremely different. Mostly because Dr. Sullivan isn't a psychopath.

We also learn more about the curse and how it works, we learn that Kayako has suddenly taken on her husbands nasty habit of breaking necks, and another relative of Kayako's makes an appearance and also plays a crucial role in the movies overall storyline up until deciding it's eventual outcome. But this "Grudge" movie really ratchets up the violence, and some fans of this series might not be happy with that, while others might.

But if you look at the series as a whole...the violence has escalated gradually from the first film, into part two, and now part 3 which is by far the most violent of the series with neck-breaking, stabbings, and body-breaking/contortioning on a massive scale. I liked this film beyond it's more hardcore approach to the kills though. It expands the story a little bit, opens things up for more films and new characters, and it also manages to maintain the high creep factor that part two ushered in.

I am also pleased to see this is one horror series which has gotten better as it's gone along. "The Grudge'' was boring as hell. Part two corrected those mistakes, and part three keeps the overall dark and graphic tone of part two. It also replicates the effects of the curse among the films main characters such as the angry changes in personality, and the eventual anger turning to animalistic violence and rage. This leads the movie into one of the best endings this series has ever had.

I must admit, this movie has a far superior ending to the first two films in the series, part two having the most abrupt ending where Aubrey bites it quite early. However no movie is perfect, and part three has it's fair share of head-scratching moments and annoying ones. This is where the film is far weaker than part two, which for the most part had characters being surprised and abducted by Kayako.

In this movie, characters make the mistake of following the little boy when they shouldn't, and the films lead girl Lisa (Braddy) just makes you wanna hit her over the head with a rolled up newspaper based on the utter stupidity her character exhibits down the tail-end of the movies exciting, thrilling, and suspense-filled finale. I'd actually rank her as one of the dumbest lead females in a horror film ever, or atleast she'd crack the top 10. But on the flipside of that coin this is certainly a true sequel, and even though the movie has a new director...it's ncie to see that no one got the idea to try and make this picture a standalone production.

It mentions characters from part two, and ties up a few loose ends from part two thus creating a solid bond between all three movies. A true trilogy indeed. "The Grudge 3" is a great movie and furthermore great addition to the series. It has it's weak moments which are mostly character-based, but beyond that it's awesome.

Positives:Very graphic with the blood, gore, and violence, strong script and story, a suspense-filled, thrilling, and intense finale, and good performances by Matthew Knight as Jake and Shawnee Smith as Doc. Sullivan.

Negatives:As I mentioned above, the lead girl will surely piss you off during the films ending with her foolish decision making. A staple in the genre, moronic teen girls making equally moronic decisions in life or death situations.

Overall:Three out of four stars.





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