The Grudge 3 poster & wallpaper

Aiko Horiuchi, Beau Mirchoff, Emi Ikehata

A young Japanese woman who holds the key to stopping the evil spirit of Kayako, travels to the haunted Chicago apartment from the sequel, to stop the curse of Kayako once and for all and save a family...( read more  read more... ) who are currently being haunted by her malicious spirit.

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40% liked it

5,155 ratings

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: Toby Wilkins

Release Date: March 24, 2009

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DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (2,656)

  • PC79
    August 20, 2009
    PC79
    It was good, not as good as the first one. Something was missing can't put my finger on it.
  • drblood
    June 23, 2009
    drblood
    While not the biggest fan of The Grudge remakes or even the originals, after re-watching the first 2, I got quite interested in seeing how the story was going to end.
    Unfortunately, with Takashi Shimizu no longer directing the third installment, things didn't so much progress as ...( read more)stagnate in the Chicago apartment building that was already seen in Grudge 2.
    While not a totally awful movie, the atmosphere just wasn't the same and the characters were a lot more irritating. Everything looked a lot brighter too (presumably to show off all the pretty young faces) which meant that there just weren't enough shadows for the vengeful ghosts to jump out of.
    Instead of jump scares, The Grudge 3 went for a lot more gore and is the first one in the franchise to be R-rated. I will admit that the gory bits were nicely done but there was nothing overly inventive about them.
    The biggest problem I had, other than none of it being at all scary, was that this one brought in the Takeo character with a possession storyline that was far too reminiscent of The Shining. Gil McKinney is just not enough of a Jack Nicholson to make it work and it all seems not only forced but very incongruous.
    I didn't actually find any of the acting performances all that credible though anyway but that has been the problem with all the Grudge films. They've all just relied on the gimmick of the little white boy who screeches like a cat and his long haired mother with bulging eyes. There have never really been any attempts at anything other than routine performances and the stories have been so all over the place that it's been hard to feel anything for any of the characters anyway,
    To its credit, The Grudge 3 is more linear and not filled with dozens of flashbacks and changes of location. It's easier to follow and, despite Emi Ikehata's horrible almost French pronunciations of every "the" word as "ze", it's a lot easier to listen to without Sarah Michelle Gellar's whininess. As much as I liked how Sarah Michelle Gellar looked as Buffy, I've never liked her voice. But that's a moot point since she isn't in The Grudge 3 at all and Emi Ikehata is a lot better looking anyway.
    Without giving too much away, The Grudge 3 doesn't make enough use of Toshio and Kayako. One scene with Toshio was so ludicrous that it threw me right out of the film but all the scenes with Kayako do that because I'm warped and think that she's hot!
    As I said, this one is all about bringing Takeo into the story before setting things up for a whole new "Grudge" or "Curse" (I still don't know why they translated Ju-on as "Grudge" which seems a silly word to use in the context of what these movies are about). By the end of it all, you can almost feel the producers champing at the bit to make The Grudge 4.
    Personally, I hope The Grudge movies stop here before they end up going the same way as the Saw franchise. There's only so much that you can wring out of the same characters (especially if the only interesting ones are already dead) before it ends up as silly as yet another parody by the Scary Movie gang. Oops, too late...
    Anyway, to sum things up, The Grudge 3 was an entertaining film but was by far the weakest of the American versions. Fans of The Grudge will probably still enjoy it but it could have and should have been a lot better.
    It wasn't boring but it was very miscast, had a lot of plot holes, and wasn't very effective as a horror movie at all. It went straight to DVD and that in itself says all you really need to know.
  • cacutshaw
    August 24, 2009
    cacutshaw
    Doesn't count as a Ju on film. Watch The Grudge: Old Woman in White for the real Grudge 3 (or if you hate the Ju on series, please skip it. I'm sick to death of people saying Shimizu's terrifying films aren't scary).
  • liquidstone14
    June 20, 2009
    liquidstone14
    Anyone walking through their local video store's new releases section can acknowledge this : throughout the last decade, straight-to-video sequels have been given an unusual boost by motion picture studios. The silver screen is not a necessary transition for films to adopt if the...( read more)y want to see profit. Those lesser continuations seem to be greenlit by the dozen each year. If you still wonder why, though, then maybe you don't understand an important part of the fundamental dynamics in the movie industry : if they want more, just give them more. ''But what if nobody really liked the predecessor?'', I can hear you ask. Well, that's another story, entirely...

    There's something else that's unusual, but this time it's on a more personal level. I realize I am very probably alone among the ones of my kind, but there you go : I sort of liked Takashi Shimizu's 2004 remake of The Grudge (yes, that one with Sarah Michelle Gellar), as well as its 2006 sequel (yes, the one with Sarah Michelle Gellar in it for 5 minutes). They sure as hell are not objectively 'good' pieces of cinema, nor are they deliciously enjoyable thrill rides-- everyone who has seen either of them can attest there is a deadening, drawn-out mystique separating those creepy set-pieces that prevent them from being just breezy ghostly fun. Say what you want about them, but they are undeniably more patient and less shrill than a whole damn lot of other modern poltergeist tales...

    ...alright, alright. That doesn't make them any more worthwhile, I know. But hey, can't I draw some noteworthy observations out of those viewings of mine?

    If the idea of making another quick buck on the americanized The Grudge franchise is not surprising in the least and frankly quite desperate, the very same can be said about this second sequel as a whole. It's not like anybody was expecting something actually good or any more than just decent-- but to my surprise, Toby Wilkins' The Grudge 3 sometimes gives the illusion of being just decent, and therefore, the whole thing really makes you think about how much theatrically unreleased blockbuster cinema has evolved. For, yes, this new grudge episode is surprisingly not all about cheap, effortless scares. It's by far the most talky of the series (and, consequently, the most boring) and it seems to want to push the Big Bad Evil Curse Mythology in a forward direction instead of only exploiting its best tricks.

    Naturally, every new plot point is either an idiotic step in the wrong direction or just a really, really convoluted idea. But you can tell director Toby Wilkins and his crew are not idiots, as they are very mindful of the way the previous installment were constructed, scored and shot. Amazingly, even if The Grudge 3 is crafted out of a significantly smaller budget than the first two, it could almost pass for a planned theatrical release. Oh, sure, it's nothing above competent & professional & serviceable, but it 'works'-- not in the sense that you actually buy what's going onscreen, for you do not. Not in the sense that it's an effective freak-out of a movie, for it is certainly not. But it sure looks and feels like any other one of those run-of-the-mill spookfests that come out a few times each season and gross 30 M$ plus each...!

    Now, don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing remotely inventive or striking in this dull reheated platter. The 'gotcha!' moments only elicit reactions such as 'which one of those scenes is the less unscary?'. There are little bits of R-rated gore scattered here and there, and as close as they get to being something actually arresting, they feel like they belong in other horror universe entirely. It's also really hard to not laugh a little bit at how diminished the 'jerky long-haired woman' effect ends up after fifteen damn times-- in fact, the whole imagery that scared so many viewers in The Grudge borders close to the laughable here. Worse even, the disturbingly robotic dialogue easily sits among the laziest line-writing I can recall in a very long while, gracing us with endless variations on (actual quote) : ''Listen, things are happening and I think we should leave'' for 90 minutes. And that's to say nothing of all that rotten acting on display, with Matthew Knight and Shawnee Smith in brief roles as the only ones that actually look scared, and the rest of the cast failing miserably around them.

    But no matter how just flat-out lame everything is in here, I didn't finish The Grudge 3 irritated or dissapointed (anybody who believed something great could have been harvested out of this project should have gotten a head check more than a while ago). Hear me, readers; there is nothing really insulting in The Grudge 3, except perhaps the spectres of two very superior films looming over all of its scenes, from the crappy ''let's show you flashes of the whole story again!'' exposition to the flatlining character exchanges to the would-be frightening moments.

    Also : not enough ghostly woman croaking.
  • bamadeb77
    May 6, 2009
    bamadeb77
    I like the fact that these movies follow up on one another, like the Saw series. Just like the last two, the storyline is presented in pieces with everything coming together at the end. A little slow to start and confusing at first, scares, blood, and gore seemed well placed in t...( read more)he story. It retains the creepy feeling even if the ghostly scares are all too familiar for viewers. The child actor playing the little boy Toshio looked far too old for the part. I'm sure that those that didn't find the second one appealing have given up on this series already so what's left are those that still find it satisfying.
  • bloodthirsty2010
    November 3, 2009
    bloodthirsty2010
    4 me i will not watch it
  • adamasinas
    November 2, 2009
    adamasinas
    GRANDMA is all around in basketball hehe comedey not horror
  • klaviera
    November 1, 2009
    klaviera
    Very scary movie!!! Make me scream a couple of times.
    In this movie at difference with the past two (The Grudge 1 & 2), reveales that there's a way in wich evil can be stop. For the lovers of this saga is a very recommendable horror movie.
  • SaimaBabe
    October 23, 2009
    SaimaBabe
    LUV DIZ MOVIE PWPA GUD!!!
  • lockedgirl25
    October 23, 2009
    lockedgirl25
    It wasn't even scary =(

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