“The Grudge” films continue to be oddly conservative in their storytelling with “The Grudge 3” (2009). At a point where the series desperately needs a wild twist, it’s still content to chronicle ghost-monsters killing people who unwittingly cross their paths.
Not as scary
The 2004 original is a strong stranger-in-a-strange-land mood piece, and the first sequel is helped by its time-hopping structure. Plus, the director of those films — Takashi Shimizu (who created the saga with the Japanese “Ju-On”) — knows how to stage scares.
In part three, it’s obvious that director Toby Wilkins is not as good at this task. Writer Brad Keene comes up with creative set pieces, like the adult Grudge (Aiko Horiuchi as Kayoko) crawling through a picture frame, and the child Grudge (Shimba Tsuchiya as Toshio) combing the hair of a little girl as she drifts off to sleep.
“The Grudge 3” (2009)
Director: Toby Wilkins
Writer: Brad Keene
Stars: Johanna Braddy, Beau Mirchoff, Shawnee Smith
Something about the lighting (too crisp) or editing (too fast and choppy) makes these moments more funny than scary. Or maybe it’s all old hat by now.
Likable family unit
Even though “G3” won’t win any originality awards, I have to admit I liked it on a basic level. It smartly stays in the Chicago apartment building from “G2,” a homely, lived-in place.
The casting of Johanna Braddy (“UnReal,” “Quantico”) helps tremendously. The Brittany Snow lookalike is easy to watch for the length of a short horror riff as she plays the likable Lisa, a fashion designer who is thinking of moving to New York with boyfriend Andy (Beau Mirchoff).
Building manager Max (Gil McKinney) is her older brother and the leader of their makeshift family unit. (Their folks died offscreen in unexplained fashion.) Lisa and Max are raising 8-year-old sister Rose (Jadie Hobson) – she of the overly affectionate Grudge sleepover pal. Rose has a respiratory condition, although she doesn’t sound as croaky as the Grudges.
“G3” isn’t amused enough with itself to have a scene where scary breathing turns out to be Rose.
Not crazy enough
“G3” is sometimes silly, but mostly logical (within this established narrative). They’re a little slow on the uptake, but at least everyone realizes a string of apartment-building killings isn’t normal, even in Chicago.
Tying things back to the previous films, Tokyo native Naoko (Emi Ikehata) – who has been following the Grudge killings via news clippings — moves to the Windy City to dig into the connections.
Keene sometimes sends us on tangents so the film doesn’t go too long without a kill; for example, a young woman (Mihaela Nankova as Brenda) is sucked from a bathtub into oblivion and never mentioned again. (Three films in, and we don’t know the fate of those who disappear. We can safely assume they’re dead, but it’s still odd.)
For once, someone takes on the Grudges, but even Naoko is a passive observer for too long. The Grudges themselves seem to stage their antics to fill a 90-minute runtime. Since they are immortal and all-powerful, I guess there’s no rush. I scoffed out loud at Naoko’s assertion that a simple ceremony is enough to deal with them.
If you’re mulling watching “The Grudge 3,” your main question will be: “Is it worse than the first two, or way worse?” Thanks to that likable sibling family unit and some lightweight jolts, it’s only a little bit worse.