Unlike the previous Grudge films, this one doesn't involve multiple storylines mixed together out of chronological order. In fact, this one pretty much has the main story that features the people who live in the cursed apartment complex. There aren't multiple groups of characters that you have to keep track of and piece things together as you go. Whether you think that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you, but to me, that was part of the style of The Grudge and that's one of the reasons why The Grudge 3 feels much more like every other American horror flick out there.
In The Grudge 3, the sole survivor of the previous film is still tormented by visions of Kayako and Toshio (who are both played by different actors this time around). When the young survivor, Jake (Matthew Knight), finally becomes the curse's next victim, his doctor decides to investigate the apartment complex he is from and the place where his parents died. There, she not only meets a few tenants, but a trio of orphaned-siblings, the oldest of which is the apartment complex's manager.
This small family consists of the trio's guardian and older brother, Andy (Beau Mirchoff), a sister of 19 or so, Lisa (Johanna E. Braddy) and an 8 year-old sister, Rose (Jadie Hobson), whose health has been declining because of a chronic disease. Lisa is planning on moving away in hopes of getting a good job to help send money and support to Andy and Rose, but Andy sees her move as more of a chance to get away from their tattered life. This strife is just the opening the curse needs to start working.
The Grudge 3 builds on a lot of the mythos established in the previous two films. Where Grudge 2 introduced the fact that men can become possessed with Takeo Saeki, as well as Kayako's unusual childhood, this third part expands on both of those aspects and introduces a new character, Daisuke (Takatsuna Mukai) who seems to know something about this curse, and possibly a way to end it. Ultimately though, it doesn't seem like The Grudge 3 really adds anything new to the series. It feels more like this Direct-To-DVD release was made simply to call the series a trilogy instead of trying to convey something new or interesting about the curse or characters.
The Grudge 3's special features also fall a bit short by offering only a few deleted scenes and a pair of featurettes. One of the featurettes is a standard Making-Of, but the other was actually slightly enjoyable as it talked about building the Chicago apartments in Bulgaria because of cost constraints, which I found amusing since the original version of the apartments from The Grudge 2 were actually in Japan.
While The Grudge was a decent horror movie, The Grudge 2 was only okay, and quite frankly, this latest film follows that trend with a movie that is barely passable and should probably be avoided by anyone who has only a passing interest in the series. It definitely feels like a tacked-on story to a movie that didn't even need a first sequel, much less a second one.
