When a curse moves from Japan to the US, it becomes deadly. But when Japanese horror movie is adapted by the Hollywood geniuses, often it becomes deadlier. This is exactly what happened with Toby Wilkins’ The Grudge 3. I had great hope on the adaptation of  Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On: The Grudge, but unfortunately Wilkins could not live up to the expectation. The Grudge 3 is too much of Hollywoodish and has lost the charm of Asian horrors.

This horror movie is about a small family consisting of Max (Gil McKinney) and his two sisters, Lisa (Johanna Braddy) and Rose (Jadie Hobson). This normal happy family lives in the same apartment which was a part in The Grudge 2. Max works as a supervisor of the same apartment, while elder sister Lisa is a student and planning to move out but their youngest sibling Rose is an eight years old girl who is suffering from a serious health disorder. Jake, a young boy and a resident of the said apartment dies mysterious while undergoing treatment under the supervision of Dr. Sulliva (Shawnee Smith). Soon everybody is haunted by the ghosts of Kayako and her son Toshio. Moreover, Naoko, sister of Kayako arrives from Tokyo in order to stop the curse. The curse is deadly and it is killing everybody.

This is definitely a better outcome of Japanese adaptation by the Hollywood studios, but in this whole process, The Grudge 3 has lost its charm and special flavour that most of the Asian movies possess. As the background of the movie is based in Chicago, I cannot complain much about all those American influences in the movie, which according to me is a major turn off. Asian horrors have their own class and more than often these movies are completely destroyed in Hollywood in order to attempt a remake. I personally believe that Wilkins has slightly over-exposed the characters of Kayako and Toshio. The actual Japanese versions (Ju-On series) were much more tighter in every aspect. However, this difference is very apt if you compare between an American horror and J-Horror movies. Comparing to the prequels, The Grudge 3 is more violent and graphic in nature. There are few gruesome murder scenes and pools of blood flowing across the screen. Somehow these death scenes bring back memories of Final Destination series. Wilkins tried his best and to a large extent he has succeeded in doing so, but somehow I still prefer the earlier versions. Irrespective of my above mentioned review, The Grudge 3 is definitely worth a try. So go ahead!

Watch the trailer of The Grudge 3.

My Rating - 5/10

Learn more about the movie on IMDB.

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