The Grudge 3

Directed by  Toby Wilkins, The Grudge 3 follows several characters, including Shawnee Smith’s Sullivan and Marina Sirtis’ Gretchen, as they attempt to escape the clutches of the series’ malevolent villain. Filmmaker Wilkins, armed with a script by Brad Keene, delivers a mostly underwhelming endeavor that contains few appealing attributes and elements, and it’s clear, certainly, that the picture’s arms-length feel is compounded by its decidedly low-rent atmosphere – with this true of everything from the bland performances to the almost comically lackluster special effects to Anton Bakarski’s flat, styleless visuals. And while Wilkins admittedly does include a very small handful of effective sequences, with this particularly true of a terrific interlude detailing Smith’s character’s inevitable demise, The Grudge 3‘s progression from a sluggish midsection to a fairly endless third act ultimately confirms its place as a thoroughly needless capper to a seriously erratic horror-movie franchise.

* out of ****