SPOILER WARNING This movie is basically the story of one family still living in the Chicago apartment block that, as of the last sequel, is now infected with the curse (in this movie named for the first time in the american franchise as a ju-on). The players are our "final girl/heroine" type, a teenage girl named Lisa who is about to move to New York with her boyfriend on a fashion fellowship, her elder brother Max, left in charge of the family and the building since their parents died and young 8 year old Rose, who suffers from some kind of terminal disease which is affecting her breathing (but oddly goes unnamed). I mention this because this film completely abandons the non-linear narrative and spooky investigative elements of the previous two pictures in favour of a plain kitchen-sink drama narrative involving these 3, whom the horror unfolds around, sort of like the american remake of Dark Water. Other characters are introduced (a total of 6: Jake (survivor from the last film, his psychiatrist Dr Sullivan (Saw's Shawnee Smith, the kindly neighbour Gretchen (Star Trek TNG's Marina Sirtis, and to a lesser degree Lisa's boyfriend and Max's boss but all of these are merely fodder to be introduced and then as quickly dispatched by Kayako/Toshio/the curse. We do however also meet Naoko, the sister of Kayako who, it conveniently turns out, knows a ritual to stop her siblings curse and is only now having nightmares compelling her to do so, tied into memories of the God awful "demon feeding" plot line from movie 2.
Let's get this straight: this is a bad movie, or more accurately a bad horror movie, as a drama there are times when it really seems to work, but that's not what I wanted to watch. There are literally 3 worthy scares, all quite effective but as before all rip-offs of effectively scary or creepy moments from previous or other films. We see Kayako emerge from a painting to murder Gretchen and trap Dr Sullivan in a maze of her own hospital rooms, both good enough with top class terrified acting from both genre queens, but frustratingly brief and off set by a couple of deaths which actually occur OFF-SCREEN!!! A cardinal sin for a horror film, if that's how this can be classified.
The plot, as it stands, is nonsensical and ridiculous. Naoko only now shows up to cleanse a house in a different country, several victims and a continent later? Even the little moments such as giving Gretchen arthritis and similar character traits are rendered pointless and leave you wondering why they bothered at all, she could just as easily have been a tap dancing albanian clown for all the effect it has on anything! It's quite nice seeing the glimpses of the story's history but here it's flogged to absolute death in a straight drama which I already don't care for, the little scenes will keep ardent fans very slightly placated, but ultimately wanting. The frustrating thing is there is a good sequel horror somewhere in this turgid mess, some ideas could be slightly altered or furthered, replacing bad ones to make a much better overall film, in fact that's just it, this feels like a first draft that was rushed into production and filmed.
The end was so bizarre and confusing I had to look up what it meant, not the stupid but well presented scene as the murdered Naoko becomes a new Kayako style apparition (baffling though this is within the continuity of how Kayako came to be) but the scene at the end which shows Rose, having drank Kayako's blood to stop her (no, really), now appear to be her, the implication being that she is now carrying her and all the evil spirits SHE had inside, at this point the whole thing collapses like a house of cards, assuming anyone cares enough after a looong hour and a half to question it. Special mention too to the attrocious special effects on the villains, painting them a near flourescent blue and yet having people act like they just saw a normal boy on the stairs. Did Lisa think he had some odd disease, or was just really, really cold? Dull on a criminal level, frustratingly not scary enough with too much emphasis on a terrible plot and not enough on actual horror! Sorry guys, catch it if you're desperate for a couple of nice jumps and scares that you properly have to fight for and work to get through to but otherwise take my advice and avoid it like the plague, there are much better horrors out there...
* (1/5)
MM
Whilst a completely unrelated film, I see similarities to the ending with The Unborn. In that they both got it completely, utterly wrong and finished on a note that effectively ruins the previous hour and a half. Very annoying.
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