In Chicago, Jake (Matthew Knight) is now in a mental institution under the care of his therapist Dr. Sullivan (Shawnee Smith). He's afraid but she doesn't believe him. He is killed in his padded cell. In Tokyo, Naoko (Emi Ikehata) intends to stop the curse of her sister Kayako (Aiko Horiuchi). The news of the killings keep following her around. Back at the Chicago apartment, Lisa (Johanna Braddy) steals her brother Max the super's keys and her boyfriend Andy (Beau Mirchoff) leads them into apartment 305. She leaves immediately. She lives with Max (Gil McKinney) and their little sister Rose. Gretchen (Marina Sirtis) is their neighbor. The killing continues. Naoko arrives to investigate the apartment building followed later by Dr. Sullivan.

The timeline mashup has stopped. That was probably the only interesting part of the sequel. This is a very straight boring continuation. It's not scary although the franchise was never scary in the first place. Toshio seems to look a little too old to play the part. A younger boy would be creepier. Horror veteran Shawnee Smith gives a good death performance but I see nothing else.

In Chicago, the boy Jake (Matthew Knight) is interned in a mental institution and his therapist Dr. Sullivan (Shawnee Smith) does not believe that he is haunted by the ghost of the boy Toshio. When Jake is killed in his cell with all his bones broken, Dr. Sullivan decides to investigate further with open-mind. Meanwhile, Lisa (Johanna Braddy),who is the sister of the super Max (Gil McKinney) of Jake's building, steals the key of apartment 305 to have sex with her boyfriend Andy (Beau Mirchoff). When she realizes that the spot is a crime scene, she immediately returns to her apartment, where she lives with Max and their sister Rose (Jadie Hobson). In the meantime, the Japanese Naoko (Emi Ikehata) decides to travel from Tokyo to Chicago to stop the curse of her sister Kayako. She meets Lisa and tells that she needs hers and Rose's help her to stop the fiend of her sister, but Lisa does not accept the offer. When Max is possessed by the evil spirit of Daisuke (Takatsuma Mukai),Lisa visits Naoko but it may be too late to stop the curse.

"The Grudge 3" is better and better than the second movie of the franchise. The screenplay is well-developed and the ghosts are very creepy and scary. Max recalls Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining" when he is possessed. Lisa is a character quite dumb and her stupid attitude refusing to help Naoko is the weakest part of this good sequel. Now it seems that Naoko has reborn the curse, but I hope the producers stop this franchise. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Grito 3" ("The Scream 3")

A young Japanese woman who holds the key to stopping the evil spirit of Kayako (Aiko Horiuchi),travels to the haunted Chicago apartment from the sequel, to stop the curse of Kayako once and for all and save a family who are currently being haunted by her malicious spirit.

Toby Wilkins, who had previously directed the successful "Splinter" and the shorts collection "Tales from The Grudge", took Takashi Shimizu's place as director. Wilkins did great to keep that Japanese look and feel (the cultural horror of having the pale skin and black hair with jerky movements). This may be the creepiest villain of the series.

When I spoke with Wilkins in March 2009, he talked how how the curse "could imbed itself in a person, and no matter how far you run it's always going to follow you and it's going to track you down and get you one way or another." He liked the idea that this closes the circle: rather than an American going to Japan, we now have a Japanese person coming to America to end it. That does make a good deal of sense.

And we have some great genre names: Shawnee Smith, who has done plenty of horror from "The Blob" through the "Saw" films, and Marina Sirtis, who may be best known as the empath from "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Is this a great film? No. But it is hardly a bad film, and a decent addition to the franchise.