Almost Embarassed to ask this...

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

I've been watching asian films for 15 years or so and I've never had this problem before. But can anyone who has seen Ju-On please explain it to me? I just couldn't follow it. I saw a bootleg version of the US version but it was missing the sub-titles so I figured thats why I was a little lost. But I got the jist of it. The Japanese version is kind of different and I was kinda lost afterwards. Any help would be appreciated.

[Brian Thibodeau]

I'm assuming you're looking for specific information regarding the Japanese version and not the US remake?

I haven't seen the Japanese one in about two years, but I recall there being a cop character (played by one of the Crazy 88's from KILL BILL) whose storyline, at one point, overlaps that of his daughter, who I believe died from the curse. He's planning on burning down the house, and overhears her and her friends in an upstairs room, only the sound is coming from a different point in time. She bolts down the stairs and seems to look him straight in the eye, although the two of them are in different time zones. I found that rather cool.

The biggest conceit of both films is the way in which they play with the continuity, sort of working backwards through the events a la MEMENTO, with each "sequence" chronologically preceding the one before it. I think the Japanese version does it better than the US version, but the US version has more cheap shocks.

Probably doesn't help much, but hopefully it's a start...

Good review over at midnighteye.com
http://www.midnighteye.com/reviews/juon.shtml

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

OK, it helps a little. Basically that's the part of the storyline that loses me. Let me see if I get this. A mother and child were murdered by the father. The mother and child have cursed the house where this happened. Anyone who enters this house becomes cursed along with thier entire family? If I'm right up to this point. Then explain what was the cop's daughter doing in the house in the first place? Also why didn't the mother and child go after her instead of the dead schoolgirls? Maybe I'm missing something in the sub-title translation.

By the way I found the Japanese version WAY more scarier. But the US version easier to follow.