In Pasadena, Mrs. Davis sends her daughter Aubrey Davis to Tokyo to bring her sister Karen Davis, who is interned in a hospital after surviving a fire, back to the USA. After their meeting, Karen dies and Aubrey decides to investigate what happened to her and gets herself trapped in the same situation, being chased by the ghost of the house. Meanwhile in Tokyo, the three high school mates Allison, Vanessa and Miyuki visit the famous haunted house and are also chased by the ghost. In Chicago, Trish moves to the apartment of her boyfriend Bill, who lives with his children, the teenager Lacey and boy Jake. On the next door, weird things happen with their neighbor. (Source: IMDB)
There’s a bit wrong with this movie, besides the fact that it bares absolutely no resemblance to the Japanese version (Ju-On 2). Worst of all is the mother with the Denethor-esk attitude toward her children, Karen (from The Grudge) can do no wrong, while dear old mom wishes poor Aubrey had never been born. That’s just awkward.
Don’t be me wrong, there are some really nicely laid out scenes in this film.. and some good old Grudge creepiness.. but so much of it fails in the American translation. Scares that just don’t work, unless you’re a 10 year old.. and I don’t think director Takashi Shimizu geared this film for kids.
I highly recommend the Japanese version. This one just didn’t make it.
