By the time Ju-on found its way to American shores via grey-market bootlegs and Internet-acquired, non-Region 1 DVD releases, it had already gained a near-legendary reputation as being the most terrifying entry into the so-called "J-#92;horror" trend of the late '90s. The slow-burning tale of #92;supernatural vengeance blended Eastern #92;horror aesthetics with Western convention to chilling effect, and director Takashi Shimizu would spend the following years building something of a franchise with a series of sequels and the obligatory American remake. A native of Maebashi City, Japan, Shimizu studied drama at Kinki University before enrolling in film school in Tokyo; he subsequently found work as an assistant director in film and video as the millennium drew to a close. Enrolling in a night class in film production, the burgeoning filmmaker began studying under respected Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (whose films Cure and Kairo are considered modern Japanese #92;horror classics by many genre fans). When it came time for the students to turn in their three-minute film at the end of the semester, the professor took a special shine to Shimizu's unusually frightening short. Impressively establishing a formidable air of dread within the restrictive confines of a brief running time, the film eventually resulted in Kurosawa introducing Shimizu to a Kansai-TV producer -- who just so happened to be preparing a 90-minute television #92;horror #92;anthology. Though the producer was indeed impressed with Shimizu's talent, the new director's lack of experience proved something of a complication, and instead of helming a 30-minute segment, he was asked to prepare two three-minute shorts for Gakkô No Kaidan G. The shorts offered something of a prequel to Shimizu's eventual Ju-on series, and in the following year, the director would compile numerous elements of multiple scripts he had written over the years into a frightening release for the lucrative Japanese straight-to-video market. Released in early 2000, the original Ju-on terrified audiences with its clever use of misdirection, terrifying pale-skinned ghosts, and unearthly use of sound. A sequel was quick to follow later that same year, while the 2001 film Tomie: Rebirth (the third in a continuing series of film adaptations of Junji Ito's popular manga) offered Shimizu his feature debut. By then, there was little question that Shimizu was competent in taking the reigns for a feature, with the obligatory film Ju-on: The Grudge (2003) serving as his sophomore theatrical release. Though it didn't open to the wild success that some may have expected or anticipated, its sequel, Ju-on: The Grudge 2 -- released later the same year -- offered enough scares to prove that the series still had potential for a lucrative franchise. When word arrived in 2003 that filmmaker Sam Raimi had acquired the rights to an American remake, with series founder Shimizu once again at the helm, anticipation for a seriously terrifying fright film shot to stratospheric levels among genre fans worldwide. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide