It's not as bad as they say.
Ju-On: The Grudge is the third in series.
Apparently the first two films tell the stories of the ghosts that haunt the third.
The film succeeds in repeating the leisurely paced, mood driven scares that Nikata's original Ring delivered, without the strong, well realized story.
In fact, Ju-on is so disjointed that it confuses quite a few people.
I think it works on a purely emotional level.
But then, I dig being left without much to grasp onto. Kurasawa's Chaos is one of my favorite Japanese horror films.