"For your roles, do you have any questions?" Edward asked as he looked at the group of actors in front of him.
This time, the cast was huge—larger than in any of the films he had directed before. That was only natural. After all, Ju-On was a story told in fragments, with many different perspectives. It needed many characters—or rather, many victims. Supporting roles were plentiful, and since this version was based on the VHS edition, there wasn't really a single living protagonist.
If one had to name the leads, then the true protagonists were Kayako and Toshio.
"Director, I'd like to ask… the role I'm playing—what happens to her in the end?" one middle-aged woman asked, clutching her script nervously.
Edward glanced at her. She was playing the mother who later moved into Kayako's house—the same woman in one of the VHS's most iconic scenes, the mother on the stairs who turns her head without a jaw.
"She gets her internal organs hollowed out and dies," Edward answered calmly. Still, he didn't actually plan to shoot that scene. The death was far too gruesome. Sure, filming it would be terrifying, but he felt that not showing it might leave a subtler, more chilling impression—one that gnawed at the audience's imagination.
The woman swallowed hard in relief. At least she wouldn't have to perform that scene.
"Director, I play Kobayashi Shunsuke. Did he truly never notice Kayako's feelings for him?" Jim asked curiously. Edward didn't mind the interruption—today was script discussion day, after all. Sometimes an actor's questions could spark inspiration, so he was willing to listen.
"No, he doesn't notice in the story," Edward explained with a smile. "Kayako never confessed. She only stalked him, followed him, and even hid under his bed to eavesdrop."
Casting Jim Carrey as Kobayashi Shunsuke had been a deliberate choice. There weren't many suitable male roles in the theatrical version. Takeo Saeki was already cast, and of the remaining characters, Kobayashi fit Jim the best.
"She even hid under his bed to listen in?" Takako, another actress, couldn't help blurting out in disbelief.
Edward chuckled and nodded. "Yes, she hid there. To eavesdrop." The setting was undeniably disturbing—especially since what she overheard were Kobayashi's private moments with his partner.
Jim, however, didn't seem fazed. He had dealt with obsessive fans in real life before. That experience had made him extremely cautious about home security, ensuring no crazed fan could ever sneak into his house.
Most of the cast found Kayako's behavior unsettling, but since it was Edward's script, they had no objections. They busied themselves preparing. Still, compared to the actors, the props department was the busiest—creating endless items for the set.
Meanwhile, Edward guided the young actor playing Toshio to draw on the walls.
In the VHS version of Ju-On, the cursed house contained Toshio's drawings. Some were handled by the props team, but others—placed in prominent spots—had to be drawn by Toshio's actor personally.
Edward had once watched all the behind-the-scenes footage of Ju-On. Seeing how it was made dulled much of his fear. That was the danger of horror films: bloopers could shatter the audience's terror. But for him, as the director, it was necessary. He even believed that including some bloopers later might be essential. Otherwise, the terror of Ju-On might be so overwhelming that audiences wouldn't dare rewatch it.
After all, the VHS edition carried an old rumor—that it had once literally scared someone to death.
By the end of the day, the set was finally ready. Edward prepared to begin shooting.
"Now we'll shoot the scene where Takeo Saeki murders Kayako," he announced.
The house looked ordinary now, bathed in morning light—no longer abandoned or decayed. It seemed like just another suburban home. But Edward knew that after the film was released, countless viewers would shudder at houses of this exact design.
Ju-On 1 had two storylines: Kobayashi's home visit, where Kayako's story was revealed, and the tragedy of the Saeki family massacre followed by another family moving in. The VHS ended with a real estate agent's perspective. Edward, however, found that unsatisfying and revised it.
Moreover, some deaths had been left vague. For example, the girl whose jaw was torn off—why that happened was never explained. And Tsuneshi's death was unclear as well. These scenes had been shot originally but cut. Edward planned to reinstate them, using those deleted segments in his version.
With the actors in position, filming began. The first scene was Takeo Saeki's madness as he killed Kayako—intended to be intercut later as flashbacks. To strengthen the performance, Edward activated the "Nightmare Possession."
Immediately, Takako's acting soared. Her expressions and movements became so raw and harrowing that even the seasoned actor George struggled to keep up.
"Cut!" Edward called, rubbing his temples. He hadn't expected such difficulty with just one scene.
"Mr. George, you don't need to be so nervous. Right now, you look like you're the victim," Edward teased.
George pressed his lips together, glancing warily at Takako as she touched up her makeup nearby. "Director… it's not nerves. It's that look in her eyes, right from the start… I could feel it." He rubbed his arms as goosebumps spread across them.
Edward scratched his head silently. It was true—once possessed, Takako's performance had terrifying intensity. And how could it not? Kayako herself was channeling her own death.
The actors only pretended to be tortured and killed. Kayako had truly died that way. The way she moved, twisted, and stared—it was a reenactment of her own murder.
Her gaze alone carried venom, a malevolence so sharp it made others instinctively look away. Yet George had to stare straight into it for the scene. No wonder he cracked.
Though he recovered quickly, the first day ended with little progress.
"Miss Fuji, your acting is… astonishing," George admitted, rubbing his temples. He had worried Edward's casting choice might be weak, but clearly, Edward remained a director who prioritized acting skill above all else. Fuji's performance was so strong it overwhelmed him.
Takako said nothing. She only turned her head slowly, smiling in a way so chilling that George bolted for his boxed dinner. Edward quickly deactivated Nightmare Possession, and Fuji returned to normal.
"This ability is effective… but its side effects are intense," Edward muttered. She wasn't just acting Kayako—she was Kayako. And this was still Kayako alive. What would happen once she acted as a ghost? Would she become truly possessed? He could only hope not.
The next day, they filmed Kobayashi's storyline. Surprisingly, it went smoothly. Though Jim was a comedian, his acting was excellent. Even when facing the possessed Takako, he held his ground.
"Cut!" Edward called. He stood by the staircase, watching Takako's unsettling stare. Though he knew it was Kayako herself, not Takako, he didn't feel much fear.
"Makeup!" he shouted. Having the real Kayako crawl down the stairs worked perfectly. Her contorted body was more terrifying than any human actor could replicate. In most films, limitations of the human body made those shots difficult. But possessed, she was grotesquely authentic.
They filmed that sequence for two whole days—not because of weak acting, but because crew members kept screaming and ruining takes.
Jim, however, remained unfazed. Afterward, he even complimented Takako's acting, though she kept glaring at him with that poisonous look.
When the Saeki storyline was finished, Edward re-dressed the set. The house would now become the Tokunaga residence, destined for tragedy as well. He restored deleted scenes of Hitomi Tokunaga and Katsuya Tokunaga's deaths—one involving the brutal tearing off of Hitomi's jaw.
Finally, he rewrote the ending. Instead of the realtor, it would close with police officers who had entered the cursed house, only to die horribly. The realtor's perspective he reserved for Ju-On 2.
Though directing a horror film, Edward himself felt no fear. He saw it all through the lens of production, not as an audience member. And between takes, seeing the cast cheerfully eating meals in ghost makeup dispelled any lingering dread.
Meanwhile, his ghost-type Pokémon, Q and Void, floated happily around the set, feeding on the abundance of fear. Their presence even attracted wild Ghost Pokémon, and Edward had to hire extra staff to keep them from disrupting filming.
Sometimes, though, he forgot to deactivate Takako's Nightmare Possession—leading to accidents.
One night, after filming, he was about to rest when a piercing scream split the air. He rushed to the set.
"What happened?!" He flung open the door. A young woman from the props team sat trembling on the floor, legs shaking, with a faint smell that betrayed her terror.
Others hurried in. They found her pointing at the ceiling, pale with fright.
Edward followed her gaze—nothing was there. But the nearby closet door stood ajar, and he immediately guessed.
Checking the system, he realized he had forgotten to pause Nightmare Possession.
The moment he deactivated it, a thud came from the closet. Takako sheepishly crawled out, still wearing Kayako's blood-streaked makeup.
"Sorry… I was just trying to get into character. Didn't notice anyone coming in," she said apologetically.
Edward could only laugh bitterly. Yes, that would have been terrifying indeed.
(End of Chapter)