What's to understand? it's like an X-Files episode dragged out to feature length. It's based on a nonsensical book By John Keel which only gullible Yanks would ever believe is true.
In a nutshell Richard Gere takes about 2 hours to solve a mystery which most of the audience probably figured out 90 minutes earlier.
It's about as true as The Amityville Horror and makes even less sense; pass it by and try Audition, Whispering Corridors or any of the original Ring movies. They at least are genuinlely scary and don't have to pretend to be something they're not.
Incidentally, if you can get Film Four in Ireland, that's where lots of these oriental gost stories turn up.