JU-ON: Origins Review (TV Series, 2020) #31DaysofHorror
content warning: gore, sexual assault, violence against women, violence against children
Intended audience makes a huge difference in horror. What’s designed to be scary to one audience is not necessarily going to be scary to another. Horror written and produced for the United States is going to feel different than horror written and produced for other countries. Horror intended for an experienced adult audience is going to be very different than horror intended for a newer, younger audience.
JU-ON: Origins is a six episode horror TV series intended for the most hardened horror fans. The scares are hard. The subject matter is hard. The tone is bleak and the actions are incredibly brutal.
The series starts with a claim that everything in the Ju-on franchise is based on a true story. However, those true stories are scarier than anything you’ve seen in these films so far. From there, the stories being told about people unfortunate enough to cross through the threshold of a genuinely haunted house are punctuated with an unending stream of horrific news stories. The soundtrack of anyone foolish enough to get involved is misery. Everything from kidnappings to natural disasters is linked back to interaction with the cursed house.
And what is the cursed house? That’s the biggest unanswered question of the Ju-on series. In all the films, no matter how hard people fight, they never quite receive those answers. Sure, some people live much longer than others to spread what they know, but they never get close to an actual answer. The fact is this house is haunted. This house will go after anyone who dares to walk through the door regardless of intention. If you enter, you will suffer and die.
JU-ON: Origins is exceptionally well produced. The show takes place over the course of decades, starting in 1988 and moving forward through time with only a title card as a warning announcing the new year. Each era is distinct and feels accurate to the time. One character is connected to household phones. The black and heavy looking phone of 1988 is replaced by a rounder, sleeker, and lighter phone in 1995. Fashion, hair, makeup, accessories, and home decor all change just enough with the times to feel real.
I have to make special mention of the music on this show. The ending credits theme from composer Kuniaki Haishima is spectacular. It is beautiful and otherworldly. It adds closure and mystery to each episode, as the movement of the song does not follow the expected patterns or style notes of this kind of ending credits song. It’s mind blowing.
I do need to address the content warning. The Ju-on series has never favored one particular group over another, at least not in the original Japanese entries. These vengeful spirits do not care who they hurt. Your age, gender, and life do not matter; only your destruction does.
Episode two of the series hinges on a sexual assault. It is one of the most significant occurrences in the entire series and you have to sit through it. A teenage girl is held down and attacked by her classmates. Someone takes photos. It’s an ambush that happens at the cursed house. Other characters are tied to the house by domestic abuse and gendered violence. JU-ON: Origins goes there because it can. Whether or not it should is a separate question.
It is a rare piece of horror media that makes me wish I never watched it. JU-ON: Origins joins that short list. These kinds of horrible events are incredibly realistic in the episodes and made it hard for me to watch. Multiple characters have crimes committed against them that would lead to a challenging and ultimately rewarding Revenge story in other media; in the Ju-on series, justice can never happen for anyone foolish enough to walk through the door.
Is JU-ON: Origins scary? Absolutely. It’s terrifying. Is it well written? Very. It’s probably the best conceived entry in the entire series. My issues with the subject matter are just that: my issues.
We all react differently to media. For me, this level of graphic and brutal crimes as a foundation for a cursed/haunted house story is too extreme; for you, it might just make it all the more terrifying. It’s a risky grounding device to add more believability to the paranormal aspects of the story. Whether that risk pays off is all going to be a matter of your own tolerance level for watching that style of graphic true crime-inspired narrative.
JU-ON: Origins is streaming on Netflix.
