JU-ON: Origins

If you’re a fan of the JU-ON or The Grudge franchises, JU-ON: Origins will help fill in some blanks with a well-drawn story and interesting characters. But even if you’re not, the stories told in this series will be intriguing to any horror fan.

It drags sometimes and I’m not sure I could tell you how it fits together in terms of plot, but you could claim both those things about most of the 13 films in this series, even the good ones. The best thing I could say about “Ju-On: Origins” is that it reminded me why this franchise just won’t die, while pointing to what it could look like for the next two decades.

In the end, it lands somewhere between the creeping dread synonymous with the greats of J-Horror and a splatter-the-walls penchant for gore that’s more akin to something out of New French Extremity. It’s not for everyone and considering the trauma of it’s most extreme moments I’m not entirely sure who I’d recommend it to, but it’s certainly refreshing to see a franchise installment this late in the game that manages to bring something new to the table.

Like its spotty progenitors, Ju-On: Origins tries to stretch thin material over a large canvas without doing much to sustain interest beyond injecting the occasional fright. (To its credit, there are almost no cheap jump scares here.)

It’s an odd, not completely unengaging show that tries hard to steer the franchise out of a rut by refusing to regurgitate much of the imagery we’ve come to associate with it but in its place, there’s something of an empty space instead. The effectively staged gore will leave its mark but little else will, a brief burst of nastiness that probably should serve as the last gasp of an overextended brand.

My first and most likely last experience with the Ju-On franchise unless curiosity or recommendations get the better of me. This is horror at its most dark and depressing, and without good reason. I witnessed acts of **** and abuse only to be left wondering why. What was the point of all that? What was the message supposed to be? Upon reflection I don't believe any of it occurred for meaningful reasons. It's not that I can't handle harsh content like this. I'm no stranger to exploitation flicks. I just believe that kind of material should serve a purpose other than that of strictly shock value. Take the I Spit on Your Grave series for example. At least when the protagonists get **** there it acts as fuel for the torture porn style revenge violence that follows, however abhorrent a catalyst that may be. Things don't even really get supernatural until about 3½ episodes into this six episode miniseries. Which left me perplexed as to the inclusion of the haunted house that all of this is supposed to be centered around in the first place. It is implied that the spirit's influence is what's causing these people to do such horrible things to each other, but it's a flimsy justification and one that doesn't make sense when you consider how most of these acts of savagery appear to have been premeditated long before they ever entered the deceased's former residence. Origins is a pointless display of human cruelty taking place under the guise **** story. Its scattered array of barely connected plot threads go only to the most heartbreaking of places (if they go anywhere at all) with nothing learned along the way and it's vengeful spirit coming off as an afterthought. If this is what the rest of the Ju-On and Americanized Grudge stories are like, quite frankly you can count me out.