- Network: Netflix
- Series Premiere Date: Jul 3, 2020
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Critic Reviews
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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.