Above all else, the Grudge series is known for being consistently scary, and consistently bewildering. This first foray onto the small screen leans heavily into the latter, while somewhat replacing the former with a tension, and heightened gore.
To its credit, or perhaps to its detriment, Ju-On Origins takes some huge risks. First, there’s no Kayako. That’s like making a Ringu series without Sadako, or a Batman series without the caped billionaire. It’s a prequel, but one which kinda, sorta, maybe ties to the main movie series, but only if you’re paying attention. There are no creepy long-hairs (maybe one), there are no ashen kids with cats in their throats (ok, maybe one), no death rattle effects to mess up your dreams (except for that one scene). Instead, we have an exploration of generational trauma, of how a BAD THING can perpetuate over time, seeping into the very fabric of a place and manifesting into a curse which infects everyone who comes into contact with it – good or evil. What is more troubling is the fact that much of the film’s violence and some of its themes, are based around some very real, horrible, and tragic cases of murder in Japan’s recent history, as if the film-makers are pointing at Japanese culture and authorities and saying ‘get it right, or reap what you sow’.
The six episode series takes us back to the late 1980s, introducing us to Yasuo Odajima, Haruka Honjo, Tetsuya Fukazawa, Kiyomi Kawai, Yudai Katsuragi and others. Keep with me. Yasuo is a paranormal investigator, played by the always enjoyable Yoshiyoshi Arakawa. He has had a life-long interest in the paranormal, and is part of a talk-show discussing Haruka Honjo’s recent supernatural experience – a fairly typical ‘creepy sounds in the house’ story. It interests Yasuo more than you may expect it would, but he shrugs this off by explaining he’s collecting all manner of stories to write a book. Haruka has since moved out of the house, as advised by her boyfriend Tetsuya – more on him later. We abruptly shift to a new setting and group of characters, namely the teenager Kiyomi, who has moved to a new school because of some unspoken past incident involving her mother – more on her later. Kiyomi quickly makes some new friends, who invite her to an abandoned house they claim to spend time in. This is all a ploy however, because the new friends have invited another boy – Yudai – for the express purpose of raping Kiyomi. Previously in the episode, Tetsuya had been house-hunting for him and Haruka, and had visited this same house. While inside, he is visited/attacked by a ghostly woman in white carrying a baby. He escapes, but advises Haruka (and Yasuo) to never go there, and he doesn’t reveal its location. We also learn that Kiyomi’s relationship with her mother is strained, her mum being violent and manipulative, and it was her affairs with teachers at her old school which forced them to move. Already in the first episode, we are seeing examples of past trauma becoming an inescapable cycle. As if this weren’t enough, we meet minor side characters and plots which don’t apparently go anywhere, such as a kidnapper and murderer of children brutally beating a child he has picked up. We set a bleak, dark tone and intriguing series of events in this opening thirty minutes, and from there the show only gets darker.
Over the next five episodes we are introduced to additional characters who are somehow wrapped up with the cursed house. It should be said that it’s NOT the same house from the movie series, but has a similar inner and outer appearance and is similarly cursed. Seems like these places are rife in Japan. The central characters from the first episode dip in and out, following a main story where Yasuo is trying to locate the house as it relates to his own past, and Kiyomi is trying to run away. While minor threads, moments, and characters seem initially fractured or unrelated, all are bound together by the end either explicitly – such as the child kidnapper meeting with Yasuo in a later episode, or implicitly, as kidnapping is one of the many pieces of subtext running through this incredibly dense series. Betrayal, murder, sexual abuse, physical abuse, time looping upon itself, phones, babies, mirrors – all of these and more make repeated appearances of varying significance. Watching the series once is a somewhat confusing experience as we move from 1988 to 1997, then back and forth and sometimes in between and in parallel, and as characters overlap with each other regardless of whether they are alive or dead. In true Ju-On fashion I should add, as this stylistic approach is part and parcel of the franchise, although here it may push the patience and concentration of even the most hardened fan. Dive in for a second watch, armed with hindsight and possibly a pen and paper, and much of what seemed impenetrable becomes clear.
One of the key issues with Ju-On Origins is its run-time. Each episode is simply too short to adequately explain everything that needs to be explained, for us to be more fully invested in the characters, and to make the time and character jumps less jarring. On the flip side, if these were 45-60 minute episodes, I’m not sure how much more misery the audience could handle, given just how grim the tone and the action is. This is neither a fun, nor an easy watch. It’s not a rollercoaster of thrills like the movie, instead doubling, tripling down and wallowing in the darker state of human affairs which is at the core of the Ju-On plot. It’s one of those shows that makes you feel like you need to take a shower after watching, and one which is genuinely emotionally and physically draining. If you stick with it, it’s nevertheless a rewarding watch, one which does feature some classic slow burn scares, but which prefers to jam your head into the pit of real life human misery and take responsibility. I would argue that both thematically and stylistically, this series comes closer than any to matching what David Lynch created with both Fire Walk With Me and The Return – both dealing with the present day consequences of past violence, both dealing with the barriers between space and time wobbling to pieces, and neither shying away from some brutal, shocking, and unforgettable scenes of violence. It’s a shame a second season seems unlikely at this point.
I’m not sure how much involvement, if any, series creator Takashi Shimizu had with Origins, but the series is a clear extension of what he set out to accomplish, albeit with more explicit gore. It’s fairly obvious that Shimizu is a huge Twin Peaks fan, given the time-looping aspects, the rainy, gloomy tone, the approach to mythology and psychological scares, and certain shots involving stairs and mirrors – he even went on to cast Grace Zabriskie in his US remake, and Russ Tamblyn’s daughter Amber in the sequel (which also features a character called Mrs Dale). It’s cool to think that the Ju-On world exists in the same universe.
Let us know in the comments what you think of Ju-On Origins!
The Spac Hole 