Ju-On: Origins is a new horror show from Netflix that came out last Friday (July 3). It's a prequel to the popular Japanese film franchise Ju-On, which most people in America know from The Grudge, the stateside remake of Ju-On: The Grudge. The show tells the story of a house where bad things constantly happen to the people who so much as step foot in it. Over a series of several decades, tragedy after tragedy occurs there, and this string of incredible evil is definitely more than just a coincidence.
I was looking forward to this show quite a bit, and while I wasn't entirely disappointed, it ended up being a mixed bag for me. I did like it, but just barely. On the one hand, the horror elements are really good. For example, it has some very creepy, atmospheric moments, and the ghosts in it are head and shoulders above anything you see in Ju-On: The Grudge. They look like they've been through hell, and they're ready to take you there too.
More importantly, this show manages to portray the depths of human depravity in a way that's both gut-wrenching and eerily beautiful. Not that evil is ever beautiful in itself, but there's something to be said for capturing genuine truths about the human condition, even if it's the darker truths that we often try to set aside and ignore. Good horror unmasks evil and shows it for what it really is, and this show does an excellent job of that. It portrays the darker side of human nature as truly evil, never glorifying it or making it seem fun, and there's a genuine beauty in that.
As good as those horror elements are, though, the show really falters on the narrative side. The story limps along from episode to episode, being barely intelligible enough to justify its existence. In particular, I would say it has two main problems. For one, the first few episodes are often confusing, as they jump back and forth between a few different characters and their storylines. The second half of the series is more coherent, with the various narrative threads slowly coming together in a cohesive way, but the end doesn't make up for all the confusion you have to endure to get there.
Secondly, the plot feels really pointless. It's basically just a string of horrifically evil acts and the events that led up to them, and then it ends. There's no real story here other than the mere fact that this house is evil, and even when the different plot threads come together in the end, it still lacks any genuine narrative power. The closest thing we get to a character arc is a guy who searches for the house and then finds it, and when the credits roll after the final episode, nothing is actually resolved. It's almost like you the viewer and the characters in the show have to just live with the fact that this house is evil, and there's nothing anybody can do about it.
There is, however, a silver lining to this apparent lack of purpose, one saving grace that makes the narrative just good enough to get by: I think the point of it all is that there is no point. The way I see it, the purpose of the show is to capture the pointlessness of evil and show that goodness is the only thing that has any real meaning. Evil, in contrast, is kind of just there with no real rhyme or reason to its existence, and we simply have to learn to live with it in our imperfect world.
At the end of the day, I can't guarantee that you'll love Ju-On: Origins (in fact, you probably won't), and I can't even guarantee that you'll like it, but I can say this about it: it gets evil right, and I think that makes it worth the roughly three hours it takes to get through all six episodes, especially during this dearth of new movies that we're currently suffering through. Despite all the confusion, the lack of character development, and the narrative impotence, this show portrays evil in a chillingly accurate way, so if you're a horror fan who appreciates art that captures the darker side of humanity and shows it for what it truly is, you should give this one a shot. You just might like it.
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