Like the ghosts, the Ju-On / The grudge story never seems to come to rest. It began as a series of short films by director Takashi Shimizu and since then cinemas and direct-to-video services have been haunted by no less than five Japanese feature films and four American ones.
The series, in turn, was thematically similar to Ringu / The ring, which also includes a dozen different twists.
The Ju-On / The grudge films, as well as the new Netflix series , are about a curse brought to life through violence and bestial murders, preferably in women and children. The curse bites into the house where they were committed and spread to everyone in its vicinity.
The TV series cannot really be said to have a new take on the horrors of the haunted house in Tokyo suburb, but is in line with what is tellingly trendy right now a more dimmed story. "BU!" - the effects are fewer, the tempo slower, the colors dimmer and the horror music consists largely of gentle pling than extravagant strings.
In the series, a paranormal scientist seeks answers to why a young actor is haunted by what appears to be a ghost child running around the apartment. She moves home to her boyfriend who seems to have been hit even harder by the ghosts. In parallel, we may follow an exposed high school student and another couple.
It starts out weird - both ghostly and social. During the three hours that the series covers, you get to know the victim of the curse a little better than in the movies. But the pace is a bit slow to make it scary - very doughy around the blood in other words. In addition, the series is filled with a number of similar stories (since curses tend to repeat themselves).
Eventually, the rather lopsided horror tempo breaks and Ju-On offers really innovative disgusting horror and then drops back at a more leisurely pace.
The result : approved summer horror, but now it's time to let the Japanese ghosts rest in peace for a while, I think.