Netflix Original Series: ‘JU-ON: Origins’ Launching Worldwide Friday, July 3 2020
On Friday, July 3, 2020, Netflix, the world’s leading streaming entertainment service, will be releasing the Netflix Original series “JU-ON: Origins” – the first-ever drama series adaptation and newest installment in the monumental Japanese horror franchise “Ju-On,” worldwide. When the first installment, “Ju-On: The Curse,” was released on VHS in 2000, it sent chills down audiences’ spines. Following a 2003 theatrical release, the “Ju-On” films garnered popularity across the globe, leading to a serialized Hollywood adaptation. Like Sadako from the “Ring” films, the vengeful mother and son spirits of Kayako and Toshio became global horror icons. Now, the legendary horror franchise that is “Ju-On” is set to once again shake the world as Netflix Japan sets to release its first-ever horror of Netflix Japan Original, “JU-ON: Origins.” Until now, the horrors that have unfolded throughout the series at the cursed house have been the work of fiction. However, for the first time, “JU-ON: Origins” will focus on the true events of which is the inspiring base of the story. Those are the beginning of the “curse” and give a raw look at the chain of terror that befalls all of those who come into contact with the house. The script was co-written by Hiroshi Takahashi, screenwriter of the original “Ring,” in collaboration with producer Takashige Ichise, who has been one of the driving forces behind the “Ju-On” series since day one. These two giants of Japanese horror team up to capture the essence of the “Ju-On” films while providing the series with a new level of horror that it’s never seen before. Furthermore, as specifically requested by the two J-horror pioneers, the director of the much-acclaimed 2018 film “And Your Bird Can Sing,” Sho Miyake, picked up the megaphone in what was his foray into horror. Together with Ichise and Takahashi, the up-and-coming director has weaved a striking drama that highlights the horrifying side of humans. Spawned from an abhorrent event, the secret of the “cursed house” is revealed… Spawned from an abhorrent event, the secret of the “cursed house” is revealed… The trailer of the bone-chilling “JU-ON: Origins” reveals an opening shot of the series’s centrepiece, the “cursed house,” and the figure of a woman in white, offering a glimpse of the terrifying story that is about to unfold. A cassette tape capturing an unsettling sound, a couple plagued by mysterious events, a young boy crouching in the dark whispering “Run” and a tragic incident of an imprisoned woman forcefully impregnated – a string of unexplainable events spawned from the origin of it all, the “cursed house,” begins sucking people into a whirlwind of fear. As if possessed, Yasuo Odajima (Yoshiyoshi Arakawa), a paranormal investigator who begins looking into “the house” that everyone is talking about, and Haruka Honjo (Yuina Kuroshima), a young performer plagued by mysterious footsteps in her room at night, are drawn to the “cursed house.” The disturbing atmosphere of the scene is taken up a notch when we are given a glimpse of a woman with long dark hair reaching out and a crawling fetus covered in blood – things we can only hope are not of our world. Finally, we are left with the cryptic shots of Odajima trembling with fear in an attic and Haruka covered in blood and screaming. Netflix Original series: “JU-ON: Origins” (6 episodes) 
Director: Sho Miyake
Starring: Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yuina Kuroshima, Ririka, Koki Osamura, Seiko Iwaido, Kai Inowaki, Tei Ryushin, Yuya Matsuura, Kaho Tsuchimura, Tokio Emoto, Nobuko Sendo, Kana Kurashina
Script: Hiroshi Takahashi and Takashige Ichise
Executive Producer: Toshinori Yamaguchi (NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan), Kazutaka Sakamoto (Netflix)
Producer: Takashige Ichise, Mikihiko Hirata
Music: Kuniaki Haishima
Photography: Hidetoshi Shinomiya
Lighting: Hidenori Nagata
Art: Tatsuo Ozeki
Audio: Masato Komatsu
Sound effects: Kenji Shibasaki
Editing: Yoshifumi Fukazawa
Visual effects: Hajime Matsumoto
Modelling: Screaming Mad George
 Starring: Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yuina Kuroshima, Ririka, Koki Osamura, Seiko Iwaido, Kai Inowaki, Tei Ryushin, Yuya Matsuura, Kaho Tsuchimura, Tokio Emoto, Nobuko Sendo, Kana Kurashina Script: Hiroshi Takahashi and Takashige Ichise Executive Producer: Toshinori Yamaguchi (NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan), Kazutaka Sakamoto (Netflix)