Netflix users are issuing warnings to those planning to watch new Japanese horror show Ju-On: Origins due to its disturbing themes.
Many have criticised the service’s decision to omit a trigger warning from the opening of several episodes despite the inclusion of rape, as well as child and domestic abuse.
The series – a prequel to The Grudge franchise – comes with an 18-certificate age warning. It also momentarily notes the inclusion of “sexual violence, sexual threat and injury detail” in small writing at the top of the screen when you first hit play.
Ju-On: Origins explores how the haunted house at the centre of the film series became cursed in the first place.
While it has been praised for being one of Netflix’s most promising horror releases in some time, viewers expressed their concerns over the lack of trigger warnings on social media.
“Damn... there really are no trigger warnings for the Ju-On: Origins Netflix series,” one person wrote, adding: “Just watched the first TWO episodes (of six) & I’m enjoying it so far but that s*** made me really uncomfortable.”
One viewer heaped praise upon the series, but warned that “it has a lot of TRIGGERING topics and imagery and a lot of GORE, so only watch if you think you’d be alright with it”.
Another promised to tweet “any other triggering content” as they watched the show.
The official synopsis reads: “The J-Horror classic franchise Ju-On was actually based on real events that occurred over four decades – and the truth is even more terrifying. Can the people haunted by this house escape from its curse? And what kind of grim incident occurred in this cursed house in the past?”
Takashi Shimizu created The Grudge in 1998. After releasing two shorts, he unveiled feature-length film Ju-On: The Grudge in 2002.
Shimizu also directed the Sam Raimi-produced Hollywood remake, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar.
