Netflix is working hard with horror. Lovers of the genre have a few recent exclusive assets of great interest in his catalogue, such as the recent ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities’ or the already canceled but very notable ‘The Midnight Club’, which adds to Mike Flanagan’s previous productions.
Today joins them ‘Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre’ in an essential event for lovers of surreal horror. It is a 12-episode series that contains 20 adaptations of short stories by the mangaka, famous for creations such as ‘Uzumaki’ (which has no adaptation here because it is already being versioned in an anime with an aesthetic similar to this series) or the spectral ‘ Tomie’ (which does have a dedicated episode).
Junji Ito is a prolific author whose meticulous stroke provides him with an absolutely recognizable graphics and which he has used to pose stories with one foot in the tradition (monsters that could belong to the folklore of yokais) and another in an intelligently macabre use of new technologies and screens as transmitters of horror. All of this is present in the series.
Of course, like any anthological series, there are upper and lower episodes, but we recommend starting with ‘The Gallows Balloons’, which is pure Junji Ito: grotesque monsters with a hidden and surreal point of humor, which seem to come out of a session automatic writing. A truly personal world, both humorous and terrifying, unlike any other genre series.
