Netflix will soon add a Lovecraftian horror show to its catalog, which will seemingly continue one of Mike Flanagan’s most well-known horror trends. It has been a while since Mike Flanagan departed from Netflix after delivering one hit horror show after another. After all these years, the director is all set to return to the small screen with an adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, which will premiere on Prime Video later this year.
While looking forward to Flanagan’s take on the Stephen King book, viewers can now also look forward to Netflix’s Bloody Smart, which will be an adaptation of Junji Ito’s works. While this is not a direct H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, Junji Ito is known for being heavily inspired by the classic horror author’s cosmic horror stories.
Some of his best works, including Tomie, Gyo, and Uzumaki, unfold bizarre tales where reality gradually melts away into incomprehensible horrors. The unsettling brilliance with which Ito’s stories capture humanity’s insignificance against the vast unknown makes him one of the most Lovecraftian mangakas out there.
Interestingly, apart from being Lovecraftian, the upcoming Netflix manga adaptation of his works will also share one beat with Mike Flanagan’s small-screen storytelling.
Bloody Smart: Netflix’s First Live-Action Take on Junji Ito’s Works
Junji Ito’s works have been translated to both the big and small screens multiple times in the past. His manga have also received several live-action adaptations. Netflix, too, has not held back from bringing his haunting stories to the screen with shows like Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre (2023). However, Bloody Smart is the first live-action adaptation of his works that is premiering on Netflix.
Like most Lovecraftian cosmic horror stories, Junji Ito’s stories are incredibly difficult to adapt. More often than not, his manga are ridden with surreal imagery and abstract psychological terror that does not usually translate well to the screen. Despite this, some adaptations of his works have been received well. Case in point: the live-action adaptation of Uzumaki that premiered in 2000 is still considered a cult classic.
Recent efforts to bring his manga to the screen have been quite underwhelming. Many had high expectations of the 2024 Uzumaki anime, but it struggled to leave its mark. While only time will tell how Netflix’s Bloody Smart will turn out, its first trailer makes it look quite promising.
The Mandarin series will unfold in a school town that is obsessed with making its students thrive academically. Its story will begin with a mysterious Bloody Fruit Tree appearing out of nowhere with crimson fruits. Consumption of the fruit will promise to make one smarter, but at the same time, it will also bring out one’s repressed desires and struggles in the worst ways possible.
As Bloody Smart‘s plot suggests, it will seemingly use the education system’s obsession with perfection as a metaphor to walk through a series of Lovecraftian terrors. If executed well, it could rank among the better adaptations of Ito’s stories.
Like Mike Flanagan’s Shows, Bloody Smart Will Combine Terrors From Multiple Horror Stories
Mike Flanagan’s Netflix shows are known for drawing story beats from multiple literary works. For instance, even though his take on Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix borrows its name from one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most popular horror stories, the show is a mishmash of many poems and stories written by Poe.
Similarly, even his other adaptations, like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club, borrow story beats from multiple horror stories to deliver something more modern and relatable. Bloody Smart, too, will reportedly tread the same path by featuring terrors from several manga written by Junji Ito.
Bloody Smart premieres on Netflix in 2026.
This approach could work incredibly well for the Lovecraftian horror show on Netflix, as it could cherry-pick the most unsettling ideas, imagery, and psychological themes from Ito’s works and weave them into a more cohesive long-form story. Hopefully, the upcoming series will not disappoint.
