I’d lost touch with “The Ring” universe, assuming, like most Western filmgoers, that 2017’s failed reboot “Rings” was the end of the hairy horror harpy from the well tale.

Silly me. The “cursed video” whose viewers die mysterious deaths within 24 hours of watching it lives on in Japan. I count 14 film incarnations of the story first spun by actor and novelist Kôji Suzuki, and a TV series.

Of late, this creepy and influencial “J-horror” franchise has wandered into the area of camp, rebranded under the name of the demon/witch “Sadako” who appears on the vhs tape that gets handed around and copied, killing all — or almost all — who dare to view it.

“Sadako DX” is the latest film, now on Netflix, a variation of the story long after the letters “vhs” disappeared from the ranks of watchable media. Yes, the kids joke about that here. But the movie? It’s a goof that isn’t that goofy, and a horror film that fails utterly to horrify.

Our witch has lost her ability to shock, thanks to inept editing. We see too much of her to be scared. And it’s obvious witchy demon Sadako has learned to use conditioner, removing the fearsome frizziness that made her so terrifying to Japanese audiences, and Naomi Watts in the first Hollywood adaptation.

Here, a very smart Japanese coed and quiz show champ, Ayaka (Fuka Koshiba) matches wits on TV with spirutalist Kenshin (Hiroyuki Ikeuchi of “Ip Man” and “Limbo”) as they banter about this wave of “unexplained deaths” sweeping Japan.

“Curses are real,” says the showman/charlatan. Not so fast says Ms. Smarty Pants.

Of course he’s right and she’s wrong. Ayaka’s “200 IQ” take on the problem is to treat this original “viral” video like any other virus. Block its spread, or dilute its effects. “Herd immunity.” Something like that.

Director Hisashi Kimura can’t find a fright to save his life. So he infects his film with mousy-voiced pixie characters, mugging screen veterans, with cheap jolts involving the station’s plush character mascot and deaths that aren’t moving, alarming or amusing.

“Sadako DX” is so bad one wonders if “The Ring” franchise fell off, film by film, or if those recent Japanese “Sadako” movies were all awful, and Netflix is just now getting around to licensing one thanks to that October demand for horror.

hewrd immunity

Rating: TV-14, horror

Cast: Fuka Koshiba, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Mario Kuroba and Yuki Yagi

Credits: Directed by Hisashi Kimura, scripted by Yuya Takahashi, based on the novel by
Kôji Suzuki. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:38