Director: Kenichi Ugana
Year: 2023
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
Several years after parting ways, a teen finds that the series of incidents surrounding her and her potential boyfriends is the result of a serial killer looking to ensure she doesn’t date anyone beneath her, and when she realizes the intent behind this tries to stop him from continuing his rampage.
Review:
Overall, this is a pretty solid mixture of genre styles. One of the film’s strengths is a solid storyline that provides the basis for everything happening here. Given a heavy-handed backstory involving their childhood encounters with bullies that provides enough of an introduction to understand the characters, the jump to the present manages to fill in the idea of the incident as the proper origin story for the killer stalking her and her friends. The additional information involving her classmates and their history together, which includes a romance, also being involved with the addition of an investigative angle about the mysterious killer has a lot to like, as these seemingly disparate elements come together in the end to give this a complex and enjoyable storyline.
That allows for the film to really go overboard with the slasher scenes that have a lot to like about them. The initial assault on the group while on their trip is a fine move, offering a solid dose of suspenseful stalking, brutal gore, and just enough comedic touches to be a great sign of what’s to come. This is paid off quite well, involving the attacks on the new boyfriend in the tunnel, a later appearance hacking up other victims around the city, which is quite fun, and the finale where everything comes together in the spectacular conclusion inside the restaurant. Featuring enough gruesome action to be appreciated, a goofy streak to keep that delirious case of humor going, and some fantastic and logical twists which come off incredibly well, this all manages to provide the film with quite a lot to like.
There are some factors that bring this one down. One of the main issues with it is a highly unnecessary series of time-slips jumping around several years at a time. While it makes sense to go from them as kids to the teenage setup, doing two more jumps in time from there ultimately serves little purpose to the film except for the joke of it all, and none of it is as funny or logical to the story. That brings up another factor with this one in that it’s not always so obvious what the joke of the situation is supposed to be, as the failed encounter in the subway or the teacher at his forest home come off as funny but rather as clumsiness and ineptitude. It’s a factor that is quite heavy throughout the rest of the film, as the comedy is hit-or-miss, which ends up combining to be enough to lower this one somewhat.
Overview: ****/5
An exceptionally fun and silly comedic teen slasher, there’s a lot to like here, while being let down by just a few drawbacks that pop up to bring this down slightly. Those who are intrigued by the concept at play, who are fans of Asian horror in general, or who appreciate this kind of slasher effort will like this the most, while those who don’t like these factors should heed caution.
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