Director: Kenta Osaku, Hirohito Takimoto
Year: 2020
Country: Japan
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Arriving to do a homestay in Japan, several students decide to document their time staying with their host family, but when they kidnap the group and announce plans to torture and sacrifice them for their ancestral god put the students through grueling torture to do so.
Review:
This was a highly enjoyable and entertaining effort. Among its better features is the enjoyable sense of unease and creepiness this builds up while masking everything in a light-hearted tone. From the crazed taxi driver's unhinged delivery of the group to the house to the odd manner of their host taking everyone around the house while utilizing a patently false smile and optimistic, outgoing, friendly demeanor, the obvious mindset here is for an obvious twist. Still, given how well it's hidden here with the warm presentations and greetings, they have no idea anything is coming comes off naturally and genuinely to the film's credit.
Once it goes for the twist in not just how they're treated but the intentions of the host family, this one picks up considerably. After the abrupt ending to dinner and the chilling revelations found throughout the house involving scores of creepy, previously unnoticed paintings, it grows rather nicely to the family taking over and preparing the group for the ritual. The amount of torture and brutality inflicted here is quite impressive, with the over-the-top splatter combined with the easily accessible gags featured, as the increasingly frantic quests to overcome the family and stop the ritual provide a lot to like. These help hold this one up for the most part.
There were a few flaws here. The biggest issue here is the seemingly disparate and offbeat tone established here, which is how the finale takes over the film. Rather than deal with any kind of realism or natural sense of plotting, the bizarre antics and comical splatter on display here are so tonally different from what happened before that it just pulls the viewer out of the movie. The quest for over-the-top splatter also causes several plotlines to come into question, from what happened to characters suddenly disappearing, to new ones arriving suddenly and others shifting allegiances, making for a confusing and bizarre time. These hold this one down the most.
Overview: ***/5
Offering some rather fun and bizarre takes on the genre with a nice setup and tons of splatter, even if some of that goes against what happened before, there's enough to like here that this one is a watchable enough genre effort. Give it a look if you’re into this kind of genre effort or are intrigued by this kind of effort, while those who are turned off by the style or flaws on display should heed caution.
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