went in with no expectations and was amazed by its shocking style, soupy neo-noir atmosphere, bummer post-bubble feminist subtext, extremely cool [WOMEN MOMENT] and da jokerisms of miho kanno in her best richard d. james album cover teas. here for a good time and not a long one, ataru oikawa’s debut may be let down by some weird pacing and budgetary thriftiness at horror moments. not exactly worthy of full 1990s j-horror boom canonization but very worth your time

good horror movies make you wish they killed YOU instead

if laughton got to make a real run of movie-movies, there’d probably be a lot of very famous guys here and now that we wouldn’t even talk about. sure, mitchum is great, sure, it’s one of the most visually arresting hollywood pictures ever, but what a turn for lillian gish

shion sono’s biggest weakness and greatest strength is that he likes movies more than he likes people, and the best and worst of it is on display here. paper thin characters and some clumsy camera handling in the climatic scene give way to an infectious love for creation behind the camera and a final shot that’s worth every moment spent leading up to it. it’s not a thinker, it’s a feeler.