
From the brilliant and twisted mind of manga artist Shintaro Kago, a new collection of short stories rife with skin-crawling suspense, visceral body horror, and pitch-dark humor.
In 2018, manga artist Shintaro Kago made his English debut with Dementia 21, a collection of absurdist manga short stories. Readers found themselves delighted and disgusted by his penchant for body horror, black comedy, and the surreal, paired with his emphatic, kinetic art style. Kago returns at the height of his powers with Brain Damage, where he dials the gore and absurdity to 11 and beyond.
Brain Damage collects four new short manga stories, a tantalizing blend of the hilarious and the macabre. In “Labyrinth Quartet,” four identical young women trapped in an eerie building must solve the mystery of why they’ve been gathered there, while being hunted by a knife-wielding stalker. In “Curse Room,” a plucky health aide is tasked with keeping zombies peaceful, lest they go on a brain-eating rampage. In “Family Portrait,” people throughout town are strangely disappearing without a trace, and the key to it all is a senile and perverted old man. Finally, in “Blood Harvest,” a series of gruesomely mangled bodies are found in pristine cars, and it appears something sinister lurks within these masses of glass and steel.
Brain Damage is available to preorder from Fantagraphics’ website here. (Available July 15th)
More Film Reviews
Fear Street Part One: 1994 Film Review – Nostalgia Soaked Horror
Ten years ago in 1994, I was walking into the local bookstore to pick the new…wait….that was 27 years ago? Fine then, I will start over. Almost 3 decades ago,…
Red Screening Film Review – Neon Soaked Giallo From Uruguay
With the city streets pouring rain, soaked in the red neon haze, a small dilatated theater runs a horror movie to an audience of several people. Little do they know,…
IRUL: Ghost Hotel (2021) Film Review – Malaysian Found Footage Horror
Hello Spookies! Class is in session again. Today we are going to dapple in a Malaysian found footage horror movie called IRUL: Ghost Hotel. Full disclosure, I don’t know very…
Skinamarink (2022) Film Review – What exactly is a “Horror film”?
“I came out early, I couldn’t take it”“I hated it”“I loved it and won’t have a word said against it!”– Quotes overheard in the foyer, after having seen Skinamarink. Written…
Onibaba (1964) Film Review – Perfected Edo Gothic
If Ugetsu is what kickstarted the Japanese tradition of Edo Gothic, Kaneto Shindo may have perfected it with Onibaba (1964). It’s a horror film that doesn’t resort to horror, a…
Evil Dead 2 is a Sequel to Evil Dead 1 (DUH) – The Character Development of Ash Williams
Famously, Game of Thrones switched actors between seasons due to reasons behind the scenes, and the replacement was clearly so from a radically different appearance, but the viewers suspended their…

Hey there, I’m Jim and I’m located in London, UK. I am a Writer and Managing Director here at Grimoire of Horror. A lifelong love of horror and writing has led me down this rabbit hole, allowing me to meet many amazing people and experience some truly original artwork. I specialise in world cinema, manga/graphic novels, and video games but will sometime traverse into the unknown in search of adventure.