The Yurei
It is a pleasure to research weird internet mysteries, above all, when they come from Japan. Due to the language barrier and its distinctive online culture, creepy stuff that originated in this country seems unusually eerie even for the most well-versed fans of the uncanny. Since I am a fellow seeker of disturbing content, I
To be the first at anything is always an exciting prospect, particularly when that label becomes exponentially less attainable with time. While there have been a few found-footage films to make their way out of India, there are so few that to even say the format is in its infancy there seems overly enthusiastic. Add to
Kingdom of the Apes is a 2022 Japanese thriller, written and directed by Shūgō Fujii. Making his directorial debut with Living Hell (2000), Fujii gained notoriety with his recent mystery thriller Red Line Crossing (2017). “A director of a news program was called to an emergency meeting in the boardroom of a TV station on the
Having recently lost her grandmother, Satoko Sato finds herself deeply withdrawn from the pressures of Covid landing her in the position of a NEET. However, at the age of 32, Satoko feels the pressure to move on, but her limited desires have her seemingly only reaching to be a rich person’s wife. After a failed
Necronomicon: Evocative Magic is a 2019 fantasy horror, directed by Mitsunori Hasegawa. Mitsunori is known for directing Onigokko (2013) and Machiawase (2013) and has also won the Grand Prize at the 1st CyberSpace Film Festival. The film is loosely based on the dark fantasy novel Cthulhu Mythos by H.P. Lovecraft. In 1938, an unemployed Masao
Have you ever had a heart-to-heart with a bartender? I’ve often heard peers joke about how bartenders are basically therapists with a license to sell alcohol, and although I haven’t expressed my inner turmoil to any drink-serving strangers, the phenomenon is pretty widespread across the globe. What is it about bartenders that make people want
After a hard day of work, 36-year-old Yuko Sawamatsu returns to her apartment for an evening to unwind. However, her memories of a recent affair with a married man keep coming back to her in the form of flashbacks. Although these memories are painful, Yuko is resolved in her choice to have ended the relationship.
Covering all things scatological, Unco Film Festival is back with its twelfth installment of excreta exploration. Hosted by legendary mangaka Shintaro Kago, the festival displays the work of independent filmmakers and animators whose work covers the taboo subject of bodily waste. Live-streamed on YouTube, the two-hour-long festival contains the work of 28 artists in hopes
After contributing to periodical manga magazines such as Manga OK from the mid-60s, the ever-ambitious Taro Bonten would decide to create his own bespoke gekiga magazine in 1969 named Black Ace. However, this wouldn’t be just any normal magazine and would seek to recreate the mystery genre started by kasutori magazines in the late 1940s.
Helter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly by Kyoko Okazaki defaults to a simplistic style similar to older, nostalgic manga. Yet the style still works for high-impact, fashion-heavy scenes where it effectively conveys the emotional, stylistic world that Liliko inhabits. The bonus full-color illustrations included in the edition released by Vertical, an imprint of Kodansha, are simply breathtaking.