Bakemono (2023) Film Review – Undulating Terror

Posted on by Jim Cox

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Bakemono is a 2023 joint American-Japanese body-horror film written and directed by Doug Roos. While known for writing and directing a slew of shorts, such as In the Shadows (2006), Betrayed (2007), and We Set Them Free (2016), as well as the feature-length film The Sky Has Fallen (2009), Doug is also a well-versed producer, working on films such as The Girl Who Played Dead (2014), Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II (2015), and Effigy (2024), to name a few.

A multitude of guests visit the same cheap Tokyo apartment at different times, unaware of the gruesome creature waiting for them.

Featuring a narratively fractured story made up of several vignettes, Bakemono oscillates between a number of different interpersonal stories, all connected by their location, the same rented apartment. Rather than show each vignette to completion in sequence, the film explores several of these at a time in a stacked narrative structure—treating the segment’s acts as blocks, building and climaxing simultaneously. While this structure may be slightly jarring at first, exploring multiple accounts this way provides a stronger sense of pacing than the continuous loss of tension caused by the undulation of a sequential narrative. Additionally, while the film seems to lack any overarching story to begin with, a connection between them is slowly drip-fed to the audience—mostly derived from environmental storytelling.

With an incredibly kinetic visual design, the cinematography does much of the heavy lifting in building a tense environment. Full of different styles and techniques, such as several single-take dolly shots, extensive camera movement through pans and tilts, shifts in verticality through high and low angles, and a mix of wide and tight angles, the camera work crafts a claustrophobic, suspenseful environment.

Furthermore, the macro shots effectively both obscure the titular creature and flaunt its visceral design. While these angles offer detailed but limited glimpses of the bakemono, the obfuscation lets the audience piece together what is shown and fill in the blanks—compounding its grotesque design. However, the main drawback of utilising this technique is the need to frequently cut to a different angle, which can be somewhat disorienting during more frantic scenes.

As important as the visuals are, light also plays a large part in Bakemono’s ambience. Creating deep, penetrating shadows, the film uses this to enhance the apartment’s environment—making it feel endless while still maintaining an enclosed, stifling setting. Furthermore, the coloured lighting intuitively represents the emotions experienced during scenes. Utilising typical orange-yellow colouring as a baseline, the lighting can alternate between deep crimson and vivid turquoise depending on the scene’s change in tone.

All achieved through practical means, Bakemono’s special effects offer an incredibly visceral depiction of the creature. Stylised as a humanoid figure comprised of twisted flesh, bone, and sinew in a hellscape of biological degradation, the practical nature of the effects certainly embellishes the gruesome design—further compounded by the cinematography. Moreover, outside the creature design, the film’s depiction of body mutilation is a striking portrayal of extreme violence. From body dismemberment to tentacle attacks (though less like Urotsukidoji [1989] in nature and more like Guzoo: The thing forsaken by God [1986]), the film offers a highly pragmatic visualisation of splanchnic carnage.

Showcasing a fairly large cast of actors from both East and West, the performances in Bakemono can be slightly hit or miss at times. While certain characters provide some weak line delivery here and there, the alternating nature of the vignettes and how they are edited means these characters are never on screen for long and hardly detract from the masterfully crafted atmosphere or tension. However, a standout performance is provided by the apartment’s landlord, Mitsuo, played by Takashi Irie. Though the character doesn’t have a lot of dialogue to begin with, Irie delivers some fantastically expressive characterisation through body language and physical expression.

An effortlessly tense depiction of graphic monster mayhem, Bakemono is an exceptional blend of influences from Eastern and Western cinema to create a one-of-a-kind experience unrivalled by anything else. With its atypical narrative structure, outstanding special effects, and imposing creature design, the film is sure to entice fans of slow-burn J-horror and high-octane splatter horror alike.

Bakemono (2023) is available to purchase from Unearthed Films’ website on September 22nd.

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