New Group (2025) - Coming Soon to Shudder

Coming to Shudder on November 9th, New Group is a 2025 Japanese body horror film written and directed by Yûta Shimotsu. Known as an upcoming Japanese filmmaker, Yûta Shimotsu was born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1990 and studied mechanical engineering at Saga University. During this time, he began directing commercials and short films, for which he received multiple awards. His short film Dreaming to Accept Reality (2020) was screened at numerous international film festivals and served as the basis for his feature film debut, Best Wishes to All (2023 / NC ’24). His second feature, New Group (2025 / NC ’26), was screened at various festivals, including the Fantasia International Film Festival and the Sitges Film Festival, and has worked as writer and director on the upcoming TV series Strange: Junji Ito’s Tales for Sleepless Nights (2026).

Ai is a high school girl who feels suffocated by social pressure, but finds it hard to fight going with the flow. One day, the people in her school inexplicably start to form a human pyramid. The principal and other teachers start to act weird and encourage taking part in it, and the various gymnastic formations start to spread and take over the whole town. Eventually, only Ai and Yuu, a transfer student who finds it hard to fit in, are left to rebel against the conformity madness.

The deadly Human Pyramid in New Group (2025)

The school's principal in from of the Human Pyramid in New Group (2025)

Director: Yûta Shimotsu
Writer: Yûta Shimotsu, Momoko Sahara
Cast: Anna Yamada, Yuzu Aoki, Ren Komai, Danhi Kinoshita, Arisa Sasaki, Kano Rogers, Jun Hosoi, Ryo Matsumoto, Tomomitsu Adachi, Natsuko Sakakura, Takashi Shimizu, Tomoya Maeno, Taki Pierre
Producers: Tsuyoshi Kobayashi, Shinya Himda
Executive Producers: Takeshi Kikuchi, Takehiko Sasaki, Junji Igarashi
Cinematographer: Toru Nishioka
Language: Japanese
Run time: 82 min