Although online news describe this film as the winner of the Japanese Horror Film Grand Prize, it's not your typical thrilling horror flick. Instead, it retains director Takashi Shimizu's signature absurd horror style. The movie features many baffling segments, but I personally enjoyed it. It carries a vibe reminiscent of the Japanese TV series "Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan", weaving malice into everyday behaviors.
The director uses an exaggerated approach to depict aspects of life that "seem slightly off but are hard to pinpoint." When a group of people-or even an entire society-are characterized by self-centered psychopathy, empathy, guilt, and remorse become obsolete. By the end of the film, even the female protagonist succumbs to this transformation.
This film reminds me of the "Steamed bread made by human blood (other people's blood)" described by writer Lu-Xun in his story "Medicine": At a marketplace, a soldier displays a young man's public execution by decapitation. As the blade falls and the head rolls, ignorant onlookers exchange coins with the soldier to dip their buns into the warm, fresh blood, believing it will cure their children's ailments.
