‘#Manhole’ Review: High-Concept J-Horror Movie Overstays Its Welcome – Hollywood Reporter

What occurs within the manhole stays within the manhole.

That will be one method to describe this initially intiguing and more and more outrageous Japanese horror flick, which options pop star Yuto Nakajima as a younger man who, on the even of his wedding ceremony, falls into the movie’s titular lure and might’t get out.

Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Sketches of Kaitan Metropolis) from a script by Michitaka Okada (Masquerade Lodge), the film positively makes probably the most out of its setting, concocting dozens of obstacles to maintain the suspense excessive as its hero will get sliced, bludgeoned, heralded on social media and poisoned by poisonous sewage as he makes an attempt to flee. However about halfway by means of, #Manhole roughly jumps the shark — or is it the manhole? — by throwing in so many twists that it veers towards gory parody.  

Premiering in Berlin’s Panorama part, the movie ought to discover an viewers at house because of Nakajima, an actor, mannequin, and singer within the platinum Japanese boys band Hey! Say! JUMP who will get his fairly face severely tousled right here. Worldwide curiosity will most likely be restricted to midnight insanity screenings and the vast world of streaming.

The hashtag earlier than the film’s title is a clue as to what #Manhole is about: Half contained-space thriller (suppose Buried in Tokyo), half social media satire, it showcases just about all you are able to do while you’re caught a number of meters underground with solely a telephone, a pencil case and pretty dependable cell service to maintain you related.

That is what Shunsuke Kawamura, a profitable actual property agent about to wed the boss’ daughter, has accessible to him after he spends the evening consuming along with his workplace buddies, then stumbles right into a gap that appears to be a part of an deserted building web site. His odd habits, together with the truth that he doesn’t instantly name the cops, provides us just a few clues that resurface in a while, and Kumakiri does job organising pitfall after pitfall, from the rain pouring all the way down to poisonous foam seeping from open pipes.

Along with his location unclear and the police all however unhelpful, Shunsuke first dials up an ex-girlfriend who’s additionally, handily, a educated nurse. Then he units up an account on Twitter (renamed Pecker within the movie, LOL) for an internet avatar he calls “Manhole Woman,” hoping that just a few perverted insomniacs will come to his rescue. This prompts a lot of onscreen messages and titles that overwhelm the film’s second half, which loses monitor of its minimalist conceit to take pleasure in outré plotting and ample gore.

There are nonetheless just a few standout moments involving gross-out physique horror and artful manufacturing design (the units are by Norifumi Ataka), particularly a scene the place Shunsuke, whose leg will get reduce open by a rusty ladder, has to make use of a tiny stapler on his wound to maintain from bleeding out. The movie pulls no punches in relation to placing its tall and good-looking star by means of the wringer, and Nakajima willingly seems each ridiculous and sinister as his character will get his comeuppance a number of occasions over.

#Manhole is the form of low-cost idea {that a} Hollywood producer may look to remake, and there are methods of enhancing upon its situation whereas preserving the fundamental premise intact. (Notice there may be already a Ok-horror flick from 2014 referred to as Manhole — minus the hashtag — about little women getting kidnapped.)

One factor can be so as to add extra humor and by no means take the setup too critically — a sin this model is usually responsible of, particularly throughout its overcooked finale. However maybe there’s solely a lot you are able to do while you attempt to squeeze a film right into a manhole and in some way discover your method to the floor.

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