• Release year: 2022
• Director: Yûta Shimotsu.
• Producer: Takashi Shimizu.
• Screenplay by: Rumi Kakuta.

Shotgun Commentary: weird, unnerving, half-cooked and well-done at the same time.

Review

Best Wishes to All is one of the strangest horror narratives of the year. In fact, at no point of the movie are you capable of fully understanding what the hell is going on. Don’t worry, though, you’ll understand enough to not feel completely left out. It is not Lynch-level madness. However, you’ll have to make peace with that nagging feeling of not quite knowing exactly what is going on. In a world where films tend to over explain their content for audiences incapable of putting down their phone for two hours, this film does the complete opposite.

The feature under-explains the narrative to the point where it forces you to stay vigilant throughout its whole duration. Wanna check your phone? Tough. Bathroom break? I don’t think so. You are here to watch a movie, and a movie you will watch. This feature will treat you like an intelligent, capable adult, so you better be ready for it. Forget about your average slasher or your favourite murder mystery, this tale is here to chill you to the core and unnerve you to death while successfully evading every single horror cliché known to mankind.

The story

The story follows a young nursing student (Kotone Furukawa), who goes back to her grandparents’ house to take care of them for a short while despite a nightmare she had when she was young right in that same house. The longer she stay with them, the more she realises that her grandparents are anything but normal.

This might sound horribly familiar, but not to worry, this film won’t go full-on The Visit (2015) on you. Instead, the protagonist discovers her grandparents’ secret and tries to do the moral thing, only to find out the whole deal is a lot more complicated than it appeared at first sight.

Key features

A big part of the shock value of the feature resides in scarce but intense moments of gore. Coraline (2009) style stitches and unexpected but impactful deaths dote the story of the perfect amount of spark to keep you on edge without getting trashy or too extra. Additionally, its use of light and sound is absolutely delightful. Most of the film takes place in broad daylight, giving you that smothering feeling of complete and helpless danger since the light is no longer a safe haven.

As for the sound, there are no loud bangs that force you to jump off your seat or crazy melodies that will follow you home. Instead, the score follows the events closely, providing an extra layer of value to the atmosphere without ever overpowering the visuals. Plenty of horror films from this year’s Raindance programme have followed this formula, but it is still surprising to see, and incredibly unique in 2022, when Best Wishes to All first came out.

Still, the weight of the narrative is mostly carried by its lead, Kotone Furukawa. The young actress shows a great deal of range thanks to the traumatic and excentric experience that her unnamed character lives. From the bliss of ignorance, to the stress of knowledge, the construction of hope, and the devastation of its loss; this actress portrays every single emotion perfectly.

All in all, Best Wishes to All is a fantastic horror movie that will make you reevaluate all you knew about horror and its possibilities. The story is way simpler that it looks like… or is it? Only you can answer that question, and you will be thinking about it for days after you are done watching.

Advice to take from this movie:

• Not all grandparents are sweet and kind.
• There is no need to over-explain your film, have some faith in your audience.
• You don’t need a ton of blood to creep your audience out.

What’s your take? Have you watched Best Wishes to All? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀