MAG MAG

****

Directed by Yuriyan Retriever.

Starring Sara Minami, Takumi Saioto, Aoi Yamada.

Horror comedy, Japan, 113 Minutes, Certificate TBC

Released by Third Window Films

Reviewed as part of Halloween FrightFest 2025 - UK Premiere

It feels like an age since we had a good J-Horror to give us a good jolt to the system. MAG MAG, the first film to be released by K2 Pictures, a joint venture between Takashi Miike, Hirokazu Koreeda and Miwa Nishikawa, fills the slot quite nicely. A mix of comedy and horror from Yuriyan Retriever, Japan’s most popular comedian, her directing debut pokes fun at the tropes of Japanese horror while maintaining its own brand of daft humour and more than a couple of well-crafted scares and unsettling imagery that mark her out as an already accomplished director.

A long-haired shuffling, ghostly figure is the central figure of this film which often goes off on its own tangents at a whim. Mag Mag targets young men, telling them she is in love with them. The terror of meeting her leads to madness or an eye-popping death. After the object of her own affection meets a grisly end, Sanae embarks on a mission of vengeance against the spectral figure, leading us on a journey of supernatural terror and lovelorn madness with several surprises in store for everyone.

Far more than a comedic take on the celebrated genre, MAG MAG pinballs from plot point to plot point at the drop of a hat. Zipping back and forth in time, the film contains its own kaleidoscopic style, at one point seemingly transforming itself into a reality series documenting a bunch of young professionals sharing the same house, one of whom is Akari Takaishi from the BABY ASSASSINS franchise. From here we zip back to horror, musicals and a sequence involving a wall sized mural that could be the oddest thing you see on a screen this year.

The similarity to such classics as RINGU and JU-ON is quite intentional, with the latter’s director popping up in a cameo playing himself in one scene that adds a meta twist to proceedings. Along with all the laughs there is a strain of unsettling imagery that will no doubt delight fans of horror manga artist Junji Ito of UZUMAKI fame that shows there is more to Retriever's directorial style than just raising laughs. A melancholy edge also rises to the surface concerning its antagonist that gives the film yet another arresting facet that will have J-Horror fans eager to see what its multi-talented director can come up with next.

Iain MacLeod