I truly didn’t think when I decided on this idea. I have a lot of movies. Safe to say over 500 DVD/Blu-Ray discs on my shelves. When I reached the X,Y,Z section I discovered that I had a total of movies that start with those letters. And all of them are Z. And all of those are really bad Zombie movies. So the tail end of this has become less about me espousing the great movies of each letter and more about “Egads, please let me find a movie with this letter that doesn’t suck.”

The setup for this movie is about a town where one day everyone goes off together on a hike. And die. Some are just dead, some are butchered, some are just gone.

It’s a mystery that most of the area seems to ignore. But a group of adventurous minded young(ish) explorers decide they want to find out what happened. And this is an all in idea. Going and going and going until something is discovered.

I have a bit of a knee jerk reaction to found footage movies, as I feel they often don’t make sense. But this is almost like a reverse found footage movie. Which is, I know, really just saying a movie. But there is a feel in found footage. A vibe if you will. And this movie vibes those feels, so to speak.

As the group gets out into the trek, they begin hearing music. In the wild. An eerie thing when there is no source and it doesn’t matter if you are in the woods or a field. This is a very slow build movie, and it feels like it is about 2/3 of the way in before something happens. A guy and girl get into an argument and take off running as they fight. Most of the group ignores it, until it escalates. The guy begins beating the girl mercilessly and rips her leg off. Those things come off pretty easy, ya know. It’s like attaching them was a last minute design decision.

This obviously sets the group at odds with each other as they try and figure out what to do with the assailant (they tied him up) and the body (they left visible markers so a search could come back via helicopter.) But at this point, it’s pretty apparent that the area has affected them in much the same way it did the town way back when.

There’s not a lot of answers in this movie, just a lot of crazy. And that crazy doesn’t really even stop when they die. The girl who misplaced her leg and died winds up hanging on a pole like a scarecrow, but none of them did it.

This movie is the sort of mindfuckery I normally love. And don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy this. There is a Lovecraftian level of insanity in these woods that feels like some sort of Elder God being is directing things. I recommend it for those who are into the Lovecraftian style, and I don’t mean Cthulhu rampaging through a city like Godzilla’s big brother.

This is a fairly short Japanese film, coming in at just over an hour. And much to my chagrin, it starts as a found footage style movie. Eight friends are off on a weekend getaway and the movie starts as iPhone footage. It is framed in the tall rectangle with tons of black space on the sides. Early on there were some parts where the group was cutting up and having fun and the filmmakers decided not to subtitle those parts. I thought I somehow turned it off, but no. Conscious choice by them. There are a few people in the group who feel like they are only there as cannon fodder. Some members of the group even reference them in a “why are they here” manner.

A flat tire leads the group to abandon their vehicle as they walk in search of assistance. They find a village, and a kindly older gentleman offers them tea and dinner as they discuss the dilemma. Oddly, the table is already set and food already cooked. The decision to fix the vehicle in the morning is made and they group is directed to a sleeping area. Where 8 mats were already prepared for them.

At this point they do find it odd. But the next morning comes and it is already too late. One of them is missing, but he was intended to be going with the older guy to fix the tire. There is only food for 7, but it kinda makes sense as the other guy is already away.

But right after breakfast starts, someone embeds a butcher knife in the spine of the one who seemed to be the leader/organizer of the group. Some white clad cultist types arrive with weapons and things intensify. One girl is carried off “to go make babies” and the other six are hauled off to a shrine where they are part of a ritual. They make a move and four of them get away, but one is shot instantly. The other three make a run for it and get picked off by firearms one at a time.

Seems like it’s done. But we are only about halfway into the run time. At this point the one still left at the ritual begins to fight back. And then one that had been shot joins him. And the one who was missing in the morning also is seen fighting back, even though it was mentioned that he was in the vehicle and dead.

I was as confused as you. It seems the three who didn’t fit in were planning this whole thing. They knew of the village and what they were doing, and came for revenge (wearing bullet proof vests even.)

So what started as found footage and then turned into ritual horror, has now shifted into a revenge flick. Fascinating. And like X-Cross, completely unexpected in the way things played out.

This was intriguing and wild and fun. Not super scary, and definitely not Lovecraftian like the other entry today. Absolutely worth an hour of your time to go track down and watch.