By Nia Edwards-Behi
Hideo Nakata’s most recent films have not had the glowing reception his reputation following Ringu and Dark Water might have set him up for. I quite like 2013’s The Complex, myself, which, although a bit cliched was certainly enjoyable and featured some effective chills. Monsterz seems to have failed to impress critics (those writing in English, anyway), with ‘middling’ seeming to be the best assessment of it. Well, would you believe it, I couldn’t disagree more. I thoroughly enjoyed Monsterz, its sombre tone and strong characters making it wholly compelling, in my opinion. Maybe the action gets a bit repetitive, but I enjoyed it regardless because I felt so on-side with the characters. Monsterz is a remake of a Korean film from 2010, Haunters, which I will most definitely be seeking out as well, having enjoyed Nakata’s version so much.
Tatsuya Fujiwara stars at the anonymous central monster of Nakata’s film, a traumatised young man who is able to mentally control anyone around him. He lives a life of solitude, primarily using his power to steal money to sustain his life, and to amuse himself. He is enraged, one day, to discover a man immune to his power, kindly Suichi (Takayuki Yamada). Suichi is struck by a car one day while working, and miraculously survives – but he does lose his job. Rather than demanding money from the old man who ran him over, Suichi seeks employment in his shop, and so continues with his life, happily working alongside Kanae (Satomi Ishihara), the old man’s daughter, and still seeing his friends Akira (Taiga) and Jun (Motoki Ochiai). However, our anonymous monster is not finished with him, and soon Suichi and his friends find themselves in the middle of an extremely dangerous battle. As Suichi confesses to a strange power of his own, the ability to heal, he must face his own monstrosity in order to confront his more malevolent counterpart.
The film starts with an extremely strong opening scene, and indeed it continues in such a way that offers stand-out sequences amongst an otherwise melodramatic narrative. Now, I like that sort of thing, so I actually enjoyed what might seem to others a weakness of the film. It helps a lot that the characters are extremely likeable, and the chemistry between them a highlight – Suichi’s relationship with his friends Akira and Jun is just as enjoyable and believable as his budding (and thankfully not over-played) romance with Kanae. If anything Kanae is underused, as she is honestly just there as a love-interest, but, Ishihara gives a stonking performance in a minor role regardless. Akira and Jun are devoted to their friend, and it’s really quite lovely to watch. Jun is a bit of a flaming gay stereotype, and to begin with I was a little dubious of such a flagrant character, but he’s actually extremely likeable and gets given more to do than you might expect, so in the end his character wasn’t as problematic as I was expecting.
The most impressive aspect of the film for me is its overall melancholic tone. The overriding theme of the film, I think, is guilt. Its main characters suffer from guilt and trauma from their childhoods, which makes their standoff all the more compelling, but we also have Kanae, during the film, being shielded from and then confronted with her own sense of guilt over things she is forced to do when her mind is being controlled. While Suichi and Kanae do have this sort-of romance sub-plot, it’s something of a sad one, and that’s quite refreshing when the film could have been a lot more conventional about it. The film’s ending semi-absolves various characters for their guilt, but still felt a little downbeat to me.
There’s a sequence set in an opera house, which sets up the film’s climax, which is probably the most impressive set-piece in the film. It’s genuinely eerie, and easily the most frightening part of the film. I’d struggle to call Monsterz a ‘horror’ film, as such, as it is rather more of a dramatic supernatural thriller, but the concept of pure mind-control is, naturally, scary, and is demonstrated best here. It’s also a sequence that best showcases the excellent use of sound and music in the film.
Overall, my impression of Monsterz was that it’s perhaps something of a ‘young’ film, which isn’t an impression I’m quite able to quantify. I wouldn’t call it ‘young adult’, but it’s perhaps a little too simple and melodramatic to fully satisfy a lot of people. However, inclined as I am to enjoy films like this, I got a lot out of Monsterz, and honestly thought it was extremely enjoyable.