Movies
[Stanley Film Fest ’13 Review] A New Cult Classic Arrives In ‘Henge’
Following treatment for violent spells, a young man returns home to his loving wife. But as his seizures intensify, it becomes clear something inside him is trying to get out. Part domestic drama, part sci-fi thriller, the ambitious micro-budget tragedy henge heralds the arrival of a bright new talent.
Bloody Disgusting stringer Erik Myers took to the first annual Stanley Film Festival where he caught this special Japanese film when it screened on May 5.
Directed by Hajime Ohata, this creature feature has a running time of only 54 minutes, which gets the insanity rolling…
I was young, certainly of an impressionable age, when my father sparked my interest in the horror genre. Attack of the Mushroom People, he told me during a dinner conversation, was one of the scariest films he had ever watched. It’s a 1963 Japanese flick, originally titled Matango, in a group of shipwreck survivors wash up on a mysterious island. Then mushroom people show up. It’d be easy to dismiss it as just another cheesy creature feature of his youth, only this one had a gruesomely unhappy ending. Without YouTube around to instantly ruin it, my imagination was set off by his impassioned description. How could such a terrible fate await the good guy? Bambi aside, this was perhaps my first fling with fatalism, a concept frequently explored in horror movies and especially so in Henge, an absurdly fun 2011 horror film from Japanese director Hajime Ohata.
There are many similarities between these two films, but I only mention the former because I imagine I will speak of this film with a similar gusto when my kids challenge me to name the nastiest horror film I’ve ever seen (since no child should hear about The Human Centipede II from mom or dad, seriously.) Henge opens in a quiet laboratory where white-cloaked scientists huddle around a plainclothes man. He is inspected, interviewed. Then, quite suddenly, he begins shaking uncontrollably. This is Yoshiaki, an otherwise quiet man who has been beset with a serious seizure problem for years. It has upset his relationship with his devoted wife Keiko. Nonetheless, she seems ready and willing to help him overcome his ailment until one evening when, mid-seizure, his foot suddenly takes on a grotesque new form. Then his episode ends and it changes back.
As a theme, Henge doesn’t tackle transformation in a unique or intelligent manner beyond a lesson or two in Japanese folklore. But this is a monster movie, not Kafka. On top of that, it’s a low-budget affair, but horror fans will appreciate director Hajime Ohata’s cost-effective instincts. When Yoshiaki’s condition worsens, his “alterations” are more ridiculous than scary, especially near the end. Nonetheless, the character manages a gross glistening sheen, achieved through the basic tenet of emphasizing rubber and foam over CGI effects. The film’s real tension is in its’ great sound design and careful reveals. Even when we know something laughable awaits in the dark room at the end of the hall, the sense of dread never quite evaporates until perhaps the end when things get truly absurd. I recommend avoiding the trailer.
There’s some fun in Ohata’s nods toward an entire history of classic Japanese sci-fi cinema. To mention specific names would, of course, spoil Henge. His film won’t find a place in that pantheon, yet it’s destined for horror’s new cult canon. It’s easy to picture its’ substandard American remake, but I welcome it if it means opening more doors to the relatively unknown Ohata, so be it. One can only dream what he’d be capable of with some nice fat financing and the movie rights to manga artist Junji Ito’s best work. -Erik Myers
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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