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A Japanese horror film dubbed ‘unnerving’ and ‘sinister’ is now available to stream on the scariest streaming service out there.
Best Wishes to All, directed by Yûta Shimotsu, follows a nursing student (Kotone Furukawa) who visits her grandparents (Masashi Arifuku and Yoshiko Inuyama) in their rural Japanese town.
She appears distressed to learn her parents’ arrival at the home is delayed, leaving her alone with her elderly relatives.
As the visit winds on, the young woman uncovers dark secrets that seem to point to a mysterious presence lurking in the house.
Best Wishes to All boasts a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and you can witness the eerie spectacle for yourself from the, uh, relative comfort of your own home.
The film is now streaming on Shudder via Amazon Prime Video, which specialises in horror films from across the globe, both big releases and indie gems.
Rolling Stone had high praise for the film in their review, writing: ‘It is, hands down, the best Japanese horror movie in decades, and quite possibly the single best horror movie you’ll see this year, period.’
IGN Movies said: ‘Brimming with misanthropy and feel-bad vibes, the social commentary doesn’t sustain the film for its full runtime. Director Yûta Shimotsu’s command of uncanny atmospherics only takes him so far — even if it is, admittedly, pretty far.’
Variety added: ‘The thinly veiled commentary on aspects of modern Japanese society may fly over offshore viewers’ heads streaming on Shudder, but genre fans will appreciate the bizarre story’s sinister, twisty progress.’
‘The type of unsettling, high-concept horror film that knows exactly what it wants to be and executes it with unforgiving verve,’ RogerEbert.com concluded.
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There are two ways you can kickstart your Shudder subscription – either directly through Shudder or Amazon Prime Video.
With the latter, it means Shudder is added as a channel to your Amazon Prime Video account, and you can access its content through there.
To do this, you need to have an active Amazon Prime membership and search for the channel on there.
Whether you subscribe directly or through Amazon Prime Video, you can enjoy a seven-day free trial of the service.
After this, Shudder costs £4.99 per month and can be cancelled at any time.
You can also subscribe to Shudder annually, which costs £47.88. This works out at £3.99 per month, saving you £12 a year overall.
Best Wishes to All is the feature debut of director Shimotsu, who explained the themes and enduring popularity of Japanese horror films in an interview with Asian Movie Pulse.
‘Well, in Ju-on or Ring it is more about ghosts, whereas US horror films, for example, rely more on jump scares,’ he said.
‘Japanese horror is much more subtle and works with atmosphere, with the actual “scare” often happening in the background even.
‘The audience gets the feeling there is some kind of presence, but you cannot figure out where the danger might be coming from. This is real dread, and what makes J-horror so unique in my opinion.’
He shared that Ju-On director Takashi Shimizu had offered him some advice when making Best Wishes to All, adding: ‘When he saw the film for the first time, he remarked I should explain things a bit more or at least give the audience some subtle hints, for example, through editing or music.’
Best Wishes to All is streaming now on Shudder via Prime Video.
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