I'll never understand why writers choose a fun set up, just to let it all go to waste a third of the way through.
Here, in an impossibly bizarre twist (passing out drunk in a bar), Joel finds himself at a deranged killers' networking circle sit down (like AA but also not cause they wanna share tips and find good murder spots).
What could have been a ridiculously fun comedy horror of maniacs supporting each others' nasty tendencies, or using journalist Joel as a documentary/mockumentary maker a la "What We Do in the Shadows" stumbles immediately into territory so well trodden you can practically see the wear and tear in the text as they trip from one predictable situation to the next.
It's all here - defensive stab wounds to the arms, eye gouging, needle stabbing, clownface laughing psychos... and it's all so yawn-inducing. Of course the Japanese cannibal has an Oni mask and enjoys haute cuisine. And of course he's skilled with knives, until it matters. And of course he's played by a Korean. They couldn't tweak the character when they cast Sean Baek? It wouldn't have mattered, he's only in the film for four minutes anyway.
Why is Joel a journalist of horror? It doesn't play any role in his fate to outsmart 6 serial killers. It just eats up a scene in the opening for no reason. Why are they meeting in a room together? As soon as Joel is found out they just go into stabby stabby mode with a plan as hamfisted as that time someone hired ScarJo to play a Japanese woman in "Ghost in a Shell." They have no stake in killing Joel, so deliberations about his fate are pointless. In the end, it can't even qualify its existence with a fun finale. It literally goes from bar to police station to hospital ward and pays no attention to set detail or character on its way.
It's upsetting because Shudder has had strong output so far, so my expectations for this were quite high but this is a big swing and miss. Avoid.
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