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Fantasia Fest 2026: The Mouths Review
Loading...Fantasia Fest 2026: The Mouths Review
Directed by: Takashi Shimizu
Written by: Masahiro Yamaura
Starring:
Rihito Itagaki – Shota
Keito Tsuna – Tatsuya
Ai Yoshikawa – An
Momona Kasahara – Mirei
Shido Nakamura – Detective Kusakabe
Tomoki Nishiyama – Kawase
Shoot Mori – Hotto
Running Time: 89 minutes
Not Rated
Takashi Shimizu is one of the founding fathers of the modern J-horror movement. The man behind the Ju-On franchise, Marebito, and Reincarnation is one of the key directors of the late 1990s and 2000s era of Japanese horror that exploded into worldwide prominence alongside the likes of Hideo Nakata, Koji Shiraishi, Takashi Miike, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and others.
Shimizu’s work in horror has remained prolific through the years, though he hasn’t hit the heights of his early career. The Mouths is a return to form. Returning to a ghostly narrative with a twist of shifting perspectives, the supernatural film — which had its North American premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival, lives heavy on dread over jump scares and hidden motives for an engrossing, creepy watch.
The Mouths kicks off with a group of four university friends heading out to an ill-advised “bravery test.” Shota (Rihito Itagaki) is driving his friend Tatsuya (Keito Tsuna), his outgoing girlfriend An (Ai Yoshikawa), and Mirei (Momona Kasahara), who claims to be psychically sensitive. The four of them are heading out to an old cemetery that contains an allegedly cursed tree.
The group agrees to go visit the tree individually, one at a time, and then meet up back up at the car. Shota goes first, and Tatsuya follows. But things take a strange turn with An, and soon after their trip she disappears. Shoto, Tatsuya, and Mirei are interviewed by the police about the incident, and their stories are related in pieces, reviewed by Detective Kusakabe (Shido Nakamura) who is trying to determine what actually happened.
The Mouths is an adaptation of the novella A Questionnaire About the Mouth by Sesuji, and opens with a text card that promises a “survey will follow” at the end of the film. It’s a strange, unexpected start that gives the viewer an important notice to pay attention. It also sets a somewhat unnerving tone for the film, a mood that Shimizu leans into throughout. Much like Unidentified Murder, there’s a Rashomon style approach to doling out the narrative. Everyone has their own view of what happened, and not everyone may be showing their hand right away.
That approach allows Shimizu to hook us with the mystery over any sort of jump scare-laden narrative, although that’s not to say Shimizu takes it easy on the horror elements. Some of the work is familiar to those who know J-horror — an unnatural figure in the background of a shot, ghostly figures, contorting bodies. But it’s undeniably effective thanks to Shimizu’s skill behind the camera; he conjures striking images and is by no means afraid to bring his horror into the light of day, giving the impression that nowhere and no time is safe.
The story does end up getting a little muddled when two more characters — meek Kawase (Tomoki Nishiyama) and the dickish Hotto (Shoot Mori) — are added into the mix. They end up adding a sense of repetition to the film, as they go through similar circumstances when their time could have been better spent on the far more engaging main four. Their scenes don’t destroy the film, but they do bog things down a little bit.
Fortunately, there’s more than enough here to carry through its missteps. It certainly helps that all four main cast members are delivering fine work, working nuances into their characters as the story unfolds. Yoshikawa is the standout performance as An, who gets to do plenty of creepy things, but Itagaki also gets plenty of chances to shine.
It would be inaccurate to say there is a lot of new ground being discovered in The Mouths. The narrative conceit is familiar and even as twisty as the story is, it’s the kind of tale that has been told before. It works because of the talent involved, and Shimizu’s tactile approach including a deeply unnerving sound design in which even the mundanity of teeth clicking together can send a shiver down the spine. Shimizu elevates Masahiro Yamaura’s solid but messy script into something far better than it would have been in someone else’s hands.
Fantasia International Film Festival takes place in Montreal, Quebec from July 16th through August 2nd.
