Overview
- The horror film based on Kotake Create’s 2023 indie game is now in U.S. theaters with strong reviews, including an around 95% Rotten Tomatoes score.
- Writer-director Genki Kawamura says he adapted the game’s rules and player experience rather than its sparse story to blur the line between gaming and cinema.
- Kawamura confirms he shot a frightening sequence that he removed to fit Cannes programming, and he says the novelization due in September will include the scene.
- To mimic a game-engine feel, the production relied on practical sets and tight sound and camera work instead of heavy computer graphics.
- The film screened at Cannes to an eight-minute standing ovation, which Kawamura says helped secure Neon’s North American distribution deal.