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Real estate is often murder and has been for a long time. Regarding that matter, Japan has been more of a stellar example of, than an exception to the rule: a person owning a modest home and sharing it with several more family members across at least three generations could be considered well off. That might as well be the reason why J-horror plots often centre on a dream house haunted by a ghost from its past who is also the primary reason why the average family could afford the house anyway.

Coming from the veteran of the genre, Koji Shiraishi of 2009's Grotesque and 2007's The Slit Mouthed Woman fame, House Of Sayuri follows a familiar path, at least in the beginning. The extended family of seven, lead by the father Akio (Zen Kajihara), and including his wife Masako (Fusako Urabe), children Norio (Ryoka Minamide), Keiko (Kokoro Morita) and Shun.

Japanese filmmaker Kôji Shiraishi knows his way around a haunt, having established a reputation for scare crafting with documentary-style horror movies Noroi: The Curse, Occult, and A Record of Sweet Murder. The director occasionally showcased his sense of humor, dialing up the camp factor in commercial films like Sadako vs. Kayako. Kôji Shiraishi’s latest, House of Sayuri, splits the difference between serious scares and irreverent horror-comedy. A vengeful ghost doles out shocking violence in this haunted house, with a comically combative grandma standing in its way, making for a tonally disjointed effort as bizarre as that setup suggests.

After a cold open that establishes the haunting’s inciting event, House of Sayuri cuts to the present to introduce the Kamiki family, a tight-knit and cheerful group of seven who’ve just moved into the home, blissfully unaware of its history. The new home comes after years of blood, sweat,...

Last month, it was announced that Hi Score Girl creator Rensuke Oshikiri's horror manga Sayuri would be getting a live-action film adaptation. Today, we get a proper first look at the upcoming film: a main cast list, as well as the first teaser and a new poster. The poster gives us a chilling, shadowy view of the story's vengeful spirit: Related: Rensuke Oshikiri's Horror Manga Sayuri to Get Live-Action Film Adaptation This Summer Ryoka Minamide was previously announced to be starring as Norio Kamiki, the story's main character. Joining him to fill out the family are Zen Kajihara, Fusako Urabe, Kokoro Morita, Ray Inomata, Kitaro and Toshie Negishi. Hana Kondo will appear as Norio's classmate. Check out the cast in the film's latest teaser: Sayuri is being directed by Koji Shiraishi, the director of the 2016 film Sadako vs. Kayako . The story follows the strange phenomena haunting a family...

The classic whodunit genre is seeing a revival of sorts, with tentpole Hollywood blockbusters like “Murder on the Orient Express” and “Knives Out” leading the way and recently even Netflix jumping on the bandwagon with the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston starring “Murder Mystery” and the Hindi-language film “Raat Akeli Hai” proving to be hits for the streaming platform. Yet another project in the same genre which saw a fair amount of success was 2019’s “Masquerade Hotel” by Masayuki Suzuki, which is based on a Keigo Higashino book and was produced and released, like many Higashino adaptations, after a long drawn-out bidding battle over the book’s rights.

A serial killer is on the loose in Tokyo, three seemingly random murders only having a code left at the scene being the connecting factor between them. The code, when decoded, tells of the location of the next murder...