Since Spaeny’s character was shooting with a film camera, I just wanted to see her at least once changing rolls in the middle of a fire fight and yell, “I’m out! Reloading!”
I thought this film was brilliantly executed. The pacing was perfect; it all kinda bubbled up to a boiling point.
I heard a few reviews bashing it for not having any point, or that it’s too apolitical for being a movie about a hypothetical civil war. My opinion…
The way scenes transition feels like it’s meant to disorient or misdirect you, completely denying your expectations, making you question what’s real and what’s not. Nothing like some good ol’ choppy, dream-like sequences to make you question even your own sanity.
There are endless possibilities with animation, so I don’t know how I was still surprised that an anime could pull off the same eerie, uneasy suspense that a lot of live-action thrillers/horrors do so well. So many classic cinematic tools were used to make it feel like it was shot on camera instead of hand-drawn.
Avoided watching this one because it seemed preposterous, and honestly a little wackass. I mean chainsaw hands I can get down with… but a fucking chainsaw head too?! The concept had me rolling my eyes so far back in my head, you could see my optic nerves.
However, upon seeing even just the opening credit sequence, I instantly knew I was wrong. I’m so glad my nerd friends were persistent in their attempts to convince me of its greatness. I…
