Back in the mid-90s when I went to the North Carolina School of the Arts, a group of students made their own video film outside of a class. They didn’t want to be constrained by the faculty’s rules about content and time. They wanted to make their kind of horror movie. It might not have been a horror film, but it felt like it. I don’t remember the plot. I merely remember the exhausting fatigue of sitting on a sofa and faking that this was so interesting. A few of the students involved actually went on to major careers in Hollywood. You have seen their names if you let the credits roll for Mandalorian. A few of them were part of the recent Halloween and Exorcist revival films. I won’t mention their names because the video stunk. It was painful to sit there at a party and watch the video play on and on. One of the people in charge of the out of class production went on to be nominated for an editing Emmy. Ikenie Man is about a group of university students who form a club so they can go out and make their own movie on video. While the synopsis gave me flashbacks to my classmates, Ikenie Man is what I wanted to see that night since it is short and entertaining.
The action starts hard as the Ikenie Man attacks students in the forest. He’s a killer in overalls wearing a burlap sack mask over his face so he looks like a cross between Farmer Vincent in Motel Hell with main villain in Clive Barker’s Nightbreed. Turns out that the Ikenie Man not a real killer in the woods. It’s the director of the student film club in a costume. He and his crew of three are shooting a project. Things go wrong when the main actress decides she’s not down for being in a horror film. With a lack of talent, the director isn’t sure what to do. But luck happens when they find another student group camping nearby. They’re a group met on the internet and want to enjoy a weekend in nature. While spying on the campers, the director dreams of how each student is a stereotype from a slasher film and how the Ikenie Man would kill them. This leads the director to formulate a great idea. After dark, they’ll sneak up on the campsite and capture look of fear on the campers’ faces when the Ikenie Man springs out. He’ll edit this into a trailer and score a deal with a U.S. studio to make the whole film. Trouble happens when they sneak up and unzip the tent flaps. The camera crew receives the extreme shock.
What you should notice first is Ikenie Man is 53 minutes long. You get the meat of the movie without all the dull moments. Think of how many times you see a horror film and wonder why is it so long? Did they really have to spend that much time hiking through the woods before they’re butchered? Do you question why every indie filmmaker has to prove they can write dialogue as long as Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino? Writer-director Yu Nakamoto ought to be your hero. He packs a 90-minute film into half the running time. You can easily sense that he could pad out scenes to get another forty minutes on the screen. But why? The characters are full formed for a horror movie. You get a sense of both the camera club and campers without drawn-out exposition scenes. Ikenie Man is the Haiku of Horror. The film does reference other horror movies without feeling unoriginal. Everything from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Silence of the Lambs, The Walking Dead and Fist of Fury gets a homage in the movie because that’s what film students making a horror film would do. There’s a groovy reference to Ash in Evil Dead 2. The major twist Yu Nakamoto delivers made this better than anything produced by my old classmates.
If you need something new to watch for your Spooky Season viewing party, Ikenie Man deserves a spot on the DVD pile. Your guests will scream, laugh and feel appreciative that they’re not stuck on the sofa for a full hour.
Writer-director Yu Nakamoto’s follow up Harawata Man is also coming out on DVD on September 10. We’ll have a review for it shortly.
The Video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. There’s a touch of film look on the video transfer. The Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in Japanese. The levels are sharp so you can hear the feet smashing leaves in the woods. The movie is subtitled in English.
Original Producer Trailer (1:30) is the opening of film when the Ikenie Man is killing the students and a clip from the end. Best to watch after you’re seen the full film.
Theatrical Trailer (1:05) reminds us of the joys of camping.
Trailer Gallery for Bloody Muscle Body Builder, Harawata Man, Nurse Exorcist and Violator.
Wild Eye Releasing presents Ikenie Man. Directed by Yu Nakamoto. Screenplay by Yu Nakamoto. Starring Yûta Chatani, Maki Hamada, Tomoaki Saitô & Yasunari Ujiie. Running Time: 53 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: September 10, 2024.
