Iki-jigoku (2000)

Quite a hidden gem

The story surprised me a little with how it went. Poor Yasu being gaslit and tortured by the old lady and Yuki was really heartbreaking to watch, especially when his siblings keep saying he's gone crazy and that he'd be better off in an institution just because of his disability. He feels helpless and even with pretty obvious wounds no one does anything to stop it. This really stuck with me.
However with the turn the story takes from there it turns into a more classic japanese horror film. Without spoiling anything, I thought the ending was a little meh, they could've been done without the last 10 mins or so, but I get where they were going. Overall it was plenty gory and suspenseful, I can definitely recommend it.

Another thought:
This film made me realise how little disability representation there is in jhorror. While yes, there are some characters at the centre of the plot that have a disability, I wish there was some more representation. Like in this example, Yasu is excluded from a normal life, only going on walks at night, staying inside his room all day, his family not prioritising his needs, and even talking about institutionalising him behind his back. It's heartbreaking, but I assume quite close to reality for some people. While blind people, siamese twins and disfigured babies that die during childbirth are a common occurrence in asian horror in general, similar to LGBTQIA+, I'd love to see more diverse characters in new jhorror films to come. Seeing how a weelchair-bound person deals with everyday life while also having unique weaknesses (like not being able to just escape the house on foot) bring many new opportunities for horror. Anyways, just a thought that came up while I watched this film, since Yasu is the main character and I was really intrigued to see the usual jhorror agenda being explored through the lense of a disabled person.
If you read this and have watched some jhorror with disability representation, feel free to drop the title in the comments, I'd love to add it to my watchlist

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