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Hell Is Other People japanese drama review
Completed
Hell Is Other People
6 people found this review helpful
by Kate
Jun 21, 2025
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 3.0

Not bad, but also not good enough to validate its existence.

There are two reasons to make a remake - different time period/culture (cultural changes between countries that are vital for the plot, or modernizing older titles), or significant changes to the content that explain the reason for retelling (changing genres, changing the pov of the story etc.). Sadly, Tanin wa Jigokuda is just retelling exactly the same story, without additional nuance, stripping a lot of depth from the characters and their relationship to fit the plot into a movie format. Basically, all the changes made it actually worse.

Yes, I do understand it's unfair to judge a movie by comparing it to the original drama, but when the movie is so similar and fails to stand alone, it's hard to ignore existing bias.

One of the things that made me disappointed is how this movie was just a horror, while the original story was clearly a psychological horror. Yu was not this guy who from the start we can see has some issue, and we are just waiting for him to finally snap. Yu was just a normal guy that was driven mad by the environment.

Because there was far less focus on Kirishima compared to his character in the Korean version, he never had this unnerving presence. He did not feel like a psychopathic wolf in sheep clothing, he was just full on psycho. Him and Yu also barely shared the screen, so the movie more or less completely skipped the depth of their relationship, dynamics and how they affected each other.

I also feel like the ending was less vague - here some people might like it, depends on the preference. One plot twist got me giggling though, I did not think it made that much sense.

On the bright side - if someone prefers less of a tension, and more of the actual creeps, the Japanese version for sure presents more of a horror style. Less subtle, more weird. The acting was also solid. Even if I was not completely sold on Kirishima as a character, Yanagi Shuntaro's portrayal was dreadful and dire, which was exactly the point.

Directing wise - they knew how to make you uncomfortable. Close up to chewing, quick cuts between the shots. sometimes showing more than I might have wanted to see.

Overall, it's the type of movie you kind of enjoy, but there is nothing really unique about it so you will forget it in a week.
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