Whilst having read a lot of praise for Bone Tomahawk and seeing Late Phases director Adrián García Bogliano mentioned a number of times on IMDb's Horror board,I found the third horror flick chosen for viewing on IMDb's Film Festival board to be a complete unknown. Checking the films IMDb page,I found a fellow IMDber who has given me awesome recs had written a review praising the movie,which led to me getting ready to find out how grateful the dead could be.

The plot:

After the suicide of her dad, Nami spends the next few years comfortably living off the cash left to her in his will. Suffering a tough childhood where her dad ignored the family for his new mistress,Nami has picked up some unusual habits,one of which is watching/spying on old people. Nicknaming the people she spies on "Solitarians",Nami becomes obsessed with a lonely old man called Shiomi.Spying on her favourite loner,Nami is shocked to find that Shiomi is no longer lonely,but is now taking part in bible studies. Horrified by Shiomi now not being on his own (!) Nami decides to stop spying,and to pay Shiomi a special visit.

View on the film:

Skipping along to the off-beat of Nami's mind,co-writer/(along with Etsuo Hiratani) director Eiji Uchida & cinematographer Shinya Kimura spray the screen with a quirky indie vibe,as stylish slow-motion scenes of Nami walking around care-free slyly hide her nasty habits. Cutting into the gore of Nami and Shiomi's relationship, Uchida impressively keeps the bonkers nature of their relationship be a central theme to the violence,as the sharp use of slo-mo reveals the calm behind Nami's mad eyes.

Gradually revealing Nami's set of horror fangs,the screenplay by Uchida and Hiratani stab Nami's habits with jet-black Comedy venom, hilariously stiffening as Nami's peaks on her loners sexual interest,to flowing over the viewer,as Shiomi gives a less than cheerful response to Nami's desire to keep him a loner. Casting an eerie shadow from Nami's troubled childhood,the writers nail it to the floor with brittle torture horror.Grinding the gory horror with a nail-gun,the writers strip away the bitterness of the Torture Horror sub-genre via dipping the action in comedic tar. Joined by a wonderfully gruff Takashi Sasano as Shiomi, Kumi Takiuchi gives a superb performance as Nami,thanks to Takiuchi smoothly threading Nami's odd,butter wouldn't melt in her mouth outer shell with a gleefully murderous grin bubbling underneath,as Nami makes the dead feel grateful.

Nami (Kumi Takiuchi) is a lonely young girl prone to outbursts of left field violence, due to being ignored by her poverty-relief obsessed mother who leaves one day, leaving her with her depressed father and older sister. Nami's dad takes on a mistress and still ignored and with her sister now with a boyfriend, Nami seeks constant solace in in an inane shopping channel, captivated by the gadgets and bargains offered by the smiling host.

Years later, Nami, now a young woman has a peculiar hobby in which she observes and takes notes on sad and very lonely elderly people, who she calls "Solitarians". There's the angry middle aged man who barges by everywhere rudely bumping people aside, and there's the crazy homeless looking guy who feeds the pigeons, all collectively becoming Nami's muse and a source of endearment. One specific solitarian catches her attention. He's Mr. Shiomi (Takashi Sasano) an embittered old man, who once empowered with former status, is now alone, lonely and angry, going through each day with a grumpy, dreary resignation.

Nami is captivated by this with Mr Shiomi providing her with much entertainment. One day however a Christian missionary woman Su Yong (Khobbi Kim) visits Mr Shiomi and asks if he'd like her to engage in bible reading with him. Suspicious at first, Mr Shiomi eventually agrees and a hesitant friendship begins between them with Mr Shiomi, becoming less bitter and finding a new appreciation for life.

Nami is not amused. Mr Shiomi's new found zest means he's no longer a "Solitarian" thanks to Su Yong's meddling. What's to be done about this state of affairs? One thing's for sure, Nami will not have anyone messing with her precious hobby or her viewed from afar subjects...

Grateful Dead is well, pretty great actually with it starting off like a typically quirky Japanese comedy before slowly but inexorably getting darker & darker until veering into outright horror territory toward the third act. However, it's really a (very effective) mixture of genres, combining comedy with drama and some social commentary to boot, before its demented conclusion.

A highly recommended little gem it should be sought out by any horror/genre fan or anyone who likes offbeat films in general.

A strong 8/10, just a highly satisfying and nicely demented (but not at all demented for the sake of it) film.

Director, Uchida claims that this was originally intended to be a comic film but that now only the first half has humour. Well, I didn't notice it. We begin with the heroine as a child and being ignored by her family and are suddenly thrown with an incident at her school involving a very violent movement with a floor mop. I think I actually gasped. As an adult she develops an unusual lifestyle, not very amusing and more tan a little scary, selfie with a dead and deterorating old man anyone? I have to admit that the lady herself finds all this very amusing and speeds about with her bicycle and binoculars with a manic grin on her face. In the second half things become even more crazy, disconcerting and violent as the true horror of this film become evident. Not an easy view, this is very well made with great performances in very unusual and difficult situations but I won't be rushing to re-visit it for a little while.