Lumberjack the Monster: The prolific Takashi Miike who brought us Audition, 13 Assassins and Blade of the Immortal directs this serial killer film which definitely enters horror territory. At least 3 serial killers figure here, the Lumberjack tracks down nasty people and smashes their heads in with his ax. He has already dispatched a Ponzi scheme organizer and a violent criminal but his third victim, Akira (Kazuya Kamenashi) turns out to be a bit tougher and fights him off. We've already seen Akira murder a man who was attempting to blackmail him and we've met his doctor friend Sugitani (Shota Sometani) who carries out lethal experiments on living patients. Akira must now track down and kill the Lumberjack if he is to survive. There's also a profiler Ranko (Nanao) who takes an interest in Akira and a driven detective (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) who is obsessive in his pursuit of murderers, none of these are stock characters, they are fully fleshed out. Some really disturbing scenes of heads being crushed, jugular veins slashed and scenes of existential horror. I won't describe the latter as it would give too much away, similarly I can't name the actor who portrays Lumberjack. There is also a conspiracy stretching back 30 years and a few interesting plot twists. Good performances from the main cast. Directed by Takashi Miike, Screenplay by Hiroyoshi Koiwa, based on the 2019 Mayusuke Kurai novel of the same name. On Netflix. 8/10.
