According
to this film’s mythology, people once believed “insects that affected our
subconscious lived inside us”—sort of like Scientology, but not as creepy.
Unfortunately for Rin, there might be something to that superstition. In fact,
it might be part of the perfect storm of bad karma she must weather in Saku
Sakamoto’s short-in-length, but long on weirdness Aragne: Sign of Vermillion (trailer here), which premiered
during the 2018 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Poor
Rin has a lot more to worry about than just her university exams. She was duped
into renting a flat in a truly sinister apartment building. In addition to
horrendous Feng Shui, it just might be built over something horrific. As if that
were not enough, the neighborhood is also being stalked by a serial killer, who
arranges his victims in a highly ritualistic manner. Rather ominously, there
were earlier cases of his MO, dating back decades.
Aragne is a wildly eerie
film, but we wish Sakamoto had developed the insidiously intriguing backstory more
before lighting off into a maelstrom of woo-woo spectacle. Sakamoto did digital
effects for Mamoru Ishii’s Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, so it is not surprisingly that we can see a bit of
visual kinship between the two films. Sakamoro crafts some wild imagery as well
as some extraordinarily atmospheric set pieces. It just seems like he rushes
the film too much, because he also created some genuinely inventive narrative
elements.
Still,
the artistry that went into this film is immediately apparent. He particularly capitalizes
on the grotesque nature of the insects to give the film a uniquely textured
feel. It is not just style, there are plenty of inventive narrative elements—we
just wish there had been more time to explore them. (You won’t hear us say a
film should be longer very often, so savor the moment).
Of
course, it could very well have been a factor of budget constraints. The fact
that Sakamoto independently produced such an ambitious and aesthetically
distinctive film is quite a feat. Real animation fans will surely appreciate the
accomplishment. Recommended for horror and anime connoisseurs, Aragne: Sign of Vermillion screened as
part of this year’s Fantasia, up north.
