Three American college students go to Japan to study abroad and are put up by a host family in Tokyo. Since they also happen to be annoying YouTubers, they film the house while the family is asleep without permission. Before long, the teens discover the family is keeping a deadly secret and have sinister plans for their American houseguests.
Tokyo Home Stay Massacre wastes no time plunging in headfirst with the weirdness. From their strange run-in with a crazy taxi driver to the oddball antics of their host family, every encounter our American characters have with the native Japanese people is a bit off. Directors Kenta Osaka and Hirohito Takimoto also do a fine job capturing the off kilter feeling of being in a strange house so far away from home. They also have a knack for ratcheting up the tension. Sometimes, they hold onto shots for too long, potentially portending a jump scare. Other times they straight-up spring the surprise on you without warning. These cinematic gymnastics may not work 100% of the time, but they are nevertheless moderately effective. It would be fun to see what Osaka and Takimoto could do with a bigger budget and more than one location next time out.
Things really go off the rails in the finale, and I mean that in the best way possible. It all eventually boils down to a fight to the death with the sole remaining student and the weird host family. It’s here where the movie becomes gleefully unhinged. We get toenail ripping, a tooth extraction with a hammer, and throat slashing among others. In fact, the last twenty minutes is one of the most impressively sustained arrays of violence that I’ve seen in some time.
One thing is for sure: I’m definitely not going to Tokyo any time soon.
AKA: Tokyo Home Stay: Blood Ritual Legend.
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