Mag Mag

While there are a good many of the J-horror tropes in Mag Mag, it also crosses into the more western associated urban legend sub-genre. There’s the black-haired vengeful phantom with the added story of a creature that only appears to those it loves which generally is not good.

There’s a pre-titles sequence to get the story running with a student who is scared to death by Mag Mag: a dishevelled two-metres tall woman in a pink dress. He’s the only that can see her, and his friend is sceptical yet even he can’t deny the mess when the ghost catches up with Shunsuke who then proceeds to pee like a hose, and has his eyes plucked out.

After the film settles down into chapters whose characters cross timelines throughput the film without adding any confusion. There’s sculpture Hiroshi (Ôshirô Maeda) and muse Rumi (Aoi Yamada), that appears to annoy his friend Sanae (Sara Minami). The house of influencers which is not so happy when one decides to stray from his bedroom to another. And the story of Yurika a large schoolgirl with a crush on superstar student Takuya, which leads to horrific bullying and equally horrific consequences.

There are encounters with Mag Mag and some deserve their fates more than others. But by and large this is not a spirit of vengeance, its about love and its unattainability. And not necessarily just the males (who are the only victims) Sanae in her jealousy becomes unhinged as she observes the relationship between Rumi and Hiroshi develop.

Directed by comedian Yuriyan Retriever, written by Eisuke Naitô, Mag Mag is a bold film. Retriever and Naitô have looked to refresh J-horror with splashes of gross comedy scattered wilfully scattered within the film. They never strays too far from what could be termed classic J-horror. And it doesn't clash with the more teen and gossipy orientated western (possibly American) urban legend element which sits surprisingly well within the film.

Mag Mag received its UK premiere at FrightFest Halloween 2025.