Yuriyan Retriever (director)
(studio)
113 (length)
19 October 2026 (released)
12 h
This is a slightly edited version of the review that was first published when Mag Mag was screened at Halloween FrightFest 2025.
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 that the film settles 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, it’s 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 wilfully scattered within the film. Yet, they never stray too far from what could be termed classic J-horror, though the teen/college western (possibly American) urban legend element sits surprisingly well within the film
Mag Mag will be on digital platforms from 19 October 2026.
