It's a J-horror classic. I loved it. It's absorbed all the bonkers of the other Kowasugi films, but then it springboards off them in new ways that surprised me even given the Kowasugi-ness. It's doing time-space looping in a haunted building (like File 03), alternate universes/timelines and a giant flying thing (like The Final Chapter) and a knife-wielding supernatural girl who can chase you impossibly fast (like Kuchisake-onna). This girl's bright red, though.

I enjoyed the plot twists and surprises. The supporting cast are great, both the camera-wielding idiots and the weapons-grade psychics. I laughed at the moment I'd associate with those silly Miracle Lights in PreCure kiddie movies... except that here it's deadly serious and meant to save everyone's lives. The idiots include Kowasugi's hottest actress (Ayano Ogura) and a girl (Akari Fukunaga) with issues. She takes her friends into a haunted factory, then on finding a creepy altar will start smashing it up and yelling at the ghost to appear and curse her. "This won't do. If the ghost doesn't appear, it'll be boring. Very boring."

Kudo and Ichikawa are as great as ever, although it's been a few years since last time. Life's moved on. Kudo's a producer who's been making all kinds of movies (sometimes about prostitutes), he nearly went bankrupt under COVID and he'll be in serious trouble if his current Kowasugi revival isn't a hit. Has he got less crass? Nope, not in the slightest, but at least he's capable of agreeing to flee if everyone's lives are in danger. Meanwhile, Ichikawa's become a director in her own right and a martial artist who'll punch Kudo whenever he gets violent. (She's been fired from various gigs. All those years working with Kudo can't have done her personality any good.)

Watch the backgrounds closely. Shiraishi doesn't cheat. When they rewind and rewatch a section of tape, what you'll see really was present first time. You just didn't notice.

This movie is brilliant. Koji Shiraishi's going further and more mental in 78 minutes than most filmmakers could in seven hours. It's a J-horror timey-wimey space-warping psycho slasher haunted house mockumentary ghost story... and that's without discussing the spoiler stuff. The film's punchline made me laugh aloud. I'm surprised that we still haven't met Ichikawa's psychic brother, but that's not the only thing from 2015-Kowasugi that looked as if it was setting up a new series but seems to have since been dropped. I hope Shiraishi makes more Kowasugis and he's still got those story threads to return to, should he want.

If he doesn't, though, this is a glorious ending.