Mag Mag Review – Giant Woman's Ghost Loves to Terrify People to Death in Japanese Comedy-Horror

Sarah Minami delivers a wildly astonishing performance in an intricate, fresh take on the genre, as Urian Retriever's debut feature examines obsession, bullying and beauty standards. In the 1990s and 2000s, Japanese horror (or "J-horror" if you want to save syllables) was widely admired, and was sometimes distributed widely in other languages. They never actually stopped making them in Japan

In the 90s and 00s, Japanese horror (or "J-horror" if you want to save on syllables) was highly acclaimed, reasonably distributed, and occasionally remade in other languages. They never actually stopped making them in Japan, but the results don't seem to be as cross-exposed as they used to be. This may be because we have enough horror to hit closer to home, especially since it is so profitable at the box office.

Still, it's good to see evidence that the genre is still evolving in Japan, as it is elsewhere, and there's something palpably fresh and engaging about this low-budget horror-comedy amalgam. Created by comedian Yurian Retriever, an irrepressible personality whose Dadaist banter landed him two stints on America's Got Talent, he makes his directorial debut with this humorous ghost story that brings together male misogyny and female obsession with romance.

Told in a series of interconnected chapters, the plot explores the encounter with Meg Meg, a female apparition notable for her height (two meters), wild mane of hair, and generous proportions that defy Japanese norms of female beauty. It ends when Meg falls in love with a cute boy, as she pursues him to death – a passion that ends with her strangling and sucking the eyes out of the still object (one step beyond boiling the family rabbit as a fatal attraction).

Meg Meg's backstory isn't fully fleshed out until the last chapter, with Amourian mostly hinting that she was a fat high school girl who got herself killed by mean classmates who deserved to be persecuted. (But there's a twist—one that really shakes up viewers' assumptions about victims of bullying.) Meanwhile, the obsessions of another young woman, Sanae (played by Sara Minami, who gives a truly maddening comedic performance), who is in love with one of Meg's victims, show that if women are Meg's victims, they're toxic in their minds.

There's a weird sequence where Sanae douses her entire body in lube and, through a sphincter-like hole located where the mouth should be, makes her way into a giant portrait of a man she's obsessed with, worthy of Japanese trash writer Takashi Miike's messiness. It's somewhat unsurprising to learn that Miike is one of Mag Mag's patrons, a sign that the old generation of Japanese terrorists are passing the torch.