Coming to Shudder on Friday, June 13, 2025, Best Wishes to All is a chilling new entry in Japanese Horror from Writer-Director Yûta Shimotsu in her feature debut. Blending elements of Psychological and Folk Horror, the film follows a young nursing student as she visits her grandparents in a quiet countryside village. At first, the reunion seems warm and familiar, but an unease begins to fester beneath the surface. There is something off in the grandparents’ house, something watching, waiting. When the truth finally emerges, it shatters the illusion of safety, plunging the protagonist—and the audience—into a slow-burn nightmare.
Kotone Furukawa (Cloud 2024, To Mom with Love 2024) delivers a quietly devastating performance as the unnamed granddaughter, serving as the film’s emotional and psychological anchor. With sparse dialogue and restrained gestures, she conveys a profound internal struggle as her character returns to her grandparents’ home—a place that becomes less a refuge than a portal into suppressed memory and inherited trauma. Furukawa captures the slow unraveling of someone trying to stay rational in an increasingly irrational space. Her performance subtly shifts from that of a composed caregiver to a person losing grip on reality.
The Horror in the film is distinctive—not driven by constant blood or gore (though those moments do exist), but by deeply unsettling instances where characters subtly defy the rules of normal human behavior. The true horror lies less in what occurs, but in how others respond: smiling and carrying on after someone has died, or remaining eerily indifferent as a loved one screams, their eyes bleeding. It is this emotional dissonance—this refusal to react—that makes the film so unnerving. That is not to say the movie lacks Visceral Horror—rarely have the sounds and visuals of finger licking been so unsettling.
Thematically, the film delves deeply, which may leave some viewers a bit confused after just one viewing. On the surface, the film explores aging, elder neglect, and isolation within modern Japanese society. It critiques the fear of becoming a burden. It highlights the loneliness faced by the elderly, made all the more poignant by the remote, decaying countryside setting that evokes traditional Folk Horror. Going deeper, the film is examining family secrets and generational trauma, showing how unspoken guilt and ancestral sins haunt the characters like a lingering curse.
Silence, repression, and conformity further intensify the horror, as the characters’ emotional restraint creates a suffocating atmosphere where what goes unsaid is often more terrifying than what is revealed. There are moments in the film—less subtle but deeply impactful—where it directly challenges the viewer with difficult questions about the nature of happiness and the complex, sometimes painful role that family plays in shaping it. These scenes compel the audience to grapple with the complex interplay between love, obligation, and sacrifice, revealing that true contentment can often come at a significant emotional cost.
The horror in Best Wishes to All operates on two intertwined levels: on one hand, the film powerfully visualizes generational trauma, turning inherited pain and unspoken family secrets into haunting, grotesque imagery. On the other hand, it unsettles by presenting characters whose behaviors stray so far from social and emotional norms that they erode the audience’s—and the protagonist’s—grip on reality. This combination of Psychological and Surreal Horror creates a deeply disorienting experience.
Every twist and turn in Best Wishes to All is utterly unpredictable, catching viewers entirely off guard, making for an exhilarating and tension-filled experience from start to finish. A truly refreshing take on the family trauma trope that rewards the viewers who make it to the finale. This is why Cryptic Rock gives Best Wishes to All 4 out of 5 stars.
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