The movie adaptation of the cult Japanese video game The Convenience Store faithfully captures its unsettling, dreamlike minimalism before upgrading its psychological terror in a gratifyingly indulgent third act.
College girl Tazuru works the graveyard shift in a convenience store to make ends meet. The twilight footfall is minimal, and she feels almost guilty for cashing a paycheck on the back of such scant effort. However, a steady trickle of bizarre and frightening encounters builds into overwhelming terror as she is consumed by a tormenting curse. When the store manager is found dead in the basement with his eyeballs scooped out, the vulnerable and confused Tazuru is interviewed by the cynical inspector Saruwatari. She details the supernatural horrors that plague her and reveals the unsolicited delivery of a mysterious set of SD cards.
Video game adaptations have historically been a hit-and-miss affair. From the bloated bilge of Battleship to the nuanced world-building of The Last of Us TV show, and all the blockbusters and indie shockers in between. The source material for Jiro Nagae’s The Convenience Store is essentially a walking simulator with added puzzles and deliberately moves at a snail’s pace before injecting VHS tape-style terrors. Thankfully, Nagae has underplayed the slow build and emphasised the atmospheric escalation. There is a sense of foreboding in the repetition, such as the chiming of the door alarm, that ensnares the viewer and breeds an almost soporific sense of dread.
The overall aesthetic closely resembles that of the original game, and fans will likely find a lot to geek out over, much like the nostalgically crafted settings in the Fallout series. By modernising the technology from its inspiration and introducing several new narrative twists, it maximises cinematic impact and cultural relevance. There is plenty of supernatural fuckery to keep us on our toes, and some relatively generic but highly enjoyable jump scares along the way as it tweaks and tailors the familiar Ringu curse formula to its own nefarious end.
Stylish and ergonomic cinematography, coupled with an equally honed sound design pay homage to its origins whilst softening the cut-scene audience repellent that often gushes from video game adaptations. The effects are low-key but convincing enough not to betray budget limitations and thus don’t distract us from solving the mysteries alongside the psychologically berated Tazuru. Solid performances and a tight script give the film layers of identity that flesh out the original games’ scant playthrough time, whilst staying true to its minimalist ethos. At its core is a pretty nasty moral conundrum that exploits the game’s good/bad ending dynamic with fine aplomb.
The Convenience Store is an engaging cross-over horror flick that merges the creative shades of games and cinema to fashion an atmospheric experience that will appeal to aficionados of both.
★★★
Screened at Glasgow Frightfest on March 7th / Kotona Minami, Makoto Sakamoto, Atsuko Sakurai / Dir: Jiro Nagae / NBCUniversal Japan / TBC
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