New Group (2025) Review – Seriously Strange J-Horror Madness

Welcome to Knockout Horror. It’s been a while since we reviewed a new J-Horror, but that’s about to change. Today we are checking out Yûta Shimotsu’s New Group (2025). This just hit Shudder a couple of days ago on November 6th. Let’s take a look.

J-Horror Has Been Quiet

As I am sure most horror fans will know, J-Horror has been very quiet as of late. I mean, let’s be honest, the enormous popularity boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s was never going to be sustainable, but it is still somewhat of a surprise that Japan fell off so much as a horror movie making nation.

“I wouldn’t say that Japan is completely back as a horror force to be reckoned with, but it’s nice to see something of a reemergence.”

I talked about it a little in this article right here and listed 20 recent J-Horror movies in this list, but even that doesn’t serve to thoroughly emphasise the decline. As a huge fan of J-Horror, it’s something of a shame. With that in mind, it’s nice to see things picking back up a little bit, in recent years.

The 2020s have brought us the genuinely enjoyable #Manhole, Best Wishes to All, Exit 8, the brilliant Godzilla Minus series, and the recent critical hit Never After Dark (we aren’t getting into the “Western director therefore not J-Horror” bullshit, here), as well as the very lacklustre Re/Member, among others.

I wouldn’t say that Japan is completely back as a horror force to be reckoned with, but it’s nice to see something of a reemergence, nonetheless. New Group is another notch in that cap and it’s not too bad.

The story follows the socially awkward schoolgirl Ai (Anna Yamada) as she attempts to deal with the collapse of the world as she knows it when a hive mind mentality spreads causing people around her to form human pyramids and perform bizarre gymnastic routines.

It’s weird… Like, really weird

Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat, J-Horror is a genre like no other. Japanese horror directors have absolutely no interest in following traditional filmmaking conventions. Digging through the archives will turn up some of the most visionary and experimental talents you will ever see.

Directors like Takashi Miike (The Happiness of the Katakuris is just one example of many), Sion Sono (Strange Circus), Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Kotoko), and Nobuhiko Obayashi (House) have brought the world some of the most unusual, intense, and frankly weird movies in the entire genre.

Sitting down to watch New Group, it quickly becomes clear that director Yûta Shimotsu is aiming to add himself to that list. This movie is extremely bizarre.

The story is relatively formulaic, particularly given the patriarchal social structure of Japan. People are expected to conform, outsiders are ostracised, familial expectations place pressure on young people; this is a story that has been done dozens of times before in J-Horror.

It’s Shimotsu’s desire to present the mundane through the most absurd and ridiculous visual metaphors that you could possibly imagine that makes this film feel so unique and strange. Don’t expect subtlety, the message here will punch you in the nose, but it will be pulling the most delightfully ridiculous face as it does it.

An obvious metaphor but weirdly compelling

The concept here is pretty strange, right off the bat. What starts as one random school kid kneeling in the playground, quickly turns into multiple kids all forming a small human pyramid.

“It’s genuinely quite tense and there’s a distinct post-apocalyptic vibe to the film that makes everything seem a tad bit hopeless.”

People are alarmed at first, before the teachers decide that this is actually a good thing and instruct the rest of the kids to join them to form one enormous human pyramid.

Our meek protagonist Ai, along with a few other students, believes that this is actually something quite sinister and refuses to cooperate, thus kicking off a plot that is magnificently generic but wildly outlandish. The pyramids spread to people in the town before they eventually evolve into enormous moving gymnastic displays that consume anyone in their path.

The message is very clear and obvious: conform or be torn apart. It’s so blunt and on the nose that it’s impossible not to feel a bit jaded by the whole thing, but the visuals and the quirkiness of the presentation allow this movie to work far better than it really should.

The massive, synchronised group gradually closing in on potential victims feels bizarrely eerie. It’s not that they move fast or cover that much ground, it’s just the relentless pace and mindless hive mind of the people as they slowly move forward that makes it feel extremely uncomfortable.

It’s genuinely quite tense and there’s a distinct post-apocalyptic vibe to the film that makes everything seem a tad bit hopeless. Society declines as the problem spreads and it feels as though fewer and fewer people are able to avoid its pitfalls. Nobody is willing to stand out and risk being an outsider.

The loud chants of the groups combined with their strange, almost uncanny valley body contortions tap into that part of your brain that is sensitive to things that are just not quite right. If you buy into the visual strangeness of Yûta Shimotsu’s presentation of toxic conformity, you will probably find New Group both compelling and quite unsettling.

It’s not going to be for everyone

If the concept alone isn’t enough to creep you out, you might struggle with this one.

As mentioned earlier, the metaphor is too blunt and obvious to actually feel like a substantial piece of narrative glue. It doesn’t invite much in the way of questions or conversation and the bones of the idea are picked clean within minutes.

There’s a distinct sense of young adult literature about the story presentation, here. New Group really doesn’t have anything profound to say and the strange human pyramid idea is really the only twist on this age-old topic that makes the movie worth checking out. If that doesn’t rock your boat then you will probably feel like the movie is beyond dumb and actually rather boring.

Characters are basically manga archetypes. You have the socially awkward quiet girl, the cheerful classmate, the enigmatic, broody new kid who doesn’t speak much but you better listen when he does, the brave friend, the strict teacher, the slightly maniacal headmaster… It’s all extremely derivative and uninspired, though performances are mostly fine, particularly Anna Yamada as Ai and Yuzu Aoki as Kobayashi Yu.

The ending really acts as a culmination of the preceding farce and I imagine won’t land with a lot of viewers. It doubles down on the already blunt metaphor and feels less like a well constructed conclusion and more like a half-hearted attempt to recycle the movie’s prevailing theme from a different perspective.

“If the concept alone isn’t enough to creep you out, you might struggle with this one.”

New Group is a bit of a tough one to review.

I enjoyed it quite a bit because I thought the presentation of the human formations was quite unsettling and rather interesting. Outside of that, however, there isn’t a great deal to recommend. The story is obvious, the metaphor is laughably blunt, and the characterisations are overly familiar and generic. If you enjoy J-Horror absurdity, check it out, otherwise you might find this a difficult watch.

Our Scoring Philosophy: A Fair Fight

Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.