Remember Member (2022) Review – A Boring and Corny J-horror Slasher
Remember Member: Quick Verdict
The Verdict: A painfully derivative and tonally confused entry into the J-horror genre that feels more like a shallow live-action anime than a legitimate horror film. Remember Member suffers from a total lack of stakes; its time-loop mechanic resets the characters with zero consequences or lingering trauma, stripping the horror of any weight. While the central mystery of the body parts is initially intriguing, the film quickly descends into a repetitive slog of copy-and-paste kills and cringeworthy high school melodrama. The creature design is laughably poor, resembling a DIY arts-and-crafts project rather than a terrifying supernatural entity. Unless you are a die-die-hard fan of the original manga or have an extremely high tolerance for repetitive “slice of life” tropes mixed with mediocre slasher beats, this is one loop you should definitely avoid. It is slow, predictable, and ultimately fails to justify its nearly two-hour runtime.
Details: Director: Eiichirô Hasumi | Cast: Kanna Hashimoto, Gordon Maeda, Maika Yamamoto, Fûju Kamio | Runtime: 1h 42m | Release Date: 2022
Best for: Younger viewers who enjoy anime-style tropes and fans of time-loop stories who don’t mind a total lack of tension or consequence.
Worth noting: The film is based on the manga Karadasagashi by Welzard and Katsutoshi Murase, which explains the highly stylised character archetypes and Shōnen-influenced action sequences.
Where to Watch: Netflix Exclusive
Rating: 1.5/5 Stars
(A boring and repetitive J-horror that prioritises corny anime style over actual scares or character development.)
Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we will be taking a look at Netflix J-horror Remember Member. I believe this movie is also known as Re/Member, which is a pretty awful name.
Highlights
It’s a J-horror time loop movie
Re/Member follows the story of six high school children. Each of them falls asleep only to wake up at midnight in their school. Confused, the group have no time to figure out what is happening as a strange entity begins pursuing them through the school. The group are killed off in gruesome ways, one by one.
The next morning, the murdered students wake up, the day has not progressed, everything at school is the same. Meeting up in the hallway, they all come to the conclusion that they must solve the mystery of the dream world. If not, time will be stuck looping continuously.
So as you can probably guess from the above synopsis, this is a time loop movie ala Groundhog Day. I have always thought the Groundhog Day phenomenon was closer to horror than drama. I mean, how horrific would it be to repeat the same day for years? Estimates have Bill Murray repeating that one day for over 33 years in Groundhog Day. Crazy stuff. Now imagine if every single one of those days featured a painful death; it would be pure torture. It is a great basis for a horror movie, except when it isn’t.
It just doesn’t work
Happy Death Day did a fantastic job with this concept. It worked as both a comedy and a horror movie. Tree accumulates injuries over time which means she could eventually die, ending the cycle completely. Re/Member, basically, does the same thing only with far lower stakes. Each night the kids are murdered, each day they wake up fresh and relaxed with no injuries. The events are completely lacking in consequence. Good luck becoming invested in the horror element here.
“Each night the kids are murdered, each day they wake up fresh and relaxed with no injuries. The events are completely lacking in consequence. Good luck becoming invested in the horror element here.”
Trips to the beach and anime style comedy interactions undermine the tension. The kids here are having a thoroughly good time. This is, basically, a video game complete with unlimited lives. A rogue-like if you will. There is absolutely no reason to become invested in their struggles. There are more consequences driving to the store than these kids face in the dream world. This really only speaks to some of the issues here, though.
Re/Member is not at all a traditional J-horror. This is J-horror for the Netflix and Crunchy Roll generation. The days of Audition and Noroi: The Curse feel so very long ago. Instead, this movie is targeting a new crowd and going for the whole “live action anime” thing. I get it, Re/Member is based on a manga and anime known as Karadasagashi after all. Still, the style becomes a big problem very early on. It just doesn’t work very well.
Anime style live action horror
Split shots abound. People move into frame comically in a manner stripped straight from a Shōnen anime. Characters have exaggerated expressions, the camera zooms and obsesses on trivial details and the whole thing feels painfully corny. It simply doesn’t work and there are so many examples of it failing to deliver.
The bookish Shôta jumping on a desk in the library to shout effusively made my eyes roll. It reminded me of Prison School only not funny and a bit painful to watch. Scrunched up facial expressions, that are comical in animation, look uncomfortable in real life. Action sequences fall foul of similar issues. Slow moving humans look cumbersome jumping over tables. Quick camera cuts to add flair feel redundant and simply don’t work.
“Characters have exaggerated expressions, the camera zooms and obsesses on trivial details and the whole thing feels painfully corny. It simply doesn’t work.”
The way the characters speak bears mention, as well; this is Japanese for white people. There is an emphasis on slang, slow speech patterns and an anime style delivery. I have watched hundreds of J-horror movies, many featuring school age casts. Yet I have never heard the word “Baka” shouted with so much inflection. It is done repeatedly here.
Tons of issues and an awful monster design
With the above being said, this movie will, obviously, appeal to certain people. Anime fans who don’t mind repetitive Shonen style content will probably enjoy it. People who enjoy anime and aren’t big horror fans may find something to like. It is tropey enough to feel familiar if you are a fan of that kind of stuff.
Stepping aside from the similarities with anime, we encounter a whole bunch of issues with Re/Member simply as a horror movie. Pacing is a huge issue; this is an incredibly slow movie. Once the kids work out what they have to do, it becomes scene after scene of predictable and repetitive copy and paste content.
“The creature design here is horrendous. Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop could make a better monster with the hair shed from Miss Piggy’s arse. It is so laughably bad.”
The backstory is far more interesting than what is happening in the present. The backstory is barely leaned into, though. Horror movie tropes are a big problem and badly overused as are the ridiculously dumb characters. There are no new ideas here, at all.
The creature design here is horrendous. Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop could make a better monster with the hair shed from Miss Piggy’s arse. It is so laughably bad. I know silly looking puppetry is something Japan has done for years, but this doesn’t feel like that. It doesn’t feel like a slightly silly looking Kaiju. It feels like the filmmakers ran out of money, went into the broom closet and glued something together out of old coats. The way the monster moves is hilarious. It is clearly just being swung around by a human operator. It couldn’t look worse.
Acting is…. okay?
Acting is okay, I suppose. Literally every single character in Re/Member plays like an anime trope. This really undermines each and every performance. Gravity is stripped from every scene by the actor’s requirement to play to type. Kanna Hashimoto is okay as Asuka.
What are you supposed to be able to say about her performance, though? She has one moment that hints at character depth. The rest of the time she is playing a quiet, shy, anime girl. Gordon Maeda, as Takahiro, and Fûju Kamio, as Atsushi, basically play the same character. They are sporty and like basketball. One just happens to be a bit more aloof and more troubled than the other.
Mayu Yokota, as Rie, is the well-liked and sensible class president type. She is… okay, I guess? Maika Yamamoto, as Rumiko, is the popular girl with the older boyfriend. The Rise Kujikawa from Persona 4 if you will. She does… fine? Kotarô Daigo, as Shôta, is the nerdy kid with a hidden eccentric personality. He really gives it his all, to be fair, but I hated the character trope.
One thing of note is that, literally, every actor here looked older than their intended age. That was a bit strange. Scenes where makeup wears off stand out. The camera reveals the slightly drawn faces of actors in their twenties. Still, that is the least of Re/Member‘s problems. It is a painfully boring J-horror with an anime leaning and a terribly designed monster. What more could you want?
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Good
- Cinematography: The film is shot competently, with some nice lighting in the nighttime school sequences that hints at a higher budget than the script deserves.
- Kanna Hashimoto: She provides a likable enough presence in the lead role, even if she is forced to play a very flat and shy character type.
- Potential Concept: The idea of a body-part scavenger hunt within a time loop is a fun foundation for a supernatural thriller.
The Bad
- Corny Tropes: The anime-style delivery and exaggerated facial expressions are jarring in live action and frequently destroy the immersion.
- Repetitive Pacing: Once the loop is established, the movie spins its wheels for an hour, repeating the same beats with very little variation.
- Zero Stakes: Because the characters wake up without a scratch or any mental fatigue, there is absolutely no reason to fear for their safety.
The Ugly: The “Red Person” Monster. A laughably bad creature design that looks more like a bundle of old rags than a nightmare entity: it is genuinely one of the worst monsters in modern J-horror.
Should You Watch Remember Member?
No. It is a 1.5 star film that prioritises a cringeworthy anime aesthetic over actual horror. Unless you are desperate for a teen-centric slasher and can tolerate a total lack of stakes, you should skip this. There are dozens of superior Japanese horror movies on Netflix that handle school-based terror with far more skill and originality.
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