Here at Asian Film Fans we are lucky
enough to be in contact with some great 
independent film makers. 
We’ve already covered the
Muay Thai drama Baan Muay Thai 
and the Taiwanese thriller
The Very Last Day.
This latest review comes courtesy of
our friends at Tokyo Bay Films, 
a new horror upstart situated in Japan
who wants to bring the grindhouse and 
low-budget horror vibes from the
1980’s into a modern setting.
Set to do the rounds of the horror movie
festival circuits in 2020 and 2021, 
we got a sneak peak of the movie
before it hits wide release.
Hi I’m The Arty Dans from Asian Film Fans
and welcome to this review of the 
Japanese independent grindhouse horror
flick Tokyo Home Stay Massacre. 
And if you’re squeamish,
then this might not be for you!
Three American students,
striving to be YouTube stars, 
travel to Japan and make plans to stay in
a local family’s house to create a 
video about their experience. 
In a nod to Texas Chainsaw Massacre,
the house that’s been arranged for them 
to stay in is owned by a creepy family
looking for fresh victims to sacrifice 
to their deceased family members.
When our three students decided to go on
an unguided midnight tour of the home,
they start to uncover some grizzly secrets
of their home stay family, 
and they quickly realise that while they
are welcomed at their house, 
it’s not for the reasons they think!
Gore lovers and fans of grindhouse cinema
will find a lot of pleasure in this film, 
especially the insanity of the second half
when the chopping starts. 
If you love buckets of blood,
then you’ll be in Goretown.
As mentioned, there is a slight
Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe with the 
Home Stay family,
sans the chainsaw welding maniac. 
The Japanese family are an interesting
bunch, and it would be great if there was 
an opportunity in the future for the directors
to revisit their story and give the audience 
an insight into who they are, because they
are the most interesting element of this film. 
As mentioned, the Japanese family
is the standout of the film. 
They’re an eclectic mixture of oddballs
including the over-excited father 
who can speak English and the sour
Grandmother who hates foreigners 
and just wants to get the sacrifice done. 
There’s also the two children:
the pigtailed bookworm daughter 
and the long haired mentally under-developed son.
But the standout characters are the
two effeminate male police officers. 
They’re only on screen for a short amount
of time, but the amount of self-awareness 
they have of themselves as characters and
their performances adds to the humour of the film. 
The plot of the movie is
interesting and entertaining, 
but just felt a little underdeveloped.
There’s also a few long take shots that
seems to have been carefully rehearsed 
in a nice little nod to One Cut of the Dead. 
And while the Japanese family was the
standout, unfortunately the three 
American characters are not. 
Generally unlikeable, there was little
connection with them. 
My connection with the Japanese
family was much stronger.
On top of them being generally
uninteresting, the rushed acting
of the Americans, specifically John,
at times affects the flow of the movie, 
with emotions ranging from stoic to
over-the-top even in the same scenes. 
Also, and this is a personal preference,
I wasn’t a fan of the ending.
I would have preferred, and indeed I
was cheering for, a different ending 
that unfortunately didn’t come. 
But the late teen audience will probably
connect stronger with the characters 
and ending than I did. 
Grindhouse is a genre all of its own
when it comes to horror, 
and you’ll already know if you like it or not. 
If you are a fan of Grindhouse Horror, then
watching this film is a no-brainer for you. 
General horror fans approach with caution
if excessive gore is not your thing, 
but if you’re a lover of interesting,
outrageous Japanese characters, 
then there is something here for you. 
My recommendation is: 
