Official synopsis
Based on the acclaimed video game, a college girl works the night shift at a local convenience store. She must handle multiple customers and perform menial tasks, but as the nights go by, she begins to notice strange things happening around the store. For example, the entrance door keeps opening and closing even though no one is there. Then a deliveryman gives her a package, and her whole life changes because what’s inside forces her to make the darkest of decisions. Is it all in her imagination? Or is the store truly haunted? Or has she awakened something far worse?
Review
Director Jirô Nagai’s The Convenience Store (Yakin Jikin; Japan, 2026) is the latest updated take on the tried and true J-horror subgenre of curses being passed on through technology — in this case, through SD cards. It also uses a first-person perspective for its camera work at times in a nod to its origin as a video game.
College student Yukino Tazuru (Kotona Minami) begins experiencing paranormal events in the titular business at which she works, and the discovery of the manager’s body with his eyes missing leads to Detective Shinji Saruwatari (Terunosuke Takezai)interviewing Yukino. He laughs off her supernatural theory but, this being a J-horror movie, he is bound to find out there may indeed be something behind it.
The Convenience Store is strongest in its performances and eerie atmosphere, which includes a back story concerning a man murdering his wife and child. Plenty of tropes are on hand, including a seemingly insane man warning of danger, but the film boasts new spins on some of them. A second-half focus from Yukino to Saruwatari feels a bit unusual but works well enough to keep matters intriguing.
Recommended especially for J-horror aficionados and supernatural-horror devotees, The Convenience Store is an overall gripping slice of fright-fare entertainment.
You can view the trailer here.
The Convenience Store screened at FrightFest Glasgow, which took place March 5–7 in Glasgow, Scotland.
