IDOL NEVER DiES (2022)

Director: Noboru Iguchi

Comedy splatter legend (and the mastermind behind such Criterion classics as Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead and Mutant Girl Squad) Noboru Iguchi’s IDOL NEVER DiES played as the main feature of the inaugural Tokyo Horror Film Festival, which took place on July 1 in Tokyo’s Nakano ward. The festival also featured an exclusive Q&A with director Iguchi himself.

In his forty-sixth feature, Iguchi presents a satirical - if surprisingly subdued - take on the cut-throat world of the idol with a sci-fi twist. After all, the life of a J-pop idol is full of terrifying things: gruelling rehearsals, manic fans, unrealistic body standards and - according to this slice of candy coloured chaos - the end of the world.

In the countryside of Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture, idol group Eveninglory have gathered for an intense weekend of training and filming, despite the national news stating that the end of the world is en route. After one of the members, Haru, disappears without a trace, awkward and misanthropic Megumi (played by actress Momoka, ironically the only major cast member who is not an idol herself) is seemingly the only member of the group who can see her and hear her cryptic, morbid warnings about the upcoming apocalypse and what it means for Megumi. Throw in a mysterious, cacophonous sound turning people into mindless zombies, a charismatic rival band called BLOOD CHERRY, and a moralistic warning about kindness, and poor Megumi’s not exactly having the best day.

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