Visionary Japanese horror director Takashi Shimizu, famed for his Ju-On (aka The Grudge) franchise has landed a distributor for his latest effort, Suicide Forest Village, based on the infamous “suicide forest” of Aokigahara.
Los Angeles-based Cinedigm has acquired all North American rights to Shimizu’s film after negotiations with the Toei Company. The story is based on a fabled village in the Aokigahara forest, a location that has become renowned for the many who have ended their own lives there. Aokigahara, also known as “The Sea of Trees” or Fukai, is one of the most used sites of suicide in the world and has gained infamy as “the Suicide Forest.”
The film will focus on a mysterious box said to originate from a village supposedly deep in the titular forest. The box contains an object that curses all those around it. Suicide Forest Village will feature performances by Yumi Adachi (Tokyo Vampire Hotel), Asuka Kurosawa (Silence), and Jun Kunimura (best known to American audiences as the Mob Boss executed by Lucy Liu’s O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill Vol. 1).
Brandon Hill, Manager of Acquisitions for Cinedigm, touted Shimizu’s reputation as a horror director, stating, “Takashi Shimizu is a visionary director who helped bring Japanese horror films into the cultural consciousness. For the past two decades, he’s been terrorizing audiences across the globe with his haunting style. Suicide Forest Village is a terrifically terrifying film and we look forward to sharing it with audiences everywhere.”
The picture will be released in digital and on-demand early next year.
