Ousama Game (aka King's Game) Review

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A classroom of students are sent text messages demanding they do various tasks with the penalty of failure resulting in the student being erased from existence.

Review: First, let me say I believe there is another film called "King Game," so hopefully there is no confusion here. If you recall back to my review of "Yo-Yo Girl Cop" I mentioned a Japanese company that features female idols called Hello!Project. Well this film's actors are primarily comprised of more girls from that company. Unfortunately, they are not really from the group I like called Morning Musume (although there is at least one confirmed cameo from them); it sucks too because I really wish they would do a horror movie featuring those girls, but I suppose any progress is fine. I'm actually not sure if this would even be considered a horror and more just a thriller or suspense. This film had a heavy "Death Note" vibe for those who may be familiar with that franchise, but it's not a ripoff by any means. The film does a good job at keeping you wondering what is going on and what is the point of this "game." There are quite a few red herrings which, I'll admit, threw me off, but the revelation of what is occurring is extremely disappointing and made the red herrings completely irrelevant. The more I think of it the more nothing makes any sense by the end; I would have rated this movie higher if not for the ending. In a nutshell, the "King" issuing out the commands is in fact the lead girl with no memory of her actions. However, this leads to many plot holes and/or contrivances. The way she became the king was to keep winning previous games; at a glance that makes sense until we realize there must still be someone above her giving her these powers not to mention a king existing before she won the first game. Furthermore, if the king can do anything, why is this considered a curse and she has no control thus still giving the impression she is not the king? There is also a plot point about how the king deliberately left clues to make the students betray each other. How is the main girl doing any of this? The fact that she has no memories just means someone is controlling her actions which negates this whole being the king plot. Ugh, I don't even want to keep thinking about this because it makes no fucking sense! One more thing that pissed me off was the casual nature of some of the characters; if you saw people being erased from existence knowing you might be next, would you really be joking around? Okay this makes it all sound bad but it's better than I make it seem. The plot is intriguing until the end, the girls are mostly all cute, there are some original and cool concepts here despite a failure to truly execute them, and it successfully keeps you guessing until the end. Overall, it's a slightly above average film with a lot of wasted potential ruined by a cheap, senseless ending.

Notable Moment: When a large chunk of the class is erased simultaneously. You kind of sensed it would come though.

Final Rating: 5.5/10