In Japanese folklore, hitodama are the souls of dead people. They look like bright balls of fire that float around at night. Sometimes they make a thunderous sound. Other times they nibble on snacks because they get hungry. According to legend, everyone has seen a hitodama at some point in their life.
In American folklore, there’s a really tall lumberjack. No one’s really seen him, but sure.
So, let me ask you this: Which is more interesting? A levitating orb that eats sweet buns and then transforms into a worm that enters the body of a reporter and compels him to eat human flesh, or a big guy who cuts down trees?
Dogged journalist Morioka and ghost photographer Kitayan head to the countryside to report on a hitodama sighting. They’re followed by a mysterious man dressed in black and wearing a face mask. This is 1985, decades before the pandemic, but this guy somehow knew. Morioka chases a hitodama and gets possessed by its spirit. Soon he’s got an uncontrollable appetite which leads to late-night binges of iceberg lettuce and raw meat. Two great tastes that go great together! Something deep inside his sore-riddled body pulsates and eventually emerges. It’s a baby! It’s got adorable tiny hands and feet and a round face that looks like a slimy raisin with a giant mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Quickly this little critter cries and wiggles and crawls up the walls. They grow up so fast.
Turns out, the little bundle of joy is a gakidama, the “larva of ghouls. . . . They possess humans and grow to be ghouls in their stomachs.” And now it’s on the loose. Who can stop it?
Gakidama, aka Demon Within, is a delightfully stunning exercise in body-horror that proves, once again, that you don’t need billion-dollar CGI to execute something horrifying and affecting. There are simple camera and lighting tricks, stop-motion animation, puppetry, a respectable amount of goop, light aerobics, a candlelit dinner, and a dead parakeet that probably had it coming. The creature is an absolute rip-off of one of the Ghoulies, but because it’s Japanese, there’s better craft, execution, attention to detail, and, of course, it goes a step further. This is absolutely a dig at America. Gakidama delivers on pretty much every level—gore, exploitation, cannibalism, even runtime. It’s a lean, mean 50 minutes where we get to witness a larva transform into a beautiful butterfly. A dazzling, exquisite butterfly that totally destroys a kitchen.
