The Best Survival Thriller in Years is Now Streaming for Free
It’s an enormous privilege to attend film festivals and check out the latest in greatest in the filmmaking world, especially the horror world. This year alone, I cannot wait for everyone to check out Obex and The Virgin of the Quarry Lake. The Ugly Stepsister was also recently released in theaters and on Shudder, and it’s one of the gnarliest things you’ll see this year (I’ve been thinking about Emilie Blichfeldt’s debut since January). The greatest challenge, however, is when a must-see title is lost in distribution limbo.
Some titles are quickly acquired and released, while others exist in a kind of limbo, only quietly arriving years later. Park Kang’s South Korean haunter Seire was one of my favorites out of the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival, and I only just recently learned Kang’s film could be rented stateside. Which, by the way, go stream Seire. One of my favorites similarly surprised me. I was convinced Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s #Manhole was going to be the next big horror thing, but interest fizzled. Luckily, I’ve just learned the film is streaming free online, and I am begging you to watch it. It’s Audition for a new generation.
Learn more about #Manhole, streaming free on Philo, below:
Per Philo: Shunsuke Kawamura falls into a manhole one night before his wedding. Trapped, he uses a smartphone to escape as time runs out. Will he make it to his wedding?
In my 4.5-star review out of the 2023 Fantasia Festival, I wrote, “This is a midnight genre offering of the highest level, an incredulously conceived and bombastic whodunnit whose violent zealotry probes deeper than any sewer system,” later adding, “#Manhole is uncompromising in its twisted, violent aspirations. Brazenly unpredictable, it’s one of the best survival thrillers in years.”
It’s so good. So, so good. I immediately rewatched the film after learning it was available to stream. Fun fact! It was our own Managing Editor Josh Korngut’s Cannes exploits that incited me to search up #Manhole and find out what happened.
What a blessing it is, then, to find out the film is available to stream for free right now. It’s mysterious, funny, sexy, disturbing, scary—all of the above. It’s going to be your new obsession, I can promise you that much. It was one of my favorites of 2023, and I am so excited for more people to catch what #Manhole is all about.
What do you think? Any plans to check out #Manhole streaming free on Philo? Let me know what you think over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
Categorized:News
