You probably know what to expect from a film with a title like “The Beast Hand.” One of the posters for Taichiro Natsume’s low-budget pic features a lurid, blood-flecked montage straight out of the 1970s, with ad copy promising a “pure love splatter horror masterpiece.” But the movie itself is a curious creature, closer in tone to downbeat dramas like Hiroshi Shoji’s “Ken and Kazu” (2016) than to gonzo cinema.
Osamu (Takahiro Fukuya) is an ex-con, scraping by as a day laborer while living in a dilapidated shack that’s falling apart. In a familiar film noir setup, he gets an unwelcome visit from a criminal acquaintance, Akira (Yota Kawase), who is on the run from his parole officer and eager to pull off another job.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.