A man awakes to find himself trapped in a dirty, confined crawlspace. He barely has enough room to move. He also has no memory of why he's there, or why he's bleeding from a stomach wound. Apparently drugged, he occasionally 'zones out' of his surroundings as he tries to edge towards his way to freedom. But the more he explores, the more pain he has to endure, and the more frightening his predicament becomes.
Direction
Tsukamoto shoots like he's trapped in there with you.
Practical Effects
Disgusting real sets, no CGI escape hatch.
Sound
Metal scraping that'll live in your spine.
Director
Shinya Tsukamoto
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of a Japanese 'claustrocore' wave alongside Cube and The Descent, but Tsukamoto's industrial Tokyo aesthetic makes it uniquely his.
Tsukamoto built the crawlspace sets himself in his own studio, shooting most scenes personally with a handheld camera—he's literally the protagonist AND your eyeballs.
JP
