‘New Group’ Review – A Bizarre Slice of Urgent Social Commentary Infused with J-Horror Weirdness

I’m one of many who were impressed by Yûta Shimotsu’s debut horror feature, Best Wishes to All. A strange, terrifying journey ripe with social commentary, the film marked Shimotsu as a director to watch for the foreseeable future. His latest, New Group, oozes the same uncanny horror steeped in social issues, but without the narrative punch to suck viewers in like the antagonists of the bizarre tale.

High school student Ai (Anna Yamada) worries about the same thing everyone else her age does…fitting in. Though she tries again and again to speak up, she routinely struggles in the face of peer pressure. She doesn’t want to be like everyone else, but that’s easier said than done when being liked seems so important. Following the arrival of transfer student, Yu (Yuzu Aoki), a strange phenomenon emerges: Students begin forming a human triangle in the field outside the school. Before long, the majority of the classmates…and citizens…have been brainwashed into becoming part of a violent mob that moves with one mind, killing anyone who doesn’t join. Now, it’s up to Ai and a handful of others to prove that individualism has the power to shatter groupthink.

Like Best Wishes to All, Shimotsu goes hard on the social commentary. Opening on an eerie shot of the globe, we’re treated to a montage of mob violence as citizens are harassed in the street and a famous couple is beaten for not answering questions from journalists. It’s a world that has lost its goddamn mind…a preview of what’s to come for Ai and friends.

Flashing back, we meet the shy, quiet student. She’s the type who smiles even when she doesn’t think something’s funny, or looks the other way when it comes to bullying, despite wanting so badly to help. “If you just watch, you’re an accomplice”, reminds Yu, the only one who doesn’t care about popularity as much as being himself. Throughout, Ai is challenged to go against the group, and at nearly every turn, she fails.