Japanese psychological horror movie Erica is getting its home video release in Japan on October 2, 2026 – Taro Miyaoka’s unsettling story about love, obsession and the point where protecting someone can become something much darker
The film originally opened in Japanese theaters on May 15, 2026, and is a feature-length remake of Miyaoka’s earlier independent movie Ren’sa, which won a Jury Special Award at the Tokyo Student Film Festival.
A Romance That Starts Going Very Wrong
Erica stars Ayumu Mochizuki as Tatsuki Iisasa, a 23-year-old supermarket worker who has never had a girlfriend – his life isn’t exactly going anywhere until he meets Erica Mizukawa, played by Meari Hayashi, while visiting a cafe, where hbecomes immediately interested in her and starts visiting the cafe regularly – eventually the two begin getting closer, although there is an obvious problem in Erica’s life
She’s living with her boyfriend Ryo Kuroishi, played by Hayato Takao, and suffering abuse at his hands – when Tatsuki becomes aware of what is happening, he starts to see himself as the person who can protect her, a decision changes everything
After an incident at Erica’s home, Tatsuki and Erica’s relationship develops rapidly – they eventually become a couple and begin living together, with Tatsuki believing he has finally found the happiness that had been missing from his life, but the problem is that strange things begin happening around him – and the more comfortable Tatsuki becomes with Erica, the more unsettling the situation starts to look
The movie is built around that increasingly uncomfortable question of whether love can actually remain love once obsession and dependency enter the picture – and judging by the official setup, Erica isn’t exactly going to be the girlfriend who makes Tatsuki’s life easier
From Student Film to Feature Horror
One of the more interesting things about this one is where it came from – Miyaoka originally made Ren’sa as an independent film while studying at Waseda University, with the movie picking up a Jury Special Award at the Tokyo Student Film Festiva, and more than 15 years later, he returned to that material and turned it into the 83-minute feature.
Miyaoka has previously directed movies including Nare no Hate, Horror Doll, Last Summer Wars and Girls Drive, while he also has a reputation as a movie reviewer and wrote the book 49 Movies With Way Too Bad Aftertastes, while the screenplay comes from Tete Inoue, whose credits include Initiation Love, Girls Drive and The Boring End Roll .
DVD Release Details
The Japanese DVD of Erica will be released on October 2, 2026 through the Erica production committee, with Odessa Entertainment handling distributio, and the DVD is priced at ¥5,280 including tax and includes around 95 minutes of bonus material, including making-of footage, stage greeting footage, deleted scenes and an audio commentary featuring the cast and director – so there is actually a decent amount of additional material rather than the usual trailer-and-nothing-else treatmen.
The disc is Region 2, with Japanese audio in 5.1 surround and stereo – there are no subtitles listed in the current Japanese release specifications however – You can pre order it here.
More Asian horror movie news.
- Vietnamese Found-Footage Horror Hit Lầu Chú Hoả Is Coming to North American Theaters
- Iwaiyama Gets Deluxe Blu-ray and DVD Release in Japan This November
- The Eye 1 & 2 Get a 4K UHD and Blu-ray Release from Carlotta Films
- Banned from Broadcast: My Three Wives Gets September Blu-ray and DVD Release in Japan
- Incomplete Chairs: Kenichi Ugana’s Gory Japanese Horror Gets a DVD Release
Leave a Reply