I’ve probably spent far too many hours in Japanese convenience stores looking for something I absolutely didn’t need, so the idea of turning that endless routine into a horror movie is actually quite appealing to me, and that’s what AnyMart has done.
AnyMart, originally titled Chilled (Chirudo), is the feature debut of Yusuke Iwasaki, and it has already picked up the FIPRESCI Prize at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival – it was released in Japan on July 17, 2026, and runs for just 88 minutes.
And apparently things get very weird.
A Convenience Store Where Something Is Going Wrong
The film centres on Sakai, a young convenience-store worker who goes about his job with the sort of enthusiasm you’d expect from someone who has completely stopped caring about the corporate nonsense surrounding him, when strange events begin happening inside the store, followed by unexplained deaths, and the normal routine gradually starts falling apart.
At the same time, whatever is happening inside this tiny convenience store seems to be connected to something much bigger outside it, as the official synopsis describes a subtle distortion spreading through the store while the outside world itself begins moving towards its end.
That’s a pretty big problem to have during a shift.
Trailer
Yusuke Iwasaki Makes His Feature Debut
Yusuke Iwasaki writes and directs AnyMart, making his feature debut after previously directing the short film VOID in 2024, and the main cast includes Shota Sometani as Sakai, Erika Karata, Masahiko Nishimura, Kuruma and Tatsuya Nagashima – the production comes from TOHOKUSHINSHA FILM CORPORATION, with NOTHING NEW handling the film’s production, distribution and international sales.
And having Shota Sometani in the lead certainly doesn’t hurt.
There Is a Lot More Going On Than Bad Customer Service
What interests me about AnyMart is that the horror apparently isn’t just there to make the convenience store look creepy, as the film is using the store as a small version of Japanese society, with workers expected to maintain blank expressions while putting on a fake friendly attitude for customers – Nippon Connection describes the movie as a satire of a cold, dehumanised society, mixing dry humour and gore with its horror.
That sounds much more interesting to me than another film where a convenience store happens to have a ghost in the stockroom, and there’s something quite miserable about the idea of being trapped in a job where you’re expected to smile constantly while everything around you is falling apart.
And then I suppose the film asks what happens when that metaphor becomes literal.
The Horror Gets Bloody
Despite the comedy and satire, this isn’t being presented as some gentle workplace comedy with the occasional spooky moment, as it’s officially described as horror, with Nippon Connection specifically highlighting the combination of dry humour and gore.
That combination could work really well.
Japanese horror has always had room for films that are completely straight-faced one moment and bizarre the next, and I’m much more interested in AnyMart knowing that it isn’t trying to be another conventional supernatural thriller.
It Has Already Got Some Serious Festival Attention
AnyMart isn’t some obscure horror film that has simply appeared out of nowhere either – it premiered at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize in the Forum section, where the film’s screenings there reportedly sold out, and it was the only Japanese film to receive an award at that year’s festival – it also screened at Nippon Connection 2026, where it was presented as part of the Nippon Cinema programme.
That’s enough to make me pay attention.
Festival awards don’t automatically mean I’m going to love something – I’ve watched plenty of critically adored films and wondered what everybody else was drinking – but it does suggest there is more going on here than a simple genre exercise.
The Convenience Store Is Almost Too Perfect
There’s a Japanese horror tradition of finding something unsettling in places that are normally completely mundane, and I think the convenience store is an excellent choice for this particular story.
It’s bright.
It’s open most the time.
People wander in and out.
Everything is supposed to be clean, efficient and predictable.
Which makes it quite funny that AnyMart apparently takes that environment and slowly turns it into somewhere you really wouldn’t want to be, and it’s also a particularly Japanese setting without needing to cover the screen in obvious cultural references.
I’ll admit, AnyMart wasn’t on my radar until I started digging into what it actually was, but I’m now considerably more interested, as the combination of convenience-store horror, workplace satire, dry comedy and gore sounds like something that could either be brilliantly strange or completely ridiculous.
And I’m hoping it’s the first one.
There’s also something very appealing about the fact that this is Yusuke Iwasaki’s first feature and it has already won a major international critics’ award., which is quite a way to start a filmmaking career.
And if a horror film can make me feel uncomfortable the next time I’m standing in a convenience store at midnight buying something stupid, it’s done its job.
I just hope the staff don’t start smiling at me too much.
Check out these other Japanese horror movies too.
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