You will probably know Takashi Shimizu from Ju-On: The Grudge, and Noroi: The Curse, so when I heard he was doing another Japanese supernatural horror film I was obviously going to pay attention.
Shimizu has made plenty of films since Ju-On, some better than others, but when he gets back into that uncomfortable J-horror territory of ordinary places becoming seriously wrong, I’m interested, and Sana: Play With Me is his latest attempt at that kind of horror, this time putting a supposedly harmless schoolyard game at the centre of the nightmare – it opened in Japanese cinemas on July 24, 2026, with a runtime of 109 minutes.
Thirteen Steps and a Cassette Tape
There is a rumour going around among the students about a game that absolutely shouldn’t be played – tou go to an empty school staircase, find the 13th step, and record a date and somebody’s name onto a cassette tape – then that person dies on the date you’ve recorded.
Naturally, some students decide to try it anyway.
One of them is Nanami, played by Anna Hoshino, and things start going very badly after the game is performed, where a mysterious incident takes place at the school, students become caught up in increasingly strange events, and the whole thing begins to spread beyond the original group.
That’s where her older sister Koharu, played by Suzuka Chinzei, comes in – Koharu is a psychological counsellor who is sent to the school to help the students affected by what happened, but unfortunately for her, she eventually discovers that her own little sister was involved.
And now she’s not just trying to understand what happened at the school. She’s personally involved in it.
Trailer
Shimizu Brings Some Familiar Names With Him
Shimizu directs and co-writes the film with Rumi Tsunoda. The film is produced by the 2026 Darekasan to Asobo? Film Partners, with Shochiku handling distribution – the main cast includes Suzuka Chinzei as Koharu, Anna Hoshino as Nanami and Riku Onishi as Jotaro Chiba, with Rei Mukai, Miu Oguni and Hanna Muro playing the students who become involved in the cursed game.
There is also a particularly interesting supporting appearance from Shota Sometani, alongside Shuji Okui, Hana Naba, Hayato Sometani and Tomoko Hoshi, with Sports Makita appearing in a guest role.
For Chinzei, this is her first solo starring role in a movie and her first horror film, having previously become known as a member of the idol group FRUITS ZIPPER, and the production specifically notes that she took on a much darker role here, moving away from the cheerful image associated with her other work – casting someone strongly associated with a bright pop-idol image and then throwing her into a nasty supernatural horror story could either work really well or feel like a gimmick.
I’m hoping for the former.
This Is Very Much Shimizu Territory
The basic idea has some obvious J-horror DNA.
A school.
A rumour.
A forbidden ritual.
A supernatural presence that nobody quite understands.
And then something goes horribly wrong.
But that’s also why I’m interested.
Shimizu knows this territory extremely well. Ju-On: The Grudge made him one of the most recognisable names in Japanese horror internationally, and he has repeatedly returned to the idea that everyday spaces can become frightening without needing to turn them into elaborate haunted-house sets.
This time it’s the school staircase, and I particularly like the 13th step, and there’s something very Japanese-school-legend about a specific number, a specific place and a set of instructions that students supposedly know about but probably shouldn’t be trying.
It feels like the kind of rumour that could spread around a school precisely because nobody is quite sure whether it’s real.
The Cassette Tape Is a Nice Touch
One thing I wasn’t expecting was the cassette tape, as we’re used to modern horror using smartphones, social media, videos and messages as the method through which supernatural problems spread – a cassette recorder feels much more old-fashioned.
And considering this is a Shimizu film, I actually think that’s a good choice, and there’s something creepy about hearing a voice recorded onto an old tape, especially when the recording is connected to somebody’s death – it also gives the movie a slightly different texture from the usual teenagers discover a cursed app story.
The tape is physical.
You can hold it.
You can record onto it.
You can destroy it.
Or at least you’d hope you could.
The official material makes it clear that the mystery isn’t simply about students messing around with a supernatural game, because as Koharu investigates what happened, she encounters a mysterious young man carrying a cassette recorder, while the trailer hints at a deeper story involving the game and the strange events surrounding it.
That makes me more interested than if the entire plot were already laid out as students play game, ghost kills students, credits, because with Shimizu, I’m expecting a few things not to be what they initially seem.
And I really hope the film gives us some of that.
There’s a Bit of the Old J-Horror Feeling Here
The film is being presented as a school horror, but I don’t think the school setting is just there because teenagers make convenient horror victims – the production actually spent a lot of time filming in schools and around staircases, with the young cast spending roughly a month and a half working together, so the filmmakers deliberately wanted the teenage actors to bring some of the feeling of genuine school life into the movie.
That matters because the contrast is what makes this kind of thing work, but I’ll alsoadmit that Sana: Play With Me doesn’t exactly sound revolutionary – a cursed game has been done plenty of times, and school horror has been done plenty of times as well.
Even the whole don’t do this ritual or something terrible will happen setup is ancient, but with Shimizu I’d trust to do something new with the set up as well, and the thing I’m most curious about is whether the cassette-game idea has enough substance to it.
That’s the gamble with a simple horror premise like this. If the rules and mystery are good, you’ve got something that can really build tension, and if not, you’re basically watching teenagers discover something that the audience worked out half an hour earlier.
Hopefully Shimizu has a few nasty surprises waiting.
I’m also interested in Suzuka Chinzei because this is such a departure from her usual public image. If she can sell Koharu as somebody genuinely scared but still determined to protect her sister, that could give the film more weight than the supernatural stuff alone, and then you’ve got Shota Sometani wandering around with a cassette recorder looking suspicious as hell.
Which, frankly, is enough to make me slightly curious at least – a cursed 13th step, a cassette tape, a school full of terrified students and Takashi Shimizu back in J-horror territory?
Yeah.
I’m watching this one.
Check out these other Japanese horror movies too.
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