Today is February 3rd, known in Japan as Sestubun. It was supposed to be a celebration of the beginning of spring. But this family’s mood has turned sour because rebellious daughter Ayumi is once again refusing to finish her dinner. So her mother tries to scare her straight with a story. If she doesn’t finish her food, she tells her, then an evil spirit will enter the house and eat it instead. Unfortunately, the story has the opposite effect of what Mom intended. Ayumi thinks, if the spirit is so hungry, why don’t we feed it? So later that night, she lays out a trail of food to lure the spirit in. And the plan works. Ayumi has a close encounter with a mysterious woman in the middle of the kitchen. The result of that meeting won’t be discovered until the next morning, when Mom and Dad come downstairs for breakfast and find a very hungry Ayumi waiting for them…
“Bakemono” Credits:
Written and Directed by Sumire Takamatsu & Jorge Lucas
Produced by William Nawrocki, Jorge Lucas, & Sumire Takamatsu
Edited by William Nawrocki
Music by Emi Nishida
Director of Photography – Rob Silcox
Make-up/SFX – Krystle Feher
Key Grip – Nate Mitchell
Gaffer – Stephen Kersting
Sound Recordist – Plum Snidvongs
Visual Effects – Alex Frenklakh, Morgan Griffiths, Sang Joon Kim, Sean Welch
Ayumi – Claudia Fabella
Oka-san – Shio Muramatsu
Oto-san – Daisuke Suzuki
Bakemono – Sherry Q, Erin Yuqi Yang
