''Human Hibachi'' is a 2019 American found footage horror film, written and directed by Mario Cerrito. It was selected by the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival and

Philadelphia Independent Film Festival Philadelphia Independent Film Festival is an annual film festival which takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The festival was created in 2007 by the Media Bureau, Inc. and has been programmed by the #undergroundfilmforum #uf ...

. The movie went on to win 2021 best feature film at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival. The film was said to have been too extreme for Amazon and released to its own website on October 23, 2020. Afterwards the movie was released by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz's Troma Entertainment on their streaming service Troma Now on VHX.

Plot

Chronicling a woman's 35th birthday party from start to finish, which ends in her gruesome demise, several rich cannibals frequent a Japanese owned restaurant and pay for the owner to prepare their victims for consumption.

Cast

* Wataru Nishida as Jin Yamamoto * Andrew Hunsicker as John Mitchell * Stafford Chavis as Bobby Shields * Carley Harper as Meghan Cole * Sheyla Hershey as Adriana * Jeff Alpert as Doug Patrick * John Campanile as Phil Maxwell * Elizabeth Gaynor as Katie Williams

Production

The movie was shot in the summer of 2018 in Riverside, New Jersey and at The Reef, a restaurant in Wilmington, Delaware.

Release

The film was released to Troma Now by Troma Entertainment in 2021. It was later released on a wider scale by Invincible Pictures including Amazon Prime. In August 2022 the movie was ranked #79 in the top 100 best selling horror titles on Amazon. Invincible Pictures represented the movie at Marché du Film which took place at the

2023 Cannes Film Festival The 76th annual Cannes Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 16 to 27 May 2023. Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund served as jury president. With the French film ''Anatomy of a Fall'' winning the Palme d'Or, the festival's top pr ...

. A

Director's cut A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...

of the film was released by Scareplex's Video on demand platform in 2023.

Reception

PopHorror.com calls Human Hibachi a "modern day tale of cannibalism and that in itself makes the film rather unique". Horror Society says, "Finally, the film doesn’t shy away from the red stuff but its use of meat is what sends it over the edge. The film has several scenes with plenty of blood but it makes use of a restaurant to work in the meat for the cannibal angle. This really make the story work while using real meat." Horror News quoted At its heart (& lungs, & stomach), it is a cannibal movie but it much deeper than that. There is a well-crafted story there that leads us into the madness and mayhem. It's a smart movie that doesn't just rely on mindless gore for cheap thrills. Nerdly.co.uk notes Human Hibachi is a brilliant play on the old “video nasty” era belief that snuff movies are real too. Horror News Net placed the movie in their top ten essential found footage films list. https://horrornews.net/177264/top-ten-essential-found-footage-films/

References

External links

* *{{Official website, http://www.humanhibachi.com 2019 films American horror films 2019 horror films Films shot in New Jersey Films shot in Delaware 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Obscenity controversies in film