This film pleasantly surprised me. In a world that functions entirely through sight, everything and everyone exists to view and to be viewed. This movie uses the found footage medium as a perfect way to showcase exactly that.
Trying to track down an editor who has gone completely off the grid, our two protagonists follow his research to uncover what happened to him. Their investigation takes them through different eras where they uncover the remnants of distinct lives: a streamer who stepped into a house and never returned, a family moving into a new home only to witness something terrible, and a bizarre children's cartoon show. Remarkably, these incidents are connected by mysterious drawings left at the scenes.
I don't think the phrase that keeps being uttered, "thank you for finding me", is a coincidence. In an age where visibility is the end-all, be-all of human existence, being "found" by an audience is the ultimate validation, even if it demands a horrific price.
That is exactly what makes that final frame so chilling for me. It completely shatters the safety barrier of the "screen". Kinki turns your own curiosity against you. The "price" for our entertainment is that we can't unsee it. We walked right into the trap of our modern urge to watch, and as the screen goes black, we are left sitting in the dark wondering if we just brought the curse into our own living rooms. It's a brilliant way to end a horror film.
