When You Open The Door is Eriko Katagiri’s feature debut. It’s a werewolf movie about the awakening to womanhood. It tackles femine isolation and alienation and is described as one of the most unique werewolf movies ever put on the big screen.
“Miki’s world is quiet and strange, but it will soon be interrupted by a transformative experience that will change her forever.”
Eriko Katagiri have previously won the Japanese Horror Award, her prize was to direct a feature film, and When You Open The Door is that movie. She was inspired by Isabelle Adjani in Possession, Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby and Jan Švankmajer’s Alice.
She describes the movie as liberating, she wants the audiance to feel a sense of courage, to live their lives freely, “to run through the world however they want to”.
Japanese model Serena Motola plays the main character Miki. The movie doesn’t have much dialouge, instead she gives an intense physical performance. Miki is a quiet girl who works at an architectural firm. Her memory is hazy, she remebers a wolf bite, but no one believes her. She begins to look for answers. Strangely she feels drawn to the woods, where she meets a group of older women known as itako or ogamisama. There she finds herself at the center of a ritual. The Moon Waiting Gathering.
The movie recently premiered at Fantasia Film Festival and been highly regarded by those who seen it. No information on when it will be available to the public yet.
