When Revenge Gets a Mind of Its Own

Read Time:5 Minute, 54 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Beast Hand
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Genre: Horror
Year Released: 2024, Cleopatra Entertainment Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 1h 18m
Director(s): Taichiro Natsume
Writer(s): Yasunori Kasuga, Taichiro Natsume
Cast: Takahiro Fukuya, Misa Wada, Yohta Kawase, Yuya Matsuura
Where to Watch: Available May 13, 2025, pre-order your copy here: www.cleorecs.com, www.mvdshop.com, or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: THE BEAST HAND walks, or maybe staggers, as it wrestles with body horror, underworld crime, and a doomed love story. It doesn’t always balance its many ambitions, but a raw, volatile energy at play earns attention, even if it doesn’t always earn admiration.

The story centers on Osamu, a man attempting to scrape together an honest existence despite the weight of his past. Just as he starts to settle into a routine, a figure from his former life crashes back in, dragging the sort of baggage Osamu hoped he’d left behind. That intrusion opens a floodgate of trauma, pulling Osamu—and the viewer—into a grim descent filled with violence, regret, and a very unconventional medical procedure that changes everything.

After a robbery goes sideways, Osamu suffers a devastating injury, and the resulting body modification becomes the film’s signature twist: a bizarre transplant that replaces his missing hand with something much less… cooperative. That mutated limb, capable of aggression and seemingly untethered from Osamu’s control, triggers a spree of destruction and revenge that dominates the film's back half.

This genre shift—from crime stories to creature features—is where the film tries to set itself apart, although the transition isn't always graceful. What starts as a gritty look at desperation and exploitation mutates into something grotesque. In that chaos, there are glimpses of something more meaningful—a story about people trying to escape cycles of abuse, trying to build lives in the shadow of things they’ve done or endured. But those themes often get lost under the weight of splatter effects and narrative detours.

One of the film’s more consistent strengths is its commitment to practical gore. The low-budget effects won’t impress everyone, but they lend an authenticity that computer-generated rarely achieves. A rough, tactile sense of impact feels right for this kind of project when the hand lashes out or when bodies break under its force. It may look messy, but the mess works in context.

Osamu’s relationship with Koyuki is positioned as the emotional core, and while the performances bring some weight to their scenes together, the writing doesn’t fully support their arc. Koyuki’s backstory and decisions feel functional rather than layered, and their bond is more told than shown. Still, both leads do solid work with what they’re given. Takahiro Fukuya leans into Osamu’s unraveling psyche without going over the top, and Misa Wada manages to ground even the film’s most surreal turns with a quiet determination.

One interesting thread throughout the story is how identity is tied to the body. Osamu’s new appendage isn’t just a tool—it’s a threat, a symbol of everything he can’t control about himself. It reflects both his buried rage and the trauma he’s endured, and though the movie only occasionally taps into that metaphor with any depth, the potential is there. The same could be said for Koyuki, who has gone through cosmetic changes to hide from her past, only to realize that changing appearances doesn’t erase history.

Director Taichiro Natsume aims to stretch genre expectations, and in some moments, that ambition leads to interesting contrasts—a monster movie where the real horrors are found in human behavior. Still, the film doesn’t always know how to transition between tones. It veers from raw and grounded to over-the-top and pulpy with little sense of escalation or build-up, making for a jarring experience that could have used a more cohesive structure.

The film's aesthetic is fittingly bleak. Its dingy sets, claustrophobic framing, and dim lighting sell the idea of people trapped by both place and circumstance. That visual consistency helps tie together a plot that feels stitched from several movies. Unfortunately, by the time it introduces a third-act pursuit involving a corrupt cop and a criminal syndicate with an unhealthy interest in Osamu’s hand, the narrative has already run thin. It becomes more about keeping things moving than resolving anything with meaning.

Perhaps that’s what holds THE BEAST HAND back the most: it never fully decides what it wants to be. It flirts with psychological horror, revenge thriller, body mutation spectacle, and tragic romance, but only dabbles in each. It might have delivered a sharper, more cohesive story if it focused more sharply on one or two core ideas, particularly the metaphorical weight of Osamu’s transformation.

As it stands, the film is more memorable for its concept than its execution. There’s something unique about its premise and a certain DIY charm in how it plays with genre conventions. However, that originality is undercut by an uneven tone and underwritten characters. It's the kind of movie you want to root for because of what it tries to pull off, but by the end, it doesn’t quite land the punch it’s aiming for.

THE BEAST HAND earns points for ambition and for refusing to play safe, but the rough edges in its story and structure hold it back from reaching its potential. Fans of low-budget horror and gritty revenge flicks might find things to enjoy, especially if they’re in the mood for something offbeat. Just know that the concept might grab your attention going in, but the follow-through might not hold on as tightly.

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[photo courtesy of CLEOPATRA ENTERTAINMENT, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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