Drop-Shipping Turns Deadly in Psychological Horror Cloud (FANTASTIC)

Title: Cloud

First Non-Festival Release: September 27, 2024 (Theatrical Release)

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Runtime: 123 Minutes

Starring: Masaki Suda, Kotone Furukawa, Daiken Okudaira

Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here

This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2024.

Bored with his day job and yearning to make money in a more fast-paced manner, online re-seller Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda), better known by his infamous username ‘Ratel’, quits his 9-5 after three years of work to pursue his side hustle full-time. His girlfriend, Akiko (Kotone Furukawa) is rattled until she realizes how much more money will be invested into elevating her lifestyle. Many people from his life have doubts but Ratel manages to start making serious money. Ratel even decides to move out into the country and hire a local young man named Sano (Daiken Okudaira) to help with the extra work. All is good until his past catches up with him.

A dark and disturbing descent into a world of greed, desperation, and ego trips, Cloud is a psychological horror that seeks to unsettle.

Ratel’s unchecked ambition and wanton desire for money without having any actual goals drives him, making him a fascinating character to unfurl. Taking center-stage with nowhere to run, his motivation and skills are as unfiltered as his disregard for others. Driven by his desire for more but unsure of what more is, his reckless pursuit of monitoring price changes to gouge unsuspecting buyers and ignorant salesman racks up plenty of wins for him monetarily. It also begins stacking up enemies.

Dripping with tension, Cloud ebbs and flows with dread as the consequences of Ratel’s actions become clearer. Clues start trickling in that Ratel’s operation is garnering an unwanted amount of attention. Broken windows cracked in the dead of night by faceless invaders and anonymous threats by online crusaders shape the way Ratel’s influence has poisoned people against him far and wide. While his alias gives him initial protection, Cloud shows just how quickly an empire can crumble. This leads to kidnappings, car chases, and shootouts carried out by a network of men out for his blood. Writer director Kiyoshi Kurosawa injects the appropriate amount of tension and mystery at his misfortune making each brush with certain death feel as torturous as the last.

Greed, revenge, and stupidity are amongst the many reasons why all these men have it out for Ratel, allowing for excellent commentary on the pointlessness of murder and ego. Organized by their blind hatred of a man who wronged them, the group of vigilantes fail to see how in over their head they are in their pursuit of vengeance. Their reasons are varied but the fury of the mob stems from the reality that their ego was bruised from their dealings with Ratel. Either too stupid to realize they were being played or unaware at how out of their element they were in dealing with him, their pride refuses them to take the loss and move on. Essentially, their fatal flaw becomes the opposite of Ratel, who’s all-in approach to life signs his bounty.

Throughout Cloud, Kurosawa injects pitch black comedy to further highlight these points. Much of the humor comes at the expense of Ratel’s horde of hate followers. The sheer lack of thought that goes into their half-brained scheme of vengeance blows up right in front of their faces. Deservedly so. Of course, Ratel isn’t offered sympathy himself, but the existence of the easily stirred group of emotional man children makes for some excellent points on the ways the internet incites violence over meaningful action.

At no point do these men consider alternatives to settle the score or even traditional means of reporting crimes. Their stupidity and inability to see beyond their bottom-line interrupted causes them to create the most ludicrous means of retribution. Spurred only by their tenuous connections borne from a group chat on an unknown forum, the only goal they share is making Ratel suffer. Thus, the humor of Cloud emanates seamlessly from the escalating hi-jinks of dumb, hateful people hurrying to kneecap themselves for a chance to “stick it” to the man who wronged them over anything more substantially sensible.

Fans of Kurosawa will appreciate his signature talent for the uncomfortable and absurd. Cloud is a wild and thought-provoking ride that asks what motivates people to take terrible risks despite knowing the dangers that lurk after the payoff. Dense characters and increasingly chaotic situations make Cloud an equally meditative and exhilarating psychological horror thriller. Dark humor, unflinching violence, and excellent direction make this saga of drop-shipping one you won’t forget.

Overall Score? 8/10