The Floor Plan

The Floor Plan (Japanese: 変な家, Hepburn: Hena Ie) is a 2024 Japanese supernatural horror mystery film directed by Junichi Ishikawa. It is based on the viral video by a YouTuber named Uketsu and his 2021 bestselling novel. The film was released in Japan on March 15, 2024, and achieved massive commercial success at the box office, earning 50.7 billion yen (approximately $507 million) and becoming one of the highest-grossing Japanese films of 2024.

The creator of ‘The Floor Plan’ is a Japanese YouTuber known as Uketsu. He always appears in videos wearing a white, expressionless mask and speaks in a digitally distorted voice. His YouTube channel is primarily famous for telling surrealist horror stories.^[1] The story of this film officially begins with a 20-minute YouTube video by Uketsu titled ‘Henna Ie’. In that video, Uketsu analyzes the floor plan of a strange house. Using logic and architectural knowledge, he demonstrates how the house's design includes a doorless secret room and a prison-like children's room on the upper floor. It was a type of procedural horror.^[2][3]

This YouTube video went viral in Japan and gained millions of views. Based on its popularity, Uketsu published a novel in 2021 titled ‘Henna Ie’ or 'Strange Houses'. The novel expanded the original concept of the YouTube video much further. It uncovers the mystery of multiple strange house floor plans and shows how these houses are connected to an ancient family curse or conspiracy. The novel becomes like a "locked room mystery" centered on architectural design. After the novel also became a bestseller, a successful manga or comic and a TV series were also created based on this story.^[2]

The main character of the film is Amemiya, and this role is played by Shitaro Mamiya. Amemiya is an obscure YouTuber who primarily creates videos on occult or supernatural subjects. This character was the main protagonist in the novel, who was a rational writer and analyst. This change steers the story's plot towards the supernatural right from the start.^[4]

The story begins when Amemiya's manager, Yanaoka (played by DJ Matsunaga), shows him a floor plan of a house. Yanaoka was considering buying the house, but its strange design makes him suspicious. Amemiya examines the design and finds an "inscrutable point" within it.^[3]

To delve deeper into this mystery, Amemiya seeks help from an acquaintance, Kurihara (played by Jiro Sato). Kurihara is an architect by profession, but personally, he is a fan of mystery stories and supernatural subjects. Kurihara analyzes the design and reaches a terrifying conclusion. He argues that the design of this house is not for normal habitation. It was perhaps specially created to secretly imprison someone, or even to hide a body after a murder.^[5]

After Amemiya posts a video about this analysis on YouTube, a mysterious woman named Yuzuki (played by Rina Kawai) contacts him. Yuzuki claims that she knows about houses with this type of strange design. She reveals that her husband went missing some time ago after going to a house in Saitama, and his dead body was recently found near that house. The design of that Saitama house was also strange, just like the Tokyo house, and it too had the same kind of "structure glitch". Yuzuki requests Amemiya and Kurihara to help solve this mystery. But from the very beginning, it is clear that Yuzuki is hiding a lot about her true motives and identity.^[5]

At this stage of the film, the story begins to rapidly move away from its core "architectural mystery," which, according to critics, is its biggest downfall. As the investigation progresses, Kurihara discovers that Yuzuki has lied about her identity. Very soon, the mystery no longer remains about a single house or murder. It takes a turn towards the conspiracy of a terrifying and ancient cult or religious sect. The audience learns that these strange houses are, in fact, controlled by this cult, which adheres to a horrifying ritual.^[5]

The story then takes Amemiya, Kurihara, and Yuzuki to a remote rural region of Japan. There, they make a desperate attempt to rescue Yuzuki's missing sister and stop the cult's horrific "child sacrifice" ritual. The film transforms from a logical mystery into an action-horror thriller.^[5]

The film's ending is extremely controversial and widely condemned by critics. According to 'Kai-Fong's' review, the film has "three endings too many." Even after the main cult's mystery is resolved, the film does not end.^[5][6]

In its final scene, Amemiya and Kurihara are seen returning to their own apartment. Suddenly, they hear a strange sound. Numerous insects are seen emerging from beneath one of their apartment walls. As they get close to the wall, they hear someone scratching horribly from inside it. This ending is in no way related to the main "floor plan" mystery. It initiates a completely new and generic horror story, which clearly hints at a potential sequel. According to critics, this ending is an ultimate betrayal of the film's original promise.^[5]

The film was directed by Junichi Ishikawa, who was previously known for films such as ‘April Fools’ and ‘Mixed Doubles’. The screenplay was written by Kentaro Ushio. The original story is credited to Uketsu. It was produced as a co-production of Toho Studios and Kyodo Television. It was distributed by the Japanese film distribution company Toho.^[7]

The film was released in Japan on March 15, 2024. In its opening weekend, it debuted at #1 at the Japanese box office, selling approximately 344,000 tickets and earning 474 million yen. The film held the #1 spot at the Japanese box office for three consecutive weeks. Ultimately, the film's total domestic revenue surpassed 50.7 billion yen (approximately $507 million), placing it on the list of Japan's top 10 highest-grossing films of 2024.^[8]