In Development / Financing

KUMOJIMA
International co-production / Spain Japan
Director : Victor Catala / Spain IMDb
Genre: Horror, suspense.  / Subgenre: Gore, monster movie.
Lenght: 90 minutes.  / Language: English.  / Target: 18-40 years old.

Story Behind:
The story is inspired by the Japanese Edo period Yokai Monster story "Hyakki Yako." Hyakki Yako" is a tale of a hundred Youkai Monsters, and when the hundred stories are told, the audience will meet the real Youkai Monster.

LOGLINE:
Nico and Edu travel from Europe to Japan looking for Nico & ex girlfriend, who has
disappeared. But they don't realize that what they have walked into... is an evil spirit trap.
Synopsis:
Nico and Edu are two friends from Barcelona who travel to a little fisherman village located on an
isolated island in Japan called Kumojima. Nico wants to find Yumi a girl with whom he had a
relationship while he was studying abroad a few months ago. The couple weren't doing quite well
when Yumi got pregnant with a baby boy and this situation made Nico panicked so he asked her to
have an abortion and immediately left back to Europe -abandoning her and any sense of
responsibility, something he has been regretting ever since. Then, a month ago he got news that
Yumi had disappeared from his hometown on the island so he decided to go find her and apologize
for his past behaviour. His friend Edu follows him to give him support and because he is very
interested in Japanese culture. Back in their city, they both are investigative journalists.

Once they reach the town they find it almost abandoned. The people there act in a solitary and
taciturn way, confusing the guys. However, they think it might be something related to cultural
differences between countries, so they decide to ignore the antisocial environment. Something they
find strange is the lack of male population. Most of the men have vanished without a trace during
the last months, their ships found in the ocean without the crew.

Soon after they arrive the worst kind of news hit Nico. Not only Yumi is dead but she secretly ended
up giving birth to their son, with whom she committed suicide when they went back to the island.
Nico falls into a depressed state but finds the strength to stay in the village and investigate when he
meets Koji, a little boy who is living in the woods, hidden from “an evil thing” who's killing all the
males on the island. Intrigued by this statement and suspicious that whatever it's happening in the
island might have something to do with Yumi's suicide, Nico tries to convince Edu to help him find
out the truth. Even though Edu thinks Nico is just delusional because of the grieving over Yumi's
death he decides to stay to enjoy a bit of the country.

When days pass by things get a bit sinister for the boys as they discover the island has a very
depressed and sick environment. Bizarre events recur: animals get lost or die, the water is not clean,
the harvest is rotten... The villagers talk about a calamity or a curse set upon their land and a foggy
dark cloud weather seems to never end. Nico investigates the records and becomes suspicious of a
few villagers who he thinks they might be after the disappearances. Moreover, Koji explains to him
an ancient story about the land: Centuries ago Kumojima island would be used to summon all kinds
of Yōkai. Powerful spirits and entities capable of terrible things upon humans.

In the meantime, Edu meets a beautiful young woman called Shizuku, who keeps a strong
resemblance with the late Yumi and who seems very interested in the foreigner. Unfortunately, after
a couple of dates Edu disappears too triggering Nico and Koji suspicions towards the mysterious
and beautiful Shizuku as all the problems began when she arrived at the village. Meanwhile,
supernatural incidents affect the island. The remaining people start to turn against each other out of
despair. Nico and Koji realize the thing behind all of this is none other than a Jorogumo. An
arachnid demon who can shapeshift into a beautiful woman in order to attract men and feed on
them.

Shizuku is the Jorogumo of the island. But what lies beneath is a tormented spirit of a woman who
committed suicide with her child: Yumi. Nico learns that Yumi suffered from a severe postpartum
depression and when she killed herself her spirit came back in the form of the Jorogumo and started
to kill all the men, adults and children in horrible ways. With the help of Koji and some villagers he
gets the bones of Yumi and the baby and he buries them with a proper funeral, believing this ritual
will calm down the evil spirit for good.

Once the nightmare seems over, Nico prepares to leave the island with Koji and adopt the orphan
boy. However, they were wrong about the Jorogumo fate. The demon was just playing with them in
order to trap Koji and devour him. Nico comes to the conclusion that the Jorogumo was never
looking for peace but for revenge. And it wont stop killing and feeding on men until it kills the very
first one who started the curse: Nico himself when he abandoned Yumi.

Committed to save Koji and free Yumi spirit from the Jorogumo influence. Nico jumps off a cliff
the same way Yumi did before when she committed suicide. Once his heart stops beating in the
water, the Jorogumo disappears, freeing Koji and ending the curse once and for all. The kid is able
to find Nicos body and performing first aid he brings him back to life. Now they can finally resume
their lives together.