Incomplete Chairs (Grimmfest 2025): The Serial Killer / Furniture Builder Film We Never Knew We Needed

Ken’ichi Ugana returns to Grimmfest, after the showing of Love Will Tear Us Apart in 2023, with Incomplete Chairs further showcasing his imaginative storytelling. His latest is more akin to another of his films currently playing festivals this year, The Curse, in leaning more into outright horror than comedy. Incomplete Chairs opens with Shinsuke Kujo (Ryu Ichinose) conducting an interview which becomes quickly apparent to be for his latest murder victim, whose body parts will be used to construct a chair.

Ugana has consistently great openings for his films with this one effectively establishing the stark, minimalist aesthetic in a huge contrast to his previous outlandish jokey works. As Kujo repeatedly beats his victim to death with a hammer, the beating goes beyond simple murder and falls into the rhythm of craftwork. His apartment being covered in plastic sheeting feels very American Psycho, another layer of sheen which Kujo uses to bury his true self.

The premise may be easily set up but following Kujo carrying out this project allows us an insight into Kujo’s psyche. Ichinose’s performance is crucial to drawing this out by distinguishing Kujo from other cliché style serial killers through a focused intensity. It’s an impressively controlled performance that only breaks during bursts of violence. As he stares vacantly into the distance with a toothy smile, Ichinose draws us into this enigma of a character.

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It could be argued that the rough looking aesthetic of the film is either a flaw or a reinforcement of this theme. Kujo’s dismay that ‘it’s difficult to manifest my ideas into reality’ is one that any director can relate to, especially to a filmmaker as imaginative as Uchida. There is definitely an intention to highlight the cheap-looking qualities, such as the bloody bin of body parts that are clearly plastic, that allow Uchida to lean into his impish sense of humour as Kujo struggle to use these clumsy props to assemble a base for the chair. Much like the Terrifier series, Incomplete Chairs uses its budget for impressive practical gore which may not be as outlandish as Art’s kills but gruey and gross enough to satisfy horror fans.

We gradually learn his motives over the course of the film, but one that is clearly a theme for the film itself is to do with the value placed upon art. Kujo asks his victims the same question before killing them – would you sit in a 10,000 yen or million yen chair – with the answers determining how horribly he kills them. His rejection by a furniture company for appearing to only copy others rather than show his individuality further highlights his insecurity, a desire to fit in with the rich elites but disdainful of whether such highly prized work actually warrants that value. To him, ‘making a chair is just a means to an end’ which makes his human chair project all the more horrifying – this isn’t sadism in the manner of Ed Gein, this is a genuine artistic expression.

Less excusable is the roughness in the writing with the film dragging in any scene not centred around its core premise. Kujo’s love interest(?) Nastuko Kato (Ryoka Oshima), who rejected Kujo’s application for her company, comes to admire him for his principle of focusing on what he creates. But this satirical storyline goes nowhere, as does Kujo’s conversations with an underwritten bar server, leaving the film in an unfortunate position of having its sole two female characters be nothing but plot devices. Even the backstory for Kujo feels suddenly dropped in towards the end even as it interestingly highlights the film’s themes.

Considering how prolific Uchida has proven to be as a filmmaker, these negatives don’t make the film any less enjoyable but an inevitable consequence of producing so much work so quickly. As well as proving his versatility, it shows how committed Uchida is to executing original ideas in engaging ways that increasingly raises expectations for whatever bizarre tales he comes up with next.

Mike’s Archive – Incomplete Chairs (2025)