Horrors Elsewhere is a recurring column that spotlights a variety of movies from all around the globe, particularly those not from the United States. Fears may not be universal, but one thing is for sure — a scream is understood, always and everywhere.
Right away, Cute Devil (Kawaii Akuma) exposes its young villain’s evil streak. On her uncle’s wedding day, Alice Kawamura (Tina Kawamura) asks the bride Fuyuko (Nao Asuka) if she can have her veil. When Fuyuko says Alice can have it once she dies, the child devises a sinister plan. Minutes later, the other family members and guests hear glass breaking followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. They turn around to find Fuyuko dead after presumably falling out of a two-story house’s highest window. As reality creeps in and panic sweeps over everyone else, Alice casually asks her mother if she can have Fuyuko’s veil now.
It seems impossible to top such a grisly and outrageous opening, but this 1982 TV-movie has an entire bag of tricks to share. The telefilm aired as part of Nippon TV’s Tuesday Night Suspense Theater, and it is directed by Nobuyuki Ōbayashi of Hausu fame. His penchant for absurdity is met with sheer melodrama here. Case in point: functioning on the same wavelength as the cold open is a concurrent scene set in Vienna. Fuyuko’s younger sister Ryōko (Kumiko Akiyoshi) ‘curses’ her boyfriend Johann as he breaks up with her and walks out of her life forever. As soon as Ryōko utters the word “die,” a car hits Johann outside. Losing both her boyfriend and her sister in one go, Ryōko then tries to take her own life before being put in a psychiatric hospital.
Three years have passed since Ryōko was committed. Said to be much better now by her doctor, she is released into the care of her brother-in-law Kōji (Hiroyuki Watanabe) and his family. Although Fuyuko is gone, Kōji has stayed close to her sister. On the other hand, neither Alice nor her mother are all too pleased to see Ryōko; the child thinks she has come for the veil, whereas Keiko (Miyoko Akaza) is unwelcoming for her own reasons. Ryōko assures Alice the veil is hers to keep, and she is really there to be her nanny.
This cool-down period until all hell breaks loose is all about Ryōko trying to find out what happened to her sister. Her death was ruled an accident, but she has her suspicions this was something else altogether. In the meantime, Ryōko literally chases after her sister’s ghost in the middle of the night, or she is rudely awakened by her spectral wedding veil. While Alice’s mother promises her agitated guest nothing is out of the ordinary or Alice is only playing childish games, the viewers know better. This is where Cute Devil falls in line with psychological thrillers of yesteryear; the protagonist is gaslighted by someone close to them and with knowledge of the truth. In this case, Keiko is the key to solving everything, and her perpetual inebriation is how she copes with raising a child like Alice.
It would be safe to say Cute Devil is a Japanese remake of The Bad Seed, but Ōbayashi apparently changed Machiko Nasu’s script so that it would no longer be an homage to the 1956 movie. What makes the two stories so different is the presence of Alice’s infatuation with Kōji. This is no fleeting or simple childhood crush; Alice is convinced she loves her uncle. Fuyuko’s death makes more sense in light of this information. The movie goes further to show the power love has over its characters. Ryōko feels enormous guilt over Johann because she thinks she caused him to die by loving him too much. Alice conversely feels no remorse for her actions because her misdeeds work in her favor; the means justify the end.
As with other movies about evil children, the demon spawn here is granted an almost supernatural level of precociousness. She is well versed in strategy and manipulation; more so than people thrice her age. Alice, always driven by her id, knows precisely how to solve or do away with any obstacle standing between her and instant gratification. Whether it be killing her teacher with a pair of boots retrofitted with metal plates, or destroying evidence of her wrongdoing by setting a nosy pedophile on fire, Alice understands how the world works. She realizes no one will suspect a child of murder, and she uses various adult systems to her advantage.
This being a made-for-television movie, there is a limit to what all can be done visually. Even so, Ōbayashi makes do with a meager budget and creates an absolute sense of surrealism through the use of matte paintings, Gothic disquietude, and phantasmal imagery. The severe sound design as well as the dramatic close-ups do more to incriminate Alice than words ever could. Toward the film’s end, Cute Devil falls in step with the American slashers also popular in Japan at the time. Alice suffocates one character with a vase and menaces another with both a bear trap and a sickle. Given everything that has happened so far, none of this ever comes across as preposterous. Alice’s malevolence is so overstated that there is no turning back.
Ōbayashi shines where others would succumb to the limitations. He does not go for high art here on account of the fact that the story is rather simple. Instead, he applies his distinct style to every surface of Cute Devil, thus ensuring its rightful place among his unique filmography.
