It’s no secret that slashers aren’t really my thing. By-the-numbers slice-and-dice films generally don’t excite me the way, say, stereotypical kaiju movies do. On the surface, Love Will Tear Us Apart might not seem like the kind of film I’d want to review. However, there are some exceptions. For example, I had a good time with Scalper earlier this year, and I love The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Ultimately, I was willing to give Love Will Tear Us Apart a shot. I thought it just might be one of those rare exceptions, and now that I’ve seen the movie, I’m happy to report that I was quite right.

Love Will Tear Us Apart was directed and co-written by Kenichi Ugana, and it stars Sayu Kubota, Yuzu Aoki, Riko, Yutaro, Atsuko Maeda, Hitomi Takahasi, Shunsuke Tanaka, Akaji Maro, and Mitsuru Fukikoshi. In the film, Wakaba is a young woman with a traumatic past. When she was a young child she became friends with a shy boy named Koki, and after a pair of school bullies made fun of them, Koki murdered the kids right in front of her. Now, several years later, something similar is starting to happen. Wakaba finds herself stalked by a masked murderer who kills anyone she gets close to. Upon discovering who this mysterious butcher is, her entire world is turned upside down.

I have to be honest, for the first 50 minutes or so, I wasn’t exactly loving Love Will Tear Us Apart. Sure, the horror is fun (more on that in a bit!), but on the whole, this part of the movie comes across as the embodiment of all my problems with the slasher subgenre. People die whenever they get close to Wakaba, we never spend enough time with any of the victims to get to know them. They’re just there to be killed off in creatively gruesome ways, making the kills feel like the kind of stereotypical slasher fodder we’d expect in a Friday the 13th film.

What’s more, there’s often something a bit off about these characters, but since they come and go way too quickly, those red flags end up being frustrating loose threads. For example, one of the killer’s victims takes Wakaba to a clothing store and a sushi restaurant, and when the workers at both places treat the guy like a regular customer, he tries to downplay his patronage of these businesses. Something clearly isn’t right here, but the man dies before we can find out just what it is.

Last but not least, Love Will Tear Us Apart tries to make a mystery out of the killer’s identity, but it’s just about the worst kept cinematic secret of the year. The villain is exactly who you think it is, and even though that might technically be a spoiler, it’s so obvious that I don’t have any qualms about saying it in a non-spoiler review.

However, around the 50-minute mark, everything changes, and somehow, the movie manages to turn all of its weaknesses into strengths. It fills in some key blanks about the killer and his victims, and while I can’t go into specifics without spoiling the film’s secrets, suffice it to say that this part of the story casts the first two acts in a completely different light.

For instance, it makes sense of all the loose threads that annoyed the hell out of me, so it retroactively makes the kills much more meaningful. In fact, the third act of Love Will Tear Us Apart gives the entire movie a great message about the various ways many men abuse and mistreat women, and as a big advocate against the objectification of women, I absolutely loved that message.

Along similar lines, this part of Love Will Tear Us Apart also pulls off a surprising twist involving the killer’s identity. Even though you already know who he is, there’s something you don’t know about him, and trust me, this reveal will totally blindside you. It feels like it comes out of nowhere, but if you think about it for a bit, you’ll see that it makes complete sense. It’s the best of both worlds, and it leads to the kind of heartwarming ending you never thought you’d see from a slasher film.

Before closing this review, I have to talk about the horror in Love Will Tear Us Apart. This killer wears goggles and a gas mask instead of a more traditional slasher mask, and I had a blast with that look. In particular, I think gas masks gives their wearers a bit of a demonic vibe, so this villain’s getup fits him perfectly and makes him way scarier than most Halloween knockoffs ever could.

On top of that, when this guy goes on the attack, it’s a thing of violent beauty. He’s an absolutely brutal killer, and the movie doesn’t hold back on the gore. Blood spurts freely, limbs (including a head!) get blown off, and there’s even a kitchen-themed death that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. But hands down, my favorite gore moment is a shot that mimics sushi. Until you see the film, that probably won’t make much sense, but trust me, once you give it a watch, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The shot isn’t bloody, but it’s pretty gruesome, and it’s super creative.

If you decide to check out Love Will Tear Us Apart, don’t let the seemingly weak first 50 minutes deceive you. There’s a method to this movie’s madness, and it’ll all make sense once you get to the third act. Admittedly, that makes for a bit of a frustrating viewing experience at first, but trust me, it’s totally worth it. When all is said and done, this film has fun horror, a great message, and a surprisingly touching ending, so it’s one of the best slashers I’ve seen in a while.