Here’s my take after reading 9 tense chapters of Hideout by Masasumi Kakizaki.
I am a long-time fan of the 80’s American horror and how they have used practical effects to show the blood and gore that are depicted in their story which adds that “realism” factor in their movies and TV.
Hideout has a lot of influence on American horror as the mangaka Kakizaki-san is a huge fan of it and fascinated by authors like Stephen King and it shows how strong the influence in this work is.
The premise of the story is that married couple Seiichii, a striving novelist, and his wife Miki Kirishima are on a vacation trip to a certain Island to try and “mend” their broken relationship. However, when it was revealed that it was part of a grand plan of Seiichii to kill his wife to start fresh. However, things go wrong when hills have eyes like creature that enters the fray.
This read was short and sweet with the nostalgic feels of 80’s horror which I am also a big fan of. There is nothing strong about the plot and they are almost the usual tropes used in the plot of horror movies and kinda cheesy at times, but that’s what makes it great!
The characters are difficult to relate to for me possibly because they are just meant to be read the way they are. They were not fleshed out enough to pop out from the story itself.
The art style is too heavy for my taste but it is of high quality which I would like to praise.
Altogether, Hideout is something you should read not to uncover hidden or deeper meaning, but just simply enjoy all the glorious horror and gore.
With that said, I would give Hideout 8 failed manuscripts out of 10.
