As the Gods Will(2014)
2014 · Takashi Miike · 117 min
High school student Shun Takahata is bored. Bored with the day-to-day monotony of school and life, he prays for change, for something exciting. Suddenly, he and his classmates are forced to play deadly children's games and facing terrifying creatures from a talking Daruma doll to a sharp-clawed lucky cat.
Thriller · Horror · Comedy
7.1586 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
4/5
Gore
2/5
Stays with you
How As the Gods Will scares
As the Gods Will throws its characters into deadly versions of childhood games almost right away, and it keeps moving fast with weird creatures and over-the-top death traps instead of building slow dread. The scares come from wild, gory set-pieces and creepy toy-like monsters rather than quiet tension, so it feels more like a twisted game show than a horror movie meant to haunt you. There's real blood and body horror in the kills, but the tone stays playful and cartoonish, almost silly at times, so it lands more as a fun shock ride than something upsetting. Good for people who like Japanese splatter movies with a game-show energy rather than deep scares.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, As the Gods Will rates psychological 2/5, visceral 4/5, gore 4/5, lingering effect 2/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 2 of 5
- Visceral: 4 of 5
- Gore: 4 of 5
- Lingering: 2 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 55 of 100 — balanced
Supernatural vs Real-world: 30 of 100 — leans Supernatural
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 15 of 100 — leans Fun-scary
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A sudden burst of chaos kicks things off, then the movie keeps cycling between tense games and brief breathers before ramping up to a wild finish.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 3, 5, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5.
How scary is As the Gods Will?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, As the Gods Will rates 3/5 — solidly scary, balancing creeping dread with well-placed shocks. It attacks the body more than the mind — physical, in-your-face horror. Expect it to be heavy on gore and fun-first. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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