Homunculus(2021)
2021 · Takashi Shimizu · 119 min
A homeless man meets a medical school student who pays him to volunteer for a surgical procedure known as trepanation, drilling a hole in his skull, which ends up giving him the ability to communicate with the dark side of people’s subconscious minds.
Drama · Thriller · Fantasy · Mystery · Horror
6.0123 votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How scary is Homunculus?
There's a heavy, queasy feeling to this one that builds slowly instead of jumping out at you. The scares come from disturbing images of people's hidden trauma and shame made visible, not from things lurking in the dark or chasing anyone. It stays moody and thoughtful for long stretches, then drops in a genuinely upsetting visual gut-punch tied to someone's past. This is for people who want horror that sits in your chest and makes you uncomfortable about human nature, not people looking for a fun scare.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, Homunculus rates psychological 5/5, visceral 3/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 3 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 12 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 50 of 100 — balanced
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 80 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, unsettling drift through strange visions that steadily thickens into a heavier, more disturbing final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4.
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