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Junji Ito's 'The Long Hair in the Attic' Manga Gets Live-Action Film

Toei, Thai film studio M Studio, and South Korean production company Showbox announced on Monday that they are collaboring to produce a live-action film adaptation of Junji Ito's "The Long Hair in the Attic" (Yaneura no Nagai Kami) horror manga one-shot. Thai film director Sitisiri Mongkolsiri (The Red Line, Hunger, Inhuman Kiss) is directing the film. The staff plans to finish development on the film this year, and then begin filming in 2027.

The manga's story begins with a long-haired girl named Chiemi, whose boyfriend breaks up with her, saying that they don't belong together. After the breakup, Chiemi recalls how she initially had short hair, but grew it out after her now ex-boyfriend told her that he liked girls with long hair. She takes the opportunity to decide that she will cut out her hair. When Chiemi's sister Eri tries to find a pair of scissors to cut Chiemi's hair, she hears Chiemi scream, and finds Chiemi's decapitated body.

Ito's one-shot manga debuted in Asahi Sonorama's Monthly Halloween magazine in 1988. The manga has been adapted into a Japanese live-action film in 2000, and has also been adapted as an anime episode in the Junji Ito Maniac: Japanese Tales of the Macabre 2023 omnibus series.

In English, the manga was released three times: in 2000 with ComicsOne's Flesh Colored Horror collection, in 2006 with the third volume of Dark Horse Comics' Museum of Terror collection, and in 2021 with Viz Media's Deserter: Junji Ito Story Collection release.

Source: Comic Natalie