“Into the Belly of the Beast” follows the exploits of a young loner (Shun Tobari) with a casual interest in cannibalism who gets embroiled in the criminal underworld. | © Yamada Jun / Cinemago

A gang of criminals get more than they bargained for when they recruit Sato (Shun Tobari) to their operation. The glass-eyed youth seems at first like a typical patsy: a loner working a dead-end job at a hostess club, whose only confidantes are the webcam models he pays to perform for him.

But he also has a darker side. He rigs up hidden cameras whenever his girlfriend Sena (Nanase Kusumoto) stops by for a booty call, while his fondness for mid-coitus choking clearly isn’t reciprocated. When he lets slip a remark about wondering what human flesh tastes like — pork or chicken?…