As any neurologist could tell you, that old tale about how humans only use 10% of our brains is a load of bunk, but the idea continues to exert a fascination within the realms of pulp entertainment.
In Hideo Yamamoto’s manga series “Homunculus,” this untapped cerebral potential is unleashed through a method based on even shakier science: the skull-perforating technique known as trepanning. But rather than transforming people into genius superheroes, like Scarlett Johansson in 2014's “Lucy,” the procedure invests them with psychic powers — as if the hole drilled in their foreheads was to make way for a third eye.
This silly concept is given a decidedly low-IQ treatment by Takashi Shimizu’s screen adaptation, which opens in Japanese cinemas before a worldwide release on Netflix.