Uzumaki

Hypnotists can use a rotating spiral to send their subjects into a trance; director Higuchinsky risks achieving the same result with his dreamlike horror movie Uzumaki, which makes very little sense and crawls along at a snail's pace.

Fortunately, just like the many spirals that proliferate the film, Uzumaki is extremely twisted stuff and, with its impressive visuals and creepy atmosphere, should prove intriguing enough for fans of bizarre Japanese cinema to resist falling asleep.

Eriko Hatsune plays pretty schoolgirl Kirie Goshima, who comes to realise that her home town has fallen under the influence of spirals (that's right, you read correctly.... spirals). Members of her community are becoming obsessed with the shape, which results in some downright strange behaviour and even physical transformation: there is a spate of suicides, a man loses control of his eyeballs, a girl grows medusa-like gravity defying hair, and people even turn into snails!

The film is split into four chapters—Premonition, Erosion, Visitation, and Transmigration (although these titles do nothing to help explain what the hell is going on)—and each is weirder than its predecessor; by the end of the final chapter, almost nothing has been resolved, but viewers will at least have been treated to some very memorable scenes of Asian weirdness, a couple of unexpected, gory deaths, and some subtle subliminal whorls hidden amongst the action to keep sharper-eyed viewers happy.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

First of all - don't expect horror movie. I did and I was quite disappointed - not even by the lack of actual "horror" - much more by poor CG and lack of any sensible explanation(s). I could live with that, but what really bothers me - it looks like creators of Uzumaki themselves had no idea how to explain events (or at least develop a story). The movie IS twisted, like - well - home of a snail. Some people compare it to creations of David Lynch. There is one resemblance - Lynch also often has no idea how to clarify his story. Strange - or rather weird - things happen all the time but often without any particular reason. After the movie ended I felt like after watching "Twilight Zone" mixed with a pinch of "Tales from the Crypt" and all that shoot in "Ringu" style. Such blend sounds promising, but Uzumaki doesn't keep its promise - it's simply too uneven. In addition all actual action concentrates on scenes with CG effects, which are often so poor that they will make you laugh. Everything between them (while quite stylish) may bore you to death - especially if you're not a Ringu fan. A pity.

But there are two things that I actually "won" by watching this movie. The first one is end credits song (fortunately credited not with Japanese Kana, but Latin characters) - "Raven" by "Do As Infinity". I've found the video for it - and it basically contains all the action and special effects of the movie. If you will watch it before the movie - chances are that it will spare you the disappointment. And the song is really great!

Second great thing about Uzumaki is its origin - the comic book. After finding out it's based on a comic I understood why it recalls "Tales from the Crypt" so noticeably... But Uzumaki comic is simply great! The story is very well developed and everything makes *much* more sense than in the movie - and that's quite strange because the movie is quite heavily based on the comic! Unfortunately all threads are mixed and twisted (pun intended), and the final effect is much worse than its origin.

My final grade for Uzumaki is 5/10 - it doesn't mean that the movie is average. It's simple an average of what I want and would like to give it (i.e. 3/10 - 7/10).

This movie is actually pretty good at first. Stylishly directed with interesting visual ideas and an intriguing start. In spite of some spotty acting it feels pretty professional and well made. But the complete absence of any sort of explanation for the film's rather absurd concept is increasingly bothersome. At first I thought, perhaps it's a symbolic movie shot like a horror movie, but by the last third it had made it pretty clear that it was just a bad horror movie with a dumb premise and no interest in explaining it's seemingly random slew of events. One is left with nothing but loose ends and some last scenes that are utterly laughable. Still, parts of it are really cool and I did enjoy most of it, so I give it 6/10.

UZUMAKI (aka: SPIRAL) is a bizarre film, in a good way. It's about a high school girl named Kirie (Erico Hatsune), who lives in a small town in Japan. Right from the outset, things begin changing around her, leading to a sort of madness and death among those in her life. There's an odd obsession with spirals that appears to enter and take total control of the mind. This is presented in a truly disturbing way.

Is it a curse? Mass insanity? Something in the atmosphere?

There are several spiral shapes, like a snail shell, a beauty salon sign, a piece of pottery, etcetera. However, as you watch, you will notice spirals where there really shouldn't be any. This messes with the viewer's head, and really ups the creep factor. While there are some gruesome parts, it's the unsettling nature of the film that makes it scary.

Having watched this, it's hard to believe that Director Higuchinsky only made one other horror movie...

I happen to have read all of Junji Ito's English released manga. I watched the Tomie film and it was a big steaming pile of turd. THANKFULLY Uzumaki actually does justice to the manga. I think those who have read the manga will really appreciate this film more, as many screenshots and camera angles are exactly like in the manga and it is interesting to see how the book characters are played in the film. This film reminds me of eerie indiana. The ending differs to the manga, which I was expecting. Kirie looks like her manga counterpart, and her male friend suits the whole very well. Very creepy I have to admit, this film feels like a feverish nightmare, the kind you have when you were a kid. Not really scary at all, but freaky, if you get my drift? Another great horror from Japan, get yourself a copy.