Uzumaki

Uzumaki is an entertaining film for any horror fan. True, cultural differences between Japanese and American perceptions create some difficulty in fully appreciating the horror aspects. I found some of the film slightly funny instead of scary; but it is captivating nevertheless. I believe that if I were to view more films of the genre I could fully appreciate the intent of this film, because it is skillfully done. There are subtleties that I perceived, but that did not fully impact me. I hope to see the film again soon. One reviewer lamented the want of a DVD that we can all play on our equipment. I must concur that it's a shame, because this is a film I would love to own.

The little lead actress is compelling and quite adept. Her delicate and minute facial expressions mirror her dialogue well, and this comes across even with the subtitles. I think her performance is what kept me intrigued with the film long enough to really get into it and keep watching. I recommend that if you are a horror fan, and see this film playing, take the time to see and enjoy it.

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.

A town in Japan is being taken over by a horribly brutal abstract shape: the spiral. It's becoming a theme in everything from animals to clouds to people and twisting them, mentally and literally. This film shows it happening to several groups of people. Some demonic possession is implied, but nothing is entirely sure except that the best bet is to get the heck out of dodge. The film progresses really well from normal life to abnormal phenomena (giant snails and crazy people) to the truly supernatural (walking dead).

As a jaded American horror movie fan, this was just what I needed. Maybe it was just the novelty of a different culture's film, but it seemed to have a very original progression, set of characters, and the premise was definitely new. The Japanese may think "horror shapes" (uzumaki means "spiral," I'm told) are old by now, but it was nice for me because I'm used to monster/alien/virus/disaster/undead films. In an American movie, you know who's going to die (the annoying/nasty/lascivious/racist characters) and who will live (the children/heroine/dogs/cats/nice guy). That's not true in Japanese horror. It was not predictable how they would fight the evil or how it would end up. Also, it had this really new (but probably typically Japanese) color leached Pacific Northwest style cloudy day thing going, which was a fresh visual effect for me. The horrific moments were seriously creepy, relying on a little gore but mainly just impossibly overdone facial expressions (think The Ring) and body manipulations. This should be one of the greats, up there with once-original ideas like the first Nightmare on Elm Street or Night of the Living Dead.

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.

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...