Parasaito Ivu

This movie could well be a modern version of William Castle's THE TINGLER. But in this case, it's not a parasite hidden in the human spine which wants to free itself and have its own life but rather the mitochondria in the human body. "Mitochondria" is a term of cell biology. They are self-replicating organelles, bounded by 2 membranes, that are found in the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells and produce cellular energy in the form of ATP via the oxidative phosphorylation reactions.

The theory of PARASITE EVE is that mitochondria are very much a species with their own intentions. And all those years since evolution spat out the first humans, they were waiting for the day when they could finally break free. This day is NOW, and their outbreak of the human bodies would surely mean the end of all human life on earth. It's up to one lonely and desperate Japanese scientist to stop them after his beloved wife was killed as it was long-term planned by the mitochondria.

Like in many other modern Japanese horror and science fiction movies, the pace of PARASITE EVE is slow and often melancholic. But the daring storyline of the movie and the tension which is built slowly but surely until the climatic finale is worth watching anyway.

Japanese cinema has become an interesting alternative for lovers of the fantastic film genre. The way how Japanese films tell their story differs a great deal from Hollywood productions. If you have a chance to see PARASITE EVE, go see it or even buy it on DVD or VCD. If you're not an action-only fan, you won't regret it.

This is one of a class of horror films, that seems to have begun with "Eyes without a Face" (1960), then "The Brain that Wouldn't Die" 1962, followed by dozens of instances, including the "real" movie Embryo of 1976.

The form is pretty well established.

The first part features a male doctor involved in radical research. We incidentally learn of that research in offhand pseudoscience terms. The main focus of that first part is to convince us of his absolute devotion to a woman, his obsession. Its never love in the way we have it in the world, but selfish obsession built on top of movie romance. That way we tap date movies, and imply what happens in some cases after the wedding.

The second half reports on the result of this obsession applied to "keeping" his love through applying the tools of his research, and is a sort of tragedy. In all the cases I know, the results are shaped by what cinematic effects are possible at the time. So what we get is a collection of terror that depends on you shifting into movieland. The first half of the movie tricks you into that because we so readily buy into the movie romance world. One could almost say we are a world of stories that become obsessions. Then that investment we make is (with our agreement) turned on us as different cinematic horrors are brought out. Its movie-centric folding at its simplest.

How does this one do? Pretty well at the first part, I think. It takes an hour and seventeen minutes, which will probably tax your patience. But its done competently enough. The problem with any such first section is that it depends on movie clichés, because that's what movie romance is all about: here dreamy mooneyed stuff. It worked for me.

The second part didn't work. I think it was perhaps because it was so obviously a grabbag of what cheap software could do. The pseudoscience is supposed to give you a bridge, something to use as an internal excuse. But if you know anything at all, it doesn't stick here because it is so, so very bogus.

But its still instructive. Failures are as good as successes.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I had stumbled across this film after playing parasite eve 2 (so many years ago). I thoroughly enjoyed the game and thought they should make a movie, thinking that it would be far more interesting than the resident evil movies and so on. That was when I found the film, but deciding that there were no copies to be found in Australia, i gave up the search. I now get US DVD, I got this one thinking I would give it a try.

To begin with let me say, do not watch this movie expecting it to be like the square soft versions of the Parasite Eve franchise, this movie can before, and while it has a slower pace than the rest of the installments, I still believe that it works very well.

The story begin with a man who is a scientist, and on the eve of he and his wife's anniversary, she falls victim to a horrible car crash, she is pronounced, brain dead. The husband reluctantly agreed to turn off her life support and give her organs away, on the condition that they give her kidney. The organ goes to a young girl (who is apparently the mother of Aya Brea, the central character of the game, though there seems to be some debate amongst fans) and the young girl begin to experience strange occurrences.

The film is very deep emotionally compared to most others in the J-horror genre, there are, however, some freaky bits such as Mariko in the hospital. One thing that should be mentioned is the special effects, they are quite good for a Japanese movie made in 1997.

One of the downsides to this film is there are moments where the tension simply turns to tedious and while I believe overall the film turned out OK, there is a point, in the hospital where I just tuned out. The final climax however does build up well, leading to the final, very verbal resolution, which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was very well executed. The final scene is very emotional and is a very solid finale.

In conclusion this movie is worth seeing, while it is not perfect, it should entertain movie go-ers and fans of parasite eve alike, as it gives them a chances to see the events leading up to the game.

I really enjoyed this film. I'm a BIG fan of the game and it was interesting to see how they blended elements of the original story into the storyline of the SquareSoft title.

It is an interesting concept... and perhaps one that could have been explored a little move fully. The ideas that the film presents are original, and displayed in a pretty original way. I chalk most of my "huh?" factor (mostly in relation to character motivation) to the difference in cultures.

Some of the effects are pretty groovy, too! It's a little slow moving at first, but it does start to pay off towards the end. Hang in there.

And then go and play the game!

This is a really odd little movie. I suppose it's a thriller, but the thriller part is just in the middle. The beginning is about obsession and is slow moving but fairly compelling. Over half way through it moves into thriller territory and has some genuine chills. But the ending eschews the usual thriller big finish for something haunting and rather beautiful, making one feel this is more a love story than anything else, but a really strange one. The movie has terrific atmosphere and is really pretty original, and while it is sometimes a bit on the lethargic side I thought it was fascinating.