In a poll conducted by Sight and Sound, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer : Le Transperceneige (2013), The Host (2006), Memories of Murder (2003)) listed Cure (1997) in his top 10 favorite films of all time.
Cure (1997) was originally going to be called Dendoushi ("Evangelist"). However, at the same time as the movie was being shot, the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin terrorist attack perpetrated by the Aum Shinrikyo cult occurred, and there were concerns about suggesting a religious cult connection to the crimes in the story. A producer at Daiei Film suggested Cure instead, and the title was changed.
Some of the hospital scenes were filmed at the disused Fisheries Research Institute in Tsukishima. The same building was the primary shooting location of Hirokazu Koreeda's 1998 film, After Life (1998) .
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, speaking about the success of Cure (1997), stated: "I watched a lot of American horror movies growing up, and I had wanted to make a movie in that genre for some years. Then the growth in popularity of genre films made it easier for me to get the project financed and produced. So, the circumstance was the key factor to the success of Cure, and it has continued to play an important role in my career ever since."