| Product: |
Uzumaki (DVD) |
| Date: |
26.08.04 (177 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Very inventive, idea, with some really, quite disturbing bits
Disadvantages: The special effects, are weak, and some bits of plot, don?t go anywhere
Uzumaki is a fairly recent Japanese horror film (it was made in 2000). It?s based on an excellent comic book (or manga), and while it isn?t as good as more celebrated horrors like Ring or Ju-on, it has one of the most inventive concepts I?ve ever seen.
It takes place in a small Japanese town. The main character is Kirie, an extremely cute schoolgirl (I?m guessing she?s meant to be about 17, although I can never figure out how old Japanese actresses are, your honour). The strange events that beset the town are essentially seen through her eyes - she?s in virtually every scene. Her boyfriend, Shuichi, is concerned because his dad is going crazy, becoming obsessed with spirals (Uzumaki is Japanese for spiral). Anything he sees with a spiral on it he steals, and we first see him filming a snail?s spiral shell. He eventually goes completely crazy and commits suicide in a particularly unusual way. But by that time his weird obsession with spirals has infected the whole town. Lots of people start to die spiral-related deaths, along with other creepy manifestations, like the girl with crazy, medusa-like spiral hair, or the boys who turn into snails. There are other plot strands, like the annoying school prankster who?s in love with Kirie, an the journalist who tries to figure out what?s going on, but mainly the film is about Kirie and Shuichi?s attempts to escape a twisted, spirally doom.
The film?s a mixture of good and bad. Bits of it work brilliantly, provoking real unease (although never actually terror - it never scared me the way Ju-on did). There are some really nice shots, and some of the camera work is clever, with the camera spinning (or spiralling, I suppose) on its axis to give sinister meaning to otherwise mundane shots. There are a few gimmicky bits, too, like sped up or slowed down shots, and at one point the film
seems to burn through completely, an inventive if slightly pointless way to change scenes. It also really demands your attention, as I occasionally noticed weird little spirals forming on the periphery of the screen, unnoticed by any of the characters.
But sadly some bits of it don?t work at all. A big problem is the special effects, many of which are ludicrous. Admittedly, a lot of what they had to do was going to be difficult to realise on screen, but some key moments are totally unconvincing. The CGI effects just aren?t up to the challenge they?ve been set, and so unfortunately most of what should be the most uncanny bits fall flat. A great shame. The other problem is that it?s too short, at 90 minutes, to fit everything in. The manga is three volumes, so I was expecting the film to cut a lot, which it does (sadly including a couple of really nasty bits). But what?s weird is the way that the film doesn?t bother to resolve a few important plot strands. At the end of it all you?re left wondering why on earth certain storylines were included since the film doesn?t bother to resolve them. Basically, a couple of important characters just kind of vanish about two thirds of the way through and are never alluded to again. Which makes the whole thing a bit unsatisfying.
But still, it is impressively unpleasant, and every bit as bleak as the comic. I love the total hopelessness you get in Japanese supernatural horror. Basically, if the supernatural world notices you, you?re completely f***ed. As soon as you?ve got a ghost, or whatever, on your case, you?re going to get killed, probably extremely nastily. In Uzumaki they figure out that the spirals have a supernatural cause, but that doesn?t help them in the slightest - there?s no van Helsing to come galloping in to save the day with garlic and holy water. This puts it in the same category as Ring, &
#74;u-on or Pulse, probably the three most celebrated recent Japanese horror films. Apart from Blair Witch Project, Western supernatural horror movies are generally far more optimistic - this is why I currently prefer Japanese horror.
The acting is, as far as I can tell, pretty good. Eriko Hatsune is especially good as Kirie, making her thoroughly likeable and sympathetic. And I totally fancy her. Fhi Fan as her boyfriend Shuichi is a bit weird and aloof, but you figure that he must be OK if she?s going out with him. The rest of the cast do what they have to do well enough. Oh, and there?s a nice scene where we get to watch Kirie and her classmates in a PE lesson. I?m a man of simple pleasures, and watching teenage girls in gym kit vaulting over one of those wooden horse things is definitely one of them.
There are quite a few extras on the DVD, none of which are particularly good. There are biographies and filmographies for the main actors and director (text a bit too small, slightly pointless really). The ?promotional material? turns out to be a picture of a poster. There are trailers and pictures of the DVD covers for other Eastern Cult Cinema releases. There?s a short making-of documentary, about 10 minutes long. It isn?t really all that good, and mostly consists of Eriko Hatsune answering really basic questions about the film (the kinds of questions you might hear on a Saturday morning kids? TV show, like ?what was your favourite costume in the film??) The stills section is a bit more interesting than most stills galleries, as it includes a couple of quite interesting pictures that aren?t in the film, or at least not in the version that?s on this DVD. This, of course, might explain why some plot strands just vanish, although I doubt any
one would release a cut down version of Uzumaki.
The only really puzzling thing is that the film is a 15 (like most Japanese horror it relies more on atmosphere and suspense than gore or nudity), but the DVD is an 18. So something in the extras makes it jump up a rating, but I can?t for the life of me figure out what (unless there?s a hidden feature I?m unaware of). Ah well, not worth losing sleep over.
So, a very inventive horror film that?s let down slightly by the execution. It?s no Ring, but it?s worth a look if it turns up cheap somewhere, or on TV. The DVD?s a bit pricy, although I daresay it can be picked up for a lot less than Amazon sells it for.
Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php
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