Uzumaki

Starring:Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Eun-Kyung Shin, Keiko Takahashi, Ren Osugi, Denden, Masami Horiuchi, Taro Suwa, Tooru Teduka, Sadao Abe, Asumi Miwa, Saori Nakane, Yasuki Tanaka, Yuki Murakami, Maki Hamada, Akira Matsuda, Hassei Takano, Chino Mizuki, Tomoo Fukatsu
Director: Higuchinsky
Studio: ELITE ENTERTAINMENT
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

I liked it...............
Strange And Bizarre Spirals!
nine, ten, DO IT AGAIN
A delightful and disturbing film
Lovecraftian horror, Japanese style

Uzumaki
Starring: Eriko Hatsune , Fhi Fan , Hinako Saeki , Eun-Kyung Shin , and Keiko Takahashi
Director: Higuchinsky
Manufacturer: ELITE ENTERTAINMENT
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002C9DJ0
Release Date: 2004-07-06

Customer Reviews:

I liked it......................2007-04-25

I did not find this movie frightening and would not really consider it a horror movie but it was interesting and very different from what I have seen lately which is why I enjoyed it so much. A town cursed by spirals and only two teenagers know what is going on. The use of spirals is very amusing in this film.....a boy's father crawls in a washer and ends up dying (the spiral motion), his mother cuts her finger tips off due to the spiral shapes and also stabs herself in the ear, while walking down the street Kirie is followed by spiral shapes, when someone dyes a spiral shape forms over Dragonfly Lake and the most amusing part is when he child hood friend gets twisted up like a spiral by an unseen force.

Strange And Bizarre Spirals!.......2006-12-14

Having purchased this DVD four years ago, I recently viewed it again. Strangely, I liked it even more than the first time I watched it. Maybe it was the mood I was in? And mood is everything with this Japanese film: based on the manga by Junji Ito. The film centers on a small town where an evil, in the shape of a spiral, enters the town causing madness and eventually death. This is a very atmospheric film and may not appeal to all viewers.

What I found fascinating about the film was how the spirals are everywhere. I even began looking at spirals in my living room. Like I wrote earlier, I was in one of those moods. Anyway, the film is not a classic horror, per se, however, it is an interesting and entertaining film nonetheless.

The atmosphere of the film is what really drew me into the film initially. Especially as the viewer you begin to witness different spirals begining to form. Moreover, for a film on a low budget [as this one was] the director, Higuchinsky, did a very decent job. Also, I really liked the acting of the young girl Kirie (Eriko Hatsune) in the film, as you view her witnessing the bizarre creepiness enveloping her town and its residents. Recommended for certain audiences. Rent it first.

nine, ten, DO IT AGAIN.......2006-10-09

Why do snakes have forked tongues?
This is a whimsical horror that's really brilliant. If you didn't get it, just watch it 4 times or so.
(and to further confuse you:)
a russian fairy tale -
The fox and the lobster decide to have a race. They start but the lobster simply clamps onto the fox's tail and rides along. When they get to the finish, the lobster lets go, and the fox turns around and sees him. The lobster says, "I've been waiting here a long time..."
Anyways, I enjoyed it utterly, remain rather haunted, and would recommend its study...

A delightful and disturbing film.......2006-06-02

"Putting all reason aside you exchange / what you got for a thing that's hypnotic and strange / the spiraling shape will make you go insane..." Those lyrics from They Might Be Giants' song "Spiraling Shape" kept swirling through my head while I watched Higuchinsky's UZUMAKI. While there's nothing overtly terrifying about UZUMAKI--no hordes of millipedes, death curses, or giant monsters--the film proves far more unsettling in its simple overt creepiness.

Based on manga by Junji Ito, UZUMAKI relates the tale of a Japanese village plagued by spiral shapes. Off kilter from its opening, our first encounter with the spiral shape comes when Kirie (Eriko Hatsune) find her friend Shinuci's father videotaping a snail. Kirie and Shuichi (Fhi Fan), our protagonists, try to maintain their sanity (and their linear shapes) as the world goes mad around them. The swirls of clouds, sushi, fingerprints, and washing machines threaten to undo them.

A delightful and disturbing film, UZUMAKI is skillfully directed by Higuchinsky who does a brilliant job keeping everything in UZUMAKI off kilter as things threaten to spin out of control.

Lovecraftian horror, Japanese style.......2006-04-10

"Uzumaki" is a bizarre little film, taking off from horror-master Ito Junji's classic manga and crafting a disturbing tale of a small town's descent into the overwhelming powers of an unknowable evil. Like all Lovecraftian horror, atmosphere is the important thing, rather than stories or explanations. The greater evil is fundamentally unknowable and completely alien, as well as inescapable.

In this case the evil is a shape, a spiral, that invades the daily lives of the town, causing obsession, madness and eventual death. ("Uzumaki" is just "spiral" in Japanese, although the subtitlers saw fit to leave it untranslated, perhaps so as not to confuse it with the "Ringu" sequel "Spiral".) The shape begins to imprint itself on everything, creeping slowly into the lives and minds of the residents. The two most normal people in the town, a young high school couple Kirie and Shuichi, and the most resistant to its influence and must witness the disintegration.

While excellent in creating atmosphere, the film is not without its flaws. Most of the cast are amateurs, with "Uzumaki" being their only film. This was the first feature for director Higuchinsky, and he does not weave his story as fluently as a more experienced hand could have. The lead actress, Hatsune Eriko, is equally inexperienced but delightfully charming. She carries the film well, and I would like to see more of her.

The DVD is a good package, including a "Making of..." documentary and some other nice features. Extras seem to be rare on Japanese horror DVDs, so this is an treat.

Definitely not a classic along the lines of "Ringu" or "Ju-on," "Uzumaki" is still a good film and worth watching. Fans of HP Lovecraft and his style of horror will be instant fans, while others might be unsatisfied by the lack of answers and clear-cut resolution.

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