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Uzumaki, a brilliantly bizarre and surreal nightmare [Note: Some light gore shown in this thread]
Has anyone seen this maddeningly brilliant film or read it's even greater source? I recently saw it at a cult showing in a local theater called 'The Tower.' I fell in love. It's a Japanese horror movie, but it's NOTHING like films like 'The Grudge' or 'The Ring' which seem to be copied both in American and Japanese horror Ad nauseam. It does have some similarities, the ending is silly, but the plot and visuals are brilliantly warped and twisted [no pun intended]. It's not particularly 'scary' but it's still a brilliant tale of human obsession.
I'm gonna try to throw the plot at you, I'm sure it's not gonna make much sense though(You have to see it/read it to believe it): Kirie is a young Japanese student in a small, seemingly normal town. After the suicide of her classmate [Jumping from a spiral staircase at the school] she begins to notice increasingly more and more bizarre occurrences. For one, her boyfriends father has an unhealthy obsession with the uzumaki (Spiral) pattern. Her boyfriend tells her that the town is cursed by the shape, that the town is stuck in an eternal vortex. Round and round, the curse kills someone and spreads to the next person in line. Eventually the father commits suicide by becoming a spiral himself- twisting his body inside of a washing machine. The mother is witness of this event, and goes mad. She is eventually admitted into the hospital on the day of the fathers funeral, for the crematorium emits a disturbing smoke that takes the shape of a face with a spiraled tongue. The shape haunts her, it causes her to go mad. Eventually she finds that the ear canal is spiral shaped, and she stabs her self with a pair of scissors, eventually leading to her death. The curse begins to spread throughout the school, many different students, and eventually even to Kiries family. Her father meets an unfortunate end finding the spiral inside a barrel of a gun. Another student, slothful and fat, becomes a snail- shell and all. And finally, even Kirie's boyfriend. The only other person who understood the curse, and you would expect to be immune from it. Eventually the whole town is swallowed in the vortex.
The film is, as I said, not scary. This does not mean it's not 'eerie'. The ending scenes where they follow up what happened to some of the people in the town is downright creepy. Also the scenes above the crematorium are well done and very haunting. Some effects are comedic, the film comes off with a slightly dark comedy tone as well. One particular scene is when the father creates the spiral for himself- by popping his eyes and twisting them independently of each other. The face he makes is both terrifying and hysterical. The deaths are also eerily realistic, save for the death of the boyfriends father and a few of the final death scenes. The film is one that you have to experience, the green filter and excellent cinematography, as well as subtle effects such as blades of grass curling into spirals is brilliant and atmospheric. The only problems come from the acting and editing- theres some hammy acting and some of the transitions/sound effects/music are silly. But otherwise, the film itself is brilliant and amazing. It's unique- and MUST be seen. Heres a traler.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=fd8a6BJT2cc The trailer isn't subtitled, but heres a translation for those who want it. [BTW, the chanting in the background, 'guru guru' means 'round and round'.]
It is in order, so it shouldn't be too confusing.
Watashi= Me
Katashi= Him (Boyfriend)
Ojisan= Father
Obaasan= Mother
Sensei= teacher
Kurasameito= Classmate
sutaakaa= Stalker
katasumuri= Snail
Narutomaki= Spiral fishcakes [it's a thing you put in soup..]
The final thing it says= All dying together
It's based on a manga. I have yet to get my hands on the 3rd and final piece of the manga, but as with the film, it is a brilliant piece of the surreal and bizarre. If not more so. The manga creates a better 'horror' atmosphere in that it is much scarier and much less of a 'sort of eerie dark comedy'. The story is essentially the same, but the way it is told is much different. It is much more visual and much more complex. My favourite story arch is the 'Romeo and Juliet' storyline. It's beautiful and disturbing at the same time. It has the same concept as 'Romeo and Juliet' [negative the tragic ending] with fighting families and a forbidden love between their children. They escape to a shack together, and see a pair of snakes entwined. They believe that this is how they should be together, and when the parents finally find them, the 'vortex' finally captures them, and their bodies become long and snake like, but they coil around each other in a loving embrace and slither off. The artwork in the manga is very stylish and creepy, it is not like many other manga or anime, it doesn't have that stereotypical big eyed characters or spiky hair. They look like people. The artist often times uses optical effects to make the artwork mix with the story even better. One such moment is in an arch that deals with a girl that is known for stealing the hearts of many men. She apparently has a 'scar' that attracts them- and she traps them before breaking their hearts. The scar is in the shape of the moon. But Kirie's boyfriend was never snared by her trap, because he did not see a scar in the shape of a moon, he saw a scar in the shape of a spiral [by this point his father and mother were both dead] and he was the first boy that the girl was truly interested in. There is a part where he is set up to meet with her [though he does not realize that it's her] and he lowers her hood, and the scar has spread to half of her face. Her eyeball in the section of the spiral scar falls out of the socket and tumbles down the spiral. This shows the artists use of optical illusions brilliantly, because the eye can not perceive whether the spiral is going into her skull- or out. And the point is that it can work both ways [as a vortex].
The writing is brilliantly dark, smart, and creepy. The artwork is detailed and eerie. I still need to get a hold of the 3rd [and final] volume, but what I've read so far is brilliant.
I recommend this to horror fans, fans of surrealism, hell, fans of movies in general. It's a bizarre trip, but it's a very unique experience worth taking. The only 'warning' I think I should give is that the second volume of the manga gets graphic both violently and sexually. [Both at the same time.. It's not like rape, but it's still pretty warped]. But set that aside- it's a brilliant, well written, well visualized, and just amazing series. It's always great to see something refreshing, and Uzumaki is quite refreshing in almost every aspect.
Has anyone seen this maddeningly brilliant film or read it's even greater source? I recently saw it at a cult showing in a local theater called 'The Tower.' I fell in love. It's a Japanese horror movie, but it's NOTHING like films like 'The Grudge' or 'The Ring' which seem to be copied both in American and Japanese horror Ad nauseam. It does have some similarities, the ending is silly, but the plot and visuals are brilliantly warped and twisted [no pun intended]. It's not particularly 'scary' but it's still a brilliant tale of human obsession.
I'm gonna try to throw the plot at you, I'm sure it's not gonna make much sense though(You have to see it/read it to believe it): Kirie is a young Japanese student in a small, seemingly normal town. After the suicide of her classmate [Jumping from a spiral staircase at the school] she begins to notice increasingly more and more bizarre occurrences. For one, her boyfriends father has an unhealthy obsession with the uzumaki (Spiral) pattern. Her boyfriend tells her that the town is cursed by the shape, that the town is stuck in an eternal vortex. Round and round, the curse kills someone and spreads to the next person in line. Eventually the father commits suicide by becoming a spiral himself- twisting his body inside of a washing machine. The mother is witness of this event, and goes mad. She is eventually admitted into the hospital on the day of the fathers funeral, for the crematorium emits a disturbing smoke that takes the shape of a face with a spiraled tongue. The shape haunts her, it causes her to go mad. Eventually she finds that the ear canal is spiral shaped, and she stabs her self with a pair of scissors, eventually leading to her death. The curse begins to spread throughout the school, many different students, and eventually even to Kiries family. Her father meets an unfortunate end finding the spiral inside a barrel of a gun. Another student, slothful and fat, becomes a snail- shell and all. And finally, even Kirie's boyfriend. The only other person who understood the curse, and you would expect to be immune from it. Eventually the whole town is swallowed in the vortex.
The film is, as I said, not scary. This does not mean it's not 'eerie'. The ending scenes where they follow up what happened to some of the people in the town is downright creepy. Also the scenes above the crematorium are well done and very haunting. Some effects are comedic, the film comes off with a slightly dark comedy tone as well. One particular scene is when the father creates the spiral for himself- by popping his eyes and twisting them independently of each other. The face he makes is both terrifying and hysterical. The deaths are also eerily realistic, save for the death of the boyfriends father and a few of the final death scenes. The film is one that you have to experience, the green filter and excellent cinematography, as well as subtle effects such as blades of grass curling into spirals is brilliant and atmospheric. The only problems come from the acting and editing- theres some hammy acting and some of the transitions/sound effects/music are silly. But otherwise, the film itself is brilliant and amazing. It's unique- and MUST be seen. Heres a traler.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=fd8a6BJT2cc The trailer isn't subtitled, but heres a translation for those who want it. [BTW, the chanting in the background, 'guru guru' means 'round and round'.]
It is in order, so it shouldn't be too confusing.
Watashi= Me
Katashi= Him (Boyfriend)
Ojisan= Father
Obaasan= Mother
Sensei= teacher
Kurasameito= Classmate
sutaakaa= Stalker
katasumuri= Snail
Narutomaki= Spiral fishcakes [it's a thing you put in soup..]
The final thing it says= All dying together
It's based on a manga. I have yet to get my hands on the 3rd and final piece of the manga, but as with the film, it is a brilliant piece of the surreal and bizarre. If not more so. The manga creates a better 'horror' atmosphere in that it is much scarier and much less of a 'sort of eerie dark comedy'. The story is essentially the same, but the way it is told is much different. It is much more visual and much more complex. My favourite story arch is the 'Romeo and Juliet' storyline. It's beautiful and disturbing at the same time. It has the same concept as 'Romeo and Juliet' [negative the tragic ending] with fighting families and a forbidden love between their children. They escape to a shack together, and see a pair of snakes entwined. They believe that this is how they should be together, and when the parents finally find them, the 'vortex' finally captures them, and their bodies become long and snake like, but they coil around each other in a loving embrace and slither off. The artwork in the manga is very stylish and creepy, it is not like many other manga or anime, it doesn't have that stereotypical big eyed characters or spiky hair. They look like people. The artist often times uses optical effects to make the artwork mix with the story even better. One such moment is in an arch that deals with a girl that is known for stealing the hearts of many men. She apparently has a 'scar' that attracts them- and she traps them before breaking their hearts. The scar is in the shape of the moon. But Kirie's boyfriend was never snared by her trap, because he did not see a scar in the shape of a moon, he saw a scar in the shape of a spiral [by this point his father and mother were both dead] and he was the first boy that the girl was truly interested in. There is a part where he is set up to meet with her [though he does not realize that it's her] and he lowers her hood, and the scar has spread to half of her face. Her eyeball in the section of the spiral scar falls out of the socket and tumbles down the spiral. This shows the artists use of optical illusions brilliantly, because the eye can not perceive whether the spiral is going into her skull- or out. And the point is that it can work both ways [as a vortex].
The writing is brilliantly dark, smart, and creepy. The artwork is detailed and eerie. I still need to get a hold of the 3rd [and final] volume, but what I've read so far is brilliant.
I recommend this to horror fans, fans of surrealism, hell, fans of movies in general. It's a bizarre trip, but it's a very unique experience worth taking. The only 'warning' I think I should give is that the second volume of the manga gets graphic both violently and sexually. [Both at the same time.. It's not like rape, but it's still pretty warped]. But set that aside- it's a brilliant, well written, well visualized, and just amazing series. It's always great to see something refreshing, and Uzumaki is quite refreshing in almost every aspect.
