Uzumaki (2000)

[InformationGeek]

I did a review on this movie last year, but I figured I bring up the movie again since we are approaching Halloween soon.  Anyhow, the movie is about a teenage girl called Kirie living in the town of Kurouzu when the crazy s**t starts going down, with all of it surrounding the mysterious theme of uzumaki, aka spiral.  That's pretty much it.  Also, it's based of a very successful and famous manga, also titled Uzumaki as well.

While the manga is good (well, I actually find it quite overrated and not really that special, but that's a story for another time), this movie is not.  It suffers from many different factors: too many subplots; poor acting (I can't understand a word anyone is saying, but the emotion displayed by these actors is horrible); the practial and CGI effects aren't convincing; and the movies suffers from the same problem that the manga does, the ultimate cause of everything is never explained (the movie is even worse about it).  Though what sinks this movie the most is the fact that it really isn't all that scary.  Hell, a lot fo the imagry used is actually laughworthy, with only one real scare (though that is just a jump scare) throughout the whole feature.

The movie is also at best a cliffnotes adaption of the manga, sort of like the adaption of The Last Airbender.  It just pulls out random story bits from the manga and tries to add them in to add to the story and atmosphere, but none of it is really resolved and leaves a lot of loose ends all over the place.  Heck, the movie doesn't even really get going until 3/4 of the way through.

I will grant the movie that the set design for the movie looks pretty good, bringing the locations from the town in the manga in the town to life.  It's just not that enough to make this movie good or anything.  It's just a bad, kind of cheesy 'horror' film and weak adaption of a popular series.

Now that I'm done complaining and giving my thoughts on the film, what about you guys?  If you've seen the film, what did you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1_ZoQmqxM
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[Mofo Rising]

Well, I pretty much disagree.

I'm a big fan of the original manga. I think Junji Ito's work is some of the finest "body horror" work that comics are capable of. One, he is a great artist. I am nowhere near as knowledgeable about manga as you are, InformationGeek. In fact, I judge every series on the quality of its character design. If I don't like the character design, I won't read it. I like Ito's style.

I do like the Uzumaki comic. The entirety of it is built on twisting the human form to conform to this spiral obsession. On the surface, it is absolutely ridiculous, but it works for some odd reason.

As for the movie, well it's a bastardized version, but at least it knows it. The movie is deliberately over the top, a quick "wham bam thank you ma'am" version of the comic. Doesn't really explain anything, doesn't delve into the existential horror of the comic. It's not a great movie, but it was a fun aside.

I liked it. Not as much as I liked the original comic, but that's movies for you.

[Archivist]

I really enjoyed the manga when it was serialized in one of those Viz monthlies years back.  I found it quite disturbing, and the gradual unveiling of the 'spiral cycle' that the town undergoes over the years was unnerving.  Looking back through the stories, it becomes apparent that despite the efforts of the people involved, the descent into the spiral was inevitable.

I haven't seen the movie, but the trailer makes it appear to suffer that usual Japanese 'camp' feeling.  I find that a number of Japanese horror movies have an odd 'we know we're making a creepy movie, and here are some really overacted oddball characters' feeling to them.  Movies like Audition, Ring or The Grudge are exceptions to this.

[tahrgat]

Let me level the playing field here. I viewed this film from the stand point of somebody who has never read the manga. This is a equally, but different valid opinion. I know that a rough adaptation can be a turn off for fans. I didn't bother to see Priest because I knew what it was suppose to be like. However in this situation that was not the case for me. I can tell you that from a ignorant, but horror obsessed fan's point of view... This movie was awesome. ESPECIALLY FOR A JAPANESE LIVE ACTION FILM. I mean have you seen the majority that is their sub par live films? This movie just worked even though it was so amazingly over the top. 8/10 for me.