Spiral (2000)
"Uzumaki" (original title)

The inhabitants of a small Japanese town become increasingly obsessed with and tormented by spirals.

Director:

Higuchinsky

Writers:

Junji Ito (manga), Kengo Kaji (supervising screenwriter),

Stars:

Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eriko Hatsune	...	Kirie Goshima
Fhi Fan	...	Shuichi Saito
Hinako Saeki	...	Kyoko Sekino
Eun-Kyung Shin	...	Chie Marayama
Keiko Takahashi	...	Yukie Saito
Ren Ohsugi	...	Toshio Saito
Denden	...	Officer Futada
Masami Horiuchi	...	Reporter Ichiro Tamura
Tarô Suwa	...	Yasuo Goshima
Tooru Teduka	...	Yokota Ikuo
Sadao Abe	...	Mitsuru Yamaguchi
Asumi Miwa	...	Shiho Ishikawa
Saori Nakane	...	Little Kirie
Yasuki Tanaka	...	Little Shuichi
Yuki Murakami	...	Yukky

Storyline

In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. He seems unaware of her presence and she thinks no more of it. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine which turn his body into a spiral. Soon other inhabitants become possesed with different forms of spirals, one student seems to be mutating into a snail, another's hair becomes strangely medusa-like. The entire town becomes possesed.

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Plot Keywords:

spiral | snail | suicide | obsession | small town | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Details

Official Sites:

official uzumaki website, lighthouse pictures. Singapore

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

11 February 2000 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Spiral

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Omega Micott Inc., Shogakukan, Space Shower TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo DTS-Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

6 and 9, being nearly spiral numbers, can be seen on several occasions: e.g. on the license plate of the reporter's car, as room number in the hospital, as a date in a video recording at the end of the movie etc.

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Connections

Referenced in Suicide Club (2001)

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Soundtracks

"Raven"
Performed by Do As Infinity

User Reviews

Twistin' time is here.

Hypnotists can use a rotating spiral to send their subjects into a trance; director Higuchinsky risks achieving the same result with his dreamlike horror movie Uzumaki, which makes very little sense and crawls along at a snail's pace.

Fortunately, just like the many spirals that proliferate the film, Uzumaki is extremely twisted stuff and, with its impressive visuals and creepy atmosphere, should prove intriguing enough for fans of bizarre Japanese cinema to resist falling asleep.

Eriko Hatsune plays pretty schoolgirl Kirie Goshima, who comes to realise that her home town has fallen under the influence of spirals (that's right, you read correctly.... spirals). Members of her community are becoming obsessed with the shape, which results in some downright strange behaviour and even physical transformation: there is a spate of suicides, a man loses control of his eyeballs, a girl grows medusa-like gravity defying hair, and people even turn into snails!

The film is split into four chapters—Premonition, Erosion, Visitation, and Transmigration (although these titles do nothing to help explain what the hell is going on)—and each is weirder than its predecessor; by the end of the final chapter, almost nothing has been resolved, but viewers will at least have been treated to some very memorable scenes of Asian weirdness, a couple of unexpected, gory deaths, and some subtle subliminal whorls hidden amongst the action to keep sharper-eyed viewers happy.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.