I had stumbled across this film after playing parasite eve 2 (so many years ago). I thoroughly enjoyed the game and thought they should make a movie, thinking that it would be far more interesting than the resident evil movies and so on. That was when I found the film, but deciding that there were no copies to be found in Australia, i gave up the search. I now get US DVD, I got this one thinking I would give it a try.
To begin with let me say, do not watch this movie expecting it to be like the square soft versions of the Parasite Eve franchise, this movie can before, and while it has a slower pace than the rest of the installments, I still believe that it works very well.
The story begin with a man who is a scientist, and on the eve of he and his wife's anniversary, she falls victim to a horrible car crash, she is pronounced, brain dead. The husband reluctantly agreed to turn off her life support and give her organs away, on the condition that they give her kidney. The organ goes to a young girl (who is apparently the mother of Aya Brea, the central character of the game, though there seems to be some debate amongst fans) and the young girl begin to experience strange occurrences.
The film is very deep emotionally compared to most others in the J-horror genre, there are, however, some freaky bits such as Mariko in the hospital. One thing that should be mentioned is the special effects, they are quite good for a Japanese movie made in 1997.
One of the downsides to this film is there are moments where the tension simply turns to tedious and while I believe overall the film turned out OK, there is a point, in the hospital where I just tuned out. The final climax however does build up well, leading to the final, very verbal resolution, which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was very well executed. The final scene is very emotional and is a very solid finale.
In conclusion this movie is worth seeing, while it is not perfect, it should entertain movie go-ers and fans of parasite eve alike, as it gives them a chances to see the events leading up to the game.
