Uzumaki

Released by: Discotek Media/Eastern Star
Released on: 10/13/2009
Director: Higuchinsky
Cast: Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Eun-Kyung Shin, Keiko Takahashi
Year: 2000

The Movie:

Based on the unsettlingly bizarre manga by famed Japanese artist Junji Ito (the same man responsible for the Tomie comics that inspired that series of films of the same name), Higuchinsky's 2000 film Uzumaki enjoyed some theatrical exposure at various film festivals around North America but has more or less found its audience thanks to a Hong Kong DVD release, followed by a domestic DVD release that came courtesy of Elite Entertainment and now another DVD incarnation that comes from Eastern Star/Discotek. If nothing else, it's good to see such a bizarre film stay in print.

The film is set in a small rural town where a girl named Kirie lives alone with her father, a potter. She starts to wonder if something isn't wrong in the town when she spies the father of her childhood friend/boyfriend, Shuichi, videotaping a snail as it climbs up a wall. She talks to Shuichi about what she sees and he explains to her that her father has become increasingly obsessed with uzumaki, or spirals, of all kinds even going so far as stealing things with spirals on them and freaking out over dinner when his wife doesn't make him enough spiral fishcake for his miso soup.

When they find Shuichi's father dead, stuck inside the washing machine shortly after a classmate commits suicide, they start to realize that some of the people in the town are changing. The obsession with spirals is only part of the metamorphosis, and it all seems to be stemming from a nearby lake where strange cloud formations touch the water with bizarre results. As what appears to be a vortex slowly surrounds the town, Kirie and Shuichi realize that what his father went through is not only spreading but becoming more and more controlling to the point where it seems the entire town has gone completely insane…

A beautifully macabre mix of unsettling horror and rather hysterical pitch black comedy, Uzumaki is twisted (quite literally) in every way that it should be. Filled with all manner of odd little details and bits of foreshadowing throughout the film, it's equal parts horrific and hilarious though when the comedy does come, it's with a surprisingly nasty tone to it. Like Junji Ito's original manga, it's a rather odd premise that is made all the more unusual by the visuals conjured up for the film, particularly during the last twenty minutes or so as the town's obsession begins to manifest in a more and more unusual manner.

The plot might be a little disjointed and leave a lot open to interpretation, but that's half the fun of the picture, making up our own minds about why all of this is happening. Had it all been explained matter of factly, much of the film's messed up tone would have been lost or at least neutered and the movie wouldn't have worked nearly as well. Higuchinsky's directorial efforts may at times feel like style over substance but by the time the end credits roll all those strange little twists feel completely appropriate resulting in a really detailed film that holds up well to repeat viewings.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Uzumaki is presented on DVD in its original 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio in a transfer that has not been flagged for progressive scan playback and which looks pretty much the same as the transfer that appeared on the Elite DVD from a few years back. Those who have never seen the film before may be put off by how heavy the green tinting is in this movie, but having seen the film projected at Portland's HP Lovecraft Film Festival a few years back, I can safely say that the movie had a green tint to it then as well. Once you get used to that, this isn't a bad transfer. Detail is about average and while the colors can only look so pronounced given the tinting, but the black levels are okay, if a bit on the murky side in some scenes. Regardless, this transfer presents the film in the same sort of shape it's always been seen in - rather bland looking, tinted, and leaning towards the dark side of things.

The Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track comes with optional subs in English only and it gets the job done quite nicely. There is some good channel separation noticeable throughout the movie which becomes increasingly appreciable as the movie plays out and becomes more and more involved and bizarre. A few sloppy flubs in the subtitles are a minor annoyance, but otherwise there's nothing worth complaining about here, the movie sounds pretty good.

The main extra on this release is a 'director's narration' option which is basically just a commentary track that allows Higuchinsky to talk about what it was like adapting the source material for the big screen, what he was trying to convey in a few specific scenes and how he wanted to approach the admittedly unusual source material. Higuchinsky isn't all that talkative during parts of the movie, but he does periodically offer some interesting insight into the film and its history.

From there, check out the first of the two featurettes, simply labeled Camcorder Footage, which is four minutes worth of footage shot on the set with, well, a camcorder. It doesn't have much context to it but it offers a look at the making of the film. More interesting is the traditional Behind The Scenes featurette that runs about ten minutes and features interview clips with Eriko Hatsune and a few others.

Rounding out the extras are some spiffy menus, chapter selection, and trailers for a few other Discotek/Eastern Star DVD releases and a trailer for the feature itself. All of the extras, save for the Eastern Star trailers, previously appeard on the Elite Entertainment release.

The Final Word:

If you've already got the out of print Elite disc, this version from Eastern Star doesn't offer much of a reason to upgrade but if you don't already have a copy of Uzumaki and figure you can appreciate a uniquely Japanese film with some bizarre Lovecraftian overtones, give this one a shot. It's a fantastic mix of quirky horror and pitch black comedy that works far better than it has any right to work and it stands as one of the coolest Japanese horror films of the past ten years.

Want more information? Check out the Eastern Star/Discotek website by clicking here!