The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Perhaps the most gripping thing about the ultimately disappointing Japanese horror film Uzumaki is the patient way the picture develops mood.
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Japan · 2000
1h 30m
Director Higuchinsky
Starring Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan, Hinako Saeki, Shin Eun-kyung
Genre Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
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In a small town in Japan, Kirie comes upon her boyfriend's father silently videotaping a snail. Later, the mans obsession with spirals becomes more and more bizarre, ending in his suicide in a washing machine — turning his body into a spiral. Soon, however, other townspeople become possessed with different forms of spirals...
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Perhaps the most gripping thing about the ultimately disappointing Japanese horror film Uzumaki is the patient way the picture develops mood.
Village Voice by Edward Crouse
With playful, compelling gore having slowed to a near trickle stateside, Uzumaki demands attention.
Chicago Tribune by John Petrakis
Like many horror films, it loses steam as it gets more graphic.
Portland Oregonian by Kim Morgan
It's creepy, but it's not horrifying. Still, the movie has its distorted, haunting moments that will stick with you, and it's stunning to look at.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
This deliriously unsettling film evokes H.P. Lovecraft's exquisitely creepy stories of encroaching madness -- not so much in story terms but in its perversely spooky ambience -- with a subtle dose of David Lynch's dark sense of humor.
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
At some point, all this visual trickery stops being clever and devolves into flashy, vaguely silly overkill.
Unfortunately, this horror gem won't even receive the same fate as a crappy "Children of the Corn" sequel, that of ending up on the back shelf of the local Blockbuster. This all but guarantees, that some kid won't accidentally come upon it and scare the crap out of himself. And that's just sad.
Higuchinsky turns the screen into another giant vortex, drawing the characters and the audience deeper into a dark, captivating spell.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Sean Axmaker
A mix of H.P. Lovecraft madness, David Cronenberg biological mutation and David Lynch small-town weirdness, it teasingly dangles explanations never delivered and escapes never sought, while diving into one of the most gonzo horrors to twist onto celluloid in years.
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