Uzamaki
 

Has anyone heard of the Japanese film Uzamaki (Spiral) based on the horror manga by the same name? I am just wondering because I have the manga and oneday searching on the tv I picked it up and say it. I thought it was disturbing and beautiful!:D

I thought the manga was better, but the movie was definitely creepy!

Uzumaki
 

I ordered this movie along with four others a while back. All I can say about this one is o.o wow. It might just be the single strangest movie I have ever seen and definately one of the best. If you haven't seen this order it if you have- any thoughts?

http://www.lhp.com.sg/uzumaki/#

I posted about this film a lil while ago...so this is recycled material, but here ya go all the same:

"Uzumaki. The word seems to mean spiral or vortex. I think it may have been based on a Japanese comic...but anyway...I've only watched half so far, I turned it off 'cos it's a bit much to kinda "take in" all in one go...this films fucking mental - So far, people get obsessed by "the vortex"...go pretty crazy, and then do some pretty fucked up stuff...some of which is even hard to describe. The film-makers also do a few headfucks wth random imagery flashing inexplicably, and best of all, they add spirals into the scenery sometimes...they just kind warp it ever so much...just so you kinda see it, and wonder "hey, did I just see...?"
Anyway. I know none of this makes sense, and, well, neither does the film...but if you're into very weird fucked up craziness, you gotta see this."

Uzumaki means Spiral and it was based on a manga. I also had no idea there had been a thread already. The surreal imagery is what makes the movie so great. In essence it's just a movie about a cursed town. One guy gets obsessed with spirals and the obsession becomes contagious.

I reccomend the manga over the movie. The manga is longer (obviously) and develops the individual curses (the snails, the hair, Shuichi's parents, and a lot of other ones that weren't in the movie) a lot more. Plus, where the ending of the movie doesn't make much sense and explains nothing, the ending to the manga is great, near perfect, and explains just enough, without getting all Scooby-Doo about it. But the movie is good, especially the Fellini-esque (or Burton-esque, either one would fit) direction and visuals.

1. Is it dubbed or subtitled?

2. Is there a DVD of this available?

I've only seen subbed versions of both Uzumaki and Long Dream. They're on non region coded DVDs at the same place I mentioned: AsianCult.com. Should play in any American player (if they play in my Playstation 2, they'll play in anything). I've heard that Viz made a dubbed version of Uzumaki and was showing it around the festival circut, but that's not much to get excited about 'cause their dubs always suck. :mad:

i havent sen this yet but i want to. it should be released in the states in a month i think. i seen the advertisement in rue morgue.

another classy asian horror film

Uzumaki
 

any body whos checked out this flick. I really want this damn badly!

Okay, I got the part about you wanting Uzumaki, but that's all I could understand

Well Sam, it seems the whole point of this thread was to tell us, the people that HAD seen uzumaki, that he himself wanted to see it also.
As for a point beyond that, I'm also somewhat confused.

Or the first sentence may also be a butchered version of "Is there anybody else here who's seen this?"

I really enjoyed it not as violent as most new wave asian horror flicks but still really interesting can't go wrong with snail people thats for sure.

Has anyone read Ito's Manga titles like GYO? are they any good?

Proteus

sorry for the incomplete sentences!
well what i meant to say is that is there any one who could give a small review

Ok, very very small review:

Good story, decent acting, fantastic look, shit ending

LOL nice Sam lol.....Ok here goes the storys pretty much about a town thats suffering from a strange virus/plague/thingy that ends up making everyone addicted/turn into sprial related stuff which pretty much remainds a mystery till the end! Very HP lovecraft influenced being that its a small lakeside town and that the towns inhabitants are under some sort of curse of sorts. It has some really neat imagry and some pretty cool death scenes but Isn't a gore hounds dream come true and is a little slower paced than most newer asian flicks hope that helps a little

Proteus

My advice would be to read the Manga first. Words cannot describe how much better it is than the movie. And the whole last book is one of the best comic book-ish things I've ever read. And it actually explains what's doing it. Unfortunately, it only gives a vague theory as to why, but it's a lot better than the movie gives us.

Proteus wrote:

>> Has anyone read Ito's Manga titles like GYO? are they any good?

Proteus — Ito is a manga genius. Scratch that, he's a comic genius, manga, U.S., whatever.

I haven't seen the Uzumaki film, but I have seen a pair of the Tomie movies and the manga is lightyears better than the movies.

Uzumkai is his best manga available in English and is probably the best horror comic ever in any language. It's abolsutley amazing.

Tomie is, I think his second best. GYO is my least favorite work if his, but it's still very good.

I whole-heartedly recommend reading his stuff. You can order them online if your local comics shop doesn't have it.

Sam

Thanks for the low down and I gotta agree the Tomie series of movies that is are really lack luster mind you I hear the last on part 5!!!! Forbidden fruit is the best 3 another face had a couple of neat/bizzare fx but that could save it.
So GYO is the weaker of the Three gotta remember that would amazon or chapters carry those my comic shops retarded and doesn't know a thing about comics/Mangas go figure lol
Oh any idea where I can get some imagies from the mangas?

Thanks again

Hey Proteus - Yeah, I read somewhere (maybe Rue Morgue) that the Tomie movies got a little bit better at the end of the series.

As far as Ito manga, Amazon will definitely have all three series. Chapters might. I don't remember seeing a huge comics section at the last Chapters I was in (in Victoria, BC), but I'd guess it's different at each store.

As far as images from the mangas, I'm not really sure. I think the publishers' websites would be the best place to start.

Tomie - http://www.comicsone.com
Uzumaki/GYO - http://www.viz.com

Good luck and happy reading!

Sam

Again thanks for the low down I appreciate it!

Proteus

No problem! Happy to help out.

Sam

Uzumaki, if you liked 'House'....
 

I wasn't sure what to expect before watching Uzumaki this morning, I was thinking another Ringu or Ju-on clone, but this was far from those. A wild and very original movie, it reminded me of Hausu more than anything, it was a real knockout. It also reminded me of another bizarre Japanese horror film called Noroi, which is well worth seeking out if you are looking for something different. Uzumaki had a strong horror element but was delirious and dream like, in both presentation and content. We need more American movies with this sense of daring and experimentalism. Don't go watching this for something that makes a whole lot of sense, the plot has a more dream logic than conventional narrative. On the strength of this movie I have added "Long Dream" to my queue, from the same director.

::devil::

I watched this a couple nights ago and thought it was pretty interesting. I like surreal stuff, and enjoyed a lot of the visuals. However, I was pretty tired when I watched it and kept falling asleep, so I think that also means it was paced a bit too slow, and also wasn't all that scary. Definitely worth a watch. I haven't read the manga.

I'll check it out.

Thought you were talking about Naruto for a second!

I saw Spiral... it was interesting, weird, and a good watch. Though, I was at times a little bored, as I found it a little slow. It was decent

I was impressed with the movie, as I thought there'd be NO WAY Junji Ito's work could translate into film.