• PDI Press

    PDI Press

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 1

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Seven)

    PDI Press
    January 16, 2022

    Betty White Vs the Stupid World (Chapter Six)

    PDI Press
    January 15, 2022 3

    Featured

    BETTY WHITE VS THE STUPID WORLD: The Movie

    John E. Meredith
    PDI Press
    January 17, 2022 1
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Marvel at the Movies
    • Muppets 101
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews

    Reviews

    Thunderbolts* (2025)

    Reviews
    May 3, 2025 44

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD Review

    Reviews
    February 9, 2025 72

    Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

    Movies
    May 31, 2024 14

    Featured

    Thunderbolts* (2025)

    John E. Meredith
    Reviews
    May 3, 2025 44
    • Books
    • Comics
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews

    Interviews

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397

    David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

    Interviews
    March 7, 2017 223

    Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

    Interviews
    September 29, 2016 8

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

    Interviews
    July 28, 2016 61

    SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

    Interviews
    July 27, 2016 3

    Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

    Interviews
    April 16, 2016 3

    Featured

    Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

    The Final Girl
    Interviews
    July 13, 2018 397
  • News

    News

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    News
    February 9, 2025 18

    “PATER NOSTER AND THE MISSION OF LIGHT” UNLEASHES TERRIFYING UNDERGROUND HORROR – A PSYCHEDELIC CULT MOVIE EXPERIENCE COMING SOON!

    News
    November 15, 2023 74

    Breaking Down The Upcoming DC Studios Slate

    Shot for Shot
    February 1, 2023

    Featured

    Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD is here!

    Paul Brian McCoy
    News
    February 9, 2025 18
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Shop
Breaking
  • Thunderbolts* (2025)
  • Regular Show: The Complete Series DVD Review
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
  • The First Omen (2024)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
    Home
    DVD/Blu-ray

    Uzumaki (2000)

    Charles Webb, Matthew Fantaci
    DVD/Blu-rayMoviesReviewsShot for Shot
    October 29, 2009 8

    Director: Higuchinsky
    Writer: Ito Junji (Manga), Kengo Kaji (screenwriter)
    Starring: Keiko Takahashi, Ren Osugi, Hinako Saeki, Fhi Fan

    Rating: 4 stars

    Uzumaki_1
    Matt: This week we’re continuing our appreciation of horror comics in movies and focusing on Uzumaki, a Lovecraftian tale from Japan. Uzumaki is translated as “spiral” or “vortex” (depending on the DVD edition you own). This simple shape invades a small town, causing madness and obsession. Eventually, the town’s inhabitants begin seeing the uzumaki everywhere as spirals become ever-present. At the center of this tale is a high school couple, Kirie and Shuichi, who watch as their friends and family transform into something (cue eerie sound effect) more than human.

    The movie is based on a manga by Ito Junji, and despite some flaws, does a wonderful job of translating the language of comics to the big screen.

    Uzumaki_2
    Charles: The film was released in Japan in 2000. I recall seeing it around 2002 or 2003 – a period where a lot of Japanese horror titles were being experienced for the first time by curious viewers. Around this time bootleg copies of Battle Royale, Kairo (AKA Pulse in the U.S.), and the Ringu trilogy were making the rounds and Audition was freaking people out in art houses.

    Looking back it was definitely a transformative period for Japanese horror that many of us came to secondhand, due to the labyrinthine processes of licensing foreign properties, came to secondhand. The lead in Uzumaki, Kirie, was typical of the kind of lead in many of these films and reflective of the target audiences in Japan. She was: a young girl, frightened out of her mind, unable to depend on adults whobut she nonetheless tackles a pretty hairy supernatural (and at times psychological) mystery.

    I suspect what appealed to Western audiences (before the often uneven remakes) was how the movies skewed younger but nonetheless had real stakes. That is to say, the film didn’t need a masked stalker killing victims to make the threat of the movie tangible. with the lack of gore but many times played darker since the stakes were real and frequently quite messed up.

    Uzumaki_3
    Uzumaki is a great example of the genre. It’s this apocalyptic film whose tone is fairly obsessively -dark and jarringly neurotic. It’s all about the familiar becoming increasingly strange, and being unable to depend on even one’s parents in a time of crisis. I think that those themes resonated with audiences on both sides of the pond.

    Matt: What drew me to this slew of Japanese exports was the focus on concept and atmosphere, which, despite the weak storylines or characters, kept moviegoers on the edge of their seats. Since the glory days of American horror in the 1970’s and early 80’s, atmosphere has been – for the most part – a lost art form.

    The aesthetic practiced in these “J-horror” titles is not easy to put your finger on. Many of the shots are objective, often holding for a length of time that a western studio wouldn’t have the patience for. These moments of stillness are often contrasted with shocking -moments, jarring us viewers out of our sedated state. Sometimes the long takes shots capture a moment of brutality in a cold, matter-of-fact language that is even more shocking for its detachment.

    Of course, these Japanese directors weren’t the first to use these techniques.

    Uzumaki_4
    Charles: Matt, your mention of the objective shots suggests to me that many of these shots are thematically about the slowly encroaching dread entering the frame, figuratively and literally.

    Consider the oft-parodied image of a lead actor or actress seen by audiences in the foreground, while in the background a black-haired specter resolves itself into view. So too does the dread in these stories reveal itself over time – at the periphery but ultimately oppressive.

    What these directors were able to do – to my mind – was find a direction after the post-slasher, self-referential 90’s which informed so much of the horror output here in the USA. I would argue that these films created resurgence for psychological horror here in the U.S. over the last few years (the quality Ring remake being one of the financial successes that helped spur the movement).

    What marks many of these films is the conflict between the characters and dread as opposed to the characters and another character or a creature. Uzumaki, in particular is about a character against a pattern – a young girl facing down a pervasive, powerful obsession articulated through murder, madness, and mutation.

    The movie is so effective for me on its initial viewing because it spirals ever inward from relative normalcy to icky weirdness to finally what appears to be the end of world (for Kirie, at least).

    It’s some heady stuff, even if, as you mentioned before, Kirie isn’t a fully-realized character as you mentioned before.

    Uzumaki_5
    Matt: True. And your point about a character facing a dreadful presence instead of facing another character is an important one. I would say that is a defining characteristic of this sub-genre.

    Normalcy in this movie is a relative thing. From the first sequence, director Higuchinsky lets us know the reality of our situation is not OUR reality. It’s seemingly the reality of a manga aimed at teenage girls, featuring a quiet love interest and a quirky upbeat soundtrack. It’s a sweet, almost cartoonish world. All of this makes the strange goings on that much more horrifying once they begin, which is pretty soon.

    Charles, you mentioned before reviewing this movie that in many ways it resembles a fairy tale. Would you say the tone plays a large part in that?

    Charles: Yes to the extent that it presents the fantastic as the matter-of-fact in some parts such as the baroque hairstyle of Kirie’s school nemesis (I believe it was Keiko Takahashi’s Yukie character). As the uzumaki begins to invade the small village the character’s hair seems to positively sprout spirals from their tips downward.

    Uzumaki_6
    What this feels like is a gradual slippage into the unreal: from Jack attempting to sell his cow at the market to the fantastic kingdom of giants in the sky. The sweet, slightly cartoonish world at the beginning of the film that you mention, Matt, is the fairly pastoral, slightly goofy little town in a valley. Then a flip is switched and it’s outright horror for the characters.

    The only reason I won’t get fully behind my own idea that it’s a fairytale is because the calamity that befalls the village has no real moral component (like the best fairytale calamities do).

    But like the richest, best fairytales, it does have a vividly realized, highly visceral visual world with production design by Hiroshi Hayashida, which transitions easily from the mundane and rickety to the sinister and decrepit.

    Matt, what did you think about the looks and effects of the film? I know one of the things that grabbed me (and I think you as well) are the truly bent and malformed snail-like things that seem to possess the villagers.

    Matt: Absolutely. From the snails to the hairstyle, this movie is a visual treat.

    The uzumaki design never gets tired like you might assume it would. Higuchinsky finds new ways to exploit the spiral design as it starts to take over the town, crafting brilliantly creepy setpieces showing characters increasingly going insane (suicide by clothes washer being my personal favorite). Even the camera replicates a spiral in many of the ways it moves. And the last shot of the film is the same as the first, making the story spiral in on itself.

    Some of the computer graphics (especially at the very end) are comically rendered. Which – to my surprise – I didn’t mind all that much. Though the effects are just as much due to a low budget as they are a stylistic choice, they work well in Ito Junji’s world.

    My only qualm with the film is in the ending. Just as things get truly dire for our main character and my butt starts creeping up to the edge of the seat… it ends. Kirie, being your average uniformed school girl, is a pretty passive character. When her fight-or-flight moment finally comes we never get to see it. We can assume what happens, based on a few following images, but it’s not at all emotionally satisfying.

    I felt… robbed. What about you, Charles?

    Charles: I’m a ambivalent about the ending: yes, it’s as if the story ends at its climax but at the same time it makes the final images so much more effectively downbeat.

    I guess it comes down to the question of what Kirie’s role is in the film: to watch or to see?

    I think that’s precisely why I love this movie – it’s rich with feeling (if not necessarily meaning) and it sticks with you after your initial viewing – in my case for years. It’s a mixed-bag recommendation: I would encourage others to check it out with the caveat that it’s not a traditional narrative – no one changes or grows and “good” (almost vaguely described in Kirie’s character) most definitely does not triumph over “evil.”

    Your final analysis?

    Matt: Despite my criticism, I enjoyed this movie a great deal. Many of the sequences and expressive camerawork will stay with you long after you’ve watched it. If your tastes run a little odd then this will be a good addition to the Halloween roster.

     

    (Visited 1,530 times, 1 visits today)

    Related

    Charles WebbHiguchinskyMatt FantaciUzumaki

    FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
    Previous Creepshow (1982)
    Next Trick ‘R Treat
    monsterid
    Charles Webb, Matthew Fantaci
    O.G. / Man of Mystery

    Related Posts

    Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 Motion Comic

    Charles Webb
    DVD/Blu-rayReviewsShot for Shot
    January 16, 2011 10

    Batman on Film: Batman Returns (1992)

    Charles Webb
    MoviesReviewsShot for Shot
    December 5, 2010

    Daily Top Ten

    • outpost-3-01EZMM 2016 Day 5: Gallowwalkers (2012) &… by Paul Brian McCoy
    • crampton-03Women in Horror: Barbara Crampton by Paul Brian McCoy
    • meg-foster-headerWomen in Horror: Meg Foster by Shawn Hill
    • LF 4Lifeforce (1985) by Adam Barraclough
    • BremenGoodiesTales from Muppetland: The Muppet Musicians of Bremen (1972) by Jessica Sowards
    • Berserker-headerDungeons & D-Listers: Berserker: Hell’s… by Alex Wolfe
    • Wolves-MomoaWolves (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • DS-headerDungeons & D-Listers: Deathstalker (1983) by Alex Wolfe
    • It-Follows-headerIt Follows (2015) by Keith Silva
    • heavy-metal-2000-headerDrive-In Saturday: Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) by Alex Wolfe
    400x400 GI Joe Funko Banner

    Weekly Top Ten

    • i-spit-on-your-grave-09The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
    • AT606-visionAdventure Time 6.06 “Breezy” by Dave Hearn
    • babylon-5-blu-ray-04Babylon 5 Complete Series Blu-ray Review by Paul Brian McCoy
    • patty-mullen-headerWomen in Horror: Patty Mullen by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    • theta-girl-2-headerSex, Drugs, & Exploitation: The Theta Girl (2017) by The Final Girl
    • 2-headed-shark-attack-headerUnnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012) by Brooke Brewer
    • hills-have-eyes-02The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
    • guinea-pig-6-headerSick Flix: Guinea Pig 6 – Mermaid in a Manhole (1988) by Corin Totin
    • Wolves-MomoaWolves (2014) by Paul Brian McCoy
    • salo-headerSick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) by Corin Totin

    psychodrivein

    We came here to chew bubblegum and write intelligent reviews and commentary on cult TV and movies! And we're all out of bubblegum!

    Today at https://psychodrivein.com The Psycho Dri Today at https://psychodrivein.com

The Psycho Drive-In Podcast 03: Sinners

In this episode, Paul and John discuss their recent film binges, and review Sinners.
—
Listen to the boys at the link in our profile!

#ThePsychoDriveInPodcast #PsychoDriveIn #Sinners #RyanCoogler #MichaelBJordan #JackOConnell #HaileeSteinfeld #MilesCaton #DelroyLindo #WunmiMosaku #LiJunLi
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E28 - File Card Focus: Recoil

Greg and Jaren take a deep dive into the world of Recoil?
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoes #FileCardFocus #Recoil
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Thunderbolts* Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Thunderbolts* (2025)

But damn, the Thunderbolts* really got to me.
—
Read more of John’s review at the link in our profile!

#Thunderbolts #MarvelStudios #Marvel #FlorencePugh #SebastianStan #DavidHarbour #HannahJohnKamen #JuliaLouisDreyfus #LewisPullman #OlgaKurylenko #WyattRussell
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 481: Hypothetical Firefly Remake

Firefly is definitely a cult classic, with word of mouth spreading awareness of the series.
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #Serenity #Firefly
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transl Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 480: The Naked Gun (2025) 

Right now, this is all speculation. The true test will come when The Naked Gun is released.
—
Read more of Scott’s article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #TheNakedGun #LiamNeeson
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at https://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S02E27 - Battle Armor Cobra Commander 

Greg & Jaren take a look at the newest Classified reveals, and Jaren reveals his weird ways to make new friends. 
—
Watch the @AnythingJoesPod guys at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #CobraCommander #BattleArmorCobraCommander
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 9: Evil Dead Rise (2023) 

Evil Dead Rise is filled with practical effects and whatever is supported with digital enhancement is so smooth I was never taken out of a scene.
—
Read more of Paul’s review at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #EvilDeadRise #BruceCampbell #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #LeeCronin #LilySullivan #AlyssaSutherland #MorganDavies #NellFisher #GabrielleEchols #RobTapert
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 8: Ash vs Evil Dead (2018) S03E06-E10

And while Episodes Six through Eight were an improvement, it really wasn’t until the two-part finale that Ash vs Evil Dead firmly regained its footing.
—
Read more of Paul’s article at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #AshVsEvilDead #BruceCampbell #DanaDeLorenzo #RaySantiago #LucyLawless #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #ArielleCarverONeill #KatrinaHobbs #LindsayFarris
    Today at https://psychodrivein.com EZMM 2025 Day Today at https://psychodrivein.com

EZMM 2025 Day 7: Ash vs Evil Dead (2018) S03E01-E05

Season Three of Ash vs Evil Dead is off to a rough start.
—
Read more of Paul’s article at the link in our profile!

#EZMM #EZMM2025 #EasterZombieMovieMarathon #EasterZombieMovieMarathon2025 #AshVsEvilDead #BruceCampbell #DanaDeLorenzo #RaySantiago #LeeMajors #LucyLawless #SamRaimi #Zombies101 #zombies #ArielleCarverONeill #KatrinaHobbs #LindsayFarris
    Follow on Instagram

    Look Who's Talking

    Shawn EH
    Shawn EH - 5/4/2025
    Thunderbolts* (2025)
    Yep, very well done; avoiding the big flashy battle that these heroes (can any of you fly?)...
    Ideonova
    Ideonova - 12/26/2024
    Page to Screen: F. Paul Wilson’s The Keep
    Not living up to the source material? What source material? The book is a predictable, at times...
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    Fred L. Taulbee Jr. - 8/17/2024
    Cahiers du Horror 03: Frank Henenlotter and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die
    I need to see that again. Maybe make it a double feature with All of Me. Steve Martin is someone you...
    RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

    Archives

    Large_rectangle_336X280
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    • PDI Press
      • PDI Press Catalog
      • PDI Press Writers
        • Fiction
    • Columns A-D
      • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
      • ABCs of Horror
      • All Binge… No Purge
      • Anything Joes
      • Beautiful Creatures
      • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
      • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
      • Cahiers du Horror
      • Dispatches From the Field
      • Drive-In Saturday
      • Dungeons & D-Listers
    • Columns F-P
      • The Final Girl
      • First Looks… Second Thoughts
      • The Flesh is Weak
      • Innocence and Experience
      • Lost in Translation
      • Marvel at the Movies
      • Muppets 101
      • Page to Screen
      • Popcorn Cinema
      • The Psycho Drive-In Podcast
      • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
    • Columns S-Z
      • Schlock & Awe
      • Shakespeare on Film
      • Shot for Shot
      • Sick Flix
      • Unnatural Selections
      • Versus
      • Video Word Made Flesh
      • We Got Lists
      • Women in Horror
      • The Xeno File
      • Zombies 101
    • Reviews
      • Books
      • Comics
      • DVD/Blu-ray
      • Movies
      • TV
      • Series
    • Interviews
    • News
      • Trailers
    • Psychos
    • Shop
    Type to search or hit ESC to close
    See all results
    Username
    Password
    Remember Me
    Lost password?
    Create an account
    Username
    Email
    Cancel
    Enter username or email
    Cancel