Suicide Club (Suicide Circle) Reviews

• Bizarre

  
  By A2V3P1XE33NYC3 on 2004-12-31
  What do bags containing wheels of human skin, a computer hacker referred to as "The Bat," a serial killer named Genesis with a penchant for breaking into song, a girl band named Dessert, a hit song called "Mail Me," baby chicks, and a kid who clears his throat constantly during cryptic phone calls all have in common? Why, they all appear in Shion Sono's incredibly disturbing and impenetrable film "Suicide Club." I'm not the only person who adores these offbeat Japanese horror films: Hollywood loves them so much that studios are scrambling over themselves in a mad dash to buy up remake rights. I'm not so sure, however, that anyone in Tinseltown will knock themselves out trying to bring a new version of Sono's film to American screens. A scary ghost story about a haunted videotape has an appeal to audiences on these shores; a tale about kids taking their own lives in heinous ways as a result of the evils of mass consumerism doesn't. Can you imagine a corporation trying to figure out a way to place their products in a film showing children jumping off the roof of their school? I sure can't. I think it is safe to say that "Suicide Club" will remain a singular effort for some time.
  
  Sono's film begins with what is probably one of the most memorable opening sequences in a modern horror film. A group of fifty-four Japanese schoolgirls--wearing those instantly recognizable uniforms--queue up at the edge of a subway track, join hands, and dive in front of a moving train. Oh man, what a mess that makes! The cops, led by Detective Kuroda (Ryo Ishibashi) launch an immediate investigation. Their query takes on decidedly ominous overtones when a white bag left at the scene is found to contain a wheel of stitched together human flesh. Good grief, Charlie Brown! Even my hardened soul recoiled at the sight of so much atrocity so early in a film. My finger strayed to the stop button until I decided to tough it out. Fortunately, the movie can't sustain its memorable opening scenes, and things start calming down significantly. That doesn't mean, however, that "Suicide Club" turns into a Disney film. The subway incident soon inspires other youths around the country to come up with grisly ways to take their lives, the worst of which is a scenario involving a bunch of kids jumping off the roof of their very tall school building. Suicide soon becomes the new "in" thing, something everyone wants to do. Kuroda and his men can't figure out this nightmare.
  
  Then a mysterious website that appears to keep track of the deaths, and even predicts them beforehand with startling accuracy, comes to the attention of the cops. A hacker named "The Bat" soon contacts the police promising to track down the identity of those behind the site, and for the first time it looks like answers explaining the grisly suicides will come to light. Unfortunately, a wacko named Genesis kidnaps The Bat and her friends before she cracks the mystery. This guy and his cohorts live in an abandoned bowling alley where they keep their victims tied up in sheets. Genesis, after singing a song, admits to killing a large number of people. Is he the one behind the suicides and the website? Maybe, but kids keep dying after the authorities apprehend Genesis and his gang. Even Kuroda's family isn't immune to the tragedies sweeping the country. By the time he receives phone calls from a throat clearing kid who asks him cryptic questions about his "connections" to his family and others, the whole case seems impossible to solve. The focus of the film then switches to a young lady who finds secret messages hidden in products sold by the girl band Dessert, messages that lead her to a place filled with kids asking the same sort of questions Kuroda failed to answer. It's also filled with dyed baby chicks (?).
  
  No one knows better than I do that "Suicide Club" is one strange film. Just when you think you've got a handle on the weirdness, Sono throws in another element that doesn't make sense. By the time the end of the movie rolls around, all sense of logic seems to break down. What exactly is Dessert's role in the unfolding madness? What does the song "Mail Me" mean, if anything? What is up with the wheels of skin, the kid clearing his throat, and the baby chicks? I think I can follow a few of these things, mainly that all of the questions about "connections" hint at the alienating aspects of pop culture and materialism. There is a sort of "monkey see, monkey do" facet of mass consumerism that is potentially life threatening, seen here in the way kids so readily take to the idea of killing themselves because others are doing the same thing. Life and death become mere commodities. I have no idea how that theme ties in with a bunch of kids sitting around applauding the answers to their questions at the end of the film, or the whole baby chick thing. Especially the baby chick thing, which is probably some symbol a Japanese audience would pick up on in a minute. For me, it's mystifying in the extreme.
  
  As arcane as it is, "Suicide Club" still entertains. The gore scenes go appropriately over the top, but largely fall away as the movie expresses its social messages. I'm not ashamed at all to say I got a big kick out of Genesis's performance in the bowling alley; his song isn't half bad! Extras on the disc consist of trailers for "Suicide Club," "Between Your Legs," "Children of Hannibal," and "The Bathers." Sono's film isn't for everyone, and it holds on tightly to its secrets, but I guarantee you will find something in this picture that will grab your eye. Give it a shot.
  
  
  

• To repair the connection to oneself...or to sever it?

  
  By A2P49WD75WHAG5 on 2005-10-09
  In the brash and ghastly opening scene of Jisatsu Curabu (Suicide Club), fifty-four students from eighteen different high schools join hands, step up to the edge of the platform at Shinjuku Station, and jump in front of an oncoming train. The splatter of blood against the train windows and spray of blood on screaming and horrified onlookers, and blood pouring onto the platform, as well as the chaos at the station sets the stage for this drama on how living in an industrial metropolis like Tokyo robs people of their connection to themselves.
  
  Officer Kuroda, a fifty-ish family man with two children, Sakura and Toru, is in charge of the case. At first, the majority of his fellow officers, like the bald Murata think it's too much TV. A cult perhaps? However, a call from a woman calling herself Koumori (the Bat) reveals something odd and sinister. Koumori refers Shibu to a website that shows a row of red dots (representing women) and white dots (men), and that 54 red dots appeared on the site, and also before the suicides were reported! To add to the sordidness, a roll of ten centimeter strips of skin stitched together is found in a white sports bag at the train platform. Some belong to the dead students, many whose remains body parts are a horrid bloody collage of legs, and uniforms on the autopsy table. Things are complicated further when another caller says assuredly, that there is no suicide club!
  
  Murata's point that it's too much TV points to how impressionable teens are and how fads come and go quickly. Two days after the suicides, a group of high schoolers join hands and jump off the roof. Once someone says "Let's all kill ourselves," and everyone goes "Yeah!" it's sad how jaded they seem to be, little realizing that they'll never see each other again.
  
  It's not just teens, but ordinary adults committing suicide, as seen in a series of skits. Before hanging themselves, four women loudly declaim that "life is a sin. You just cause trouble for others. Kill yourself before you murder someone." And a mother in the kitchen slicing some daikon (long turnip) keeps on smiling as she continues slicing her fingers AND the daikon, oblivious to the spray of blood. All her daughter says is "Dad, Mom's being funny."
  
  And just what is the connection with Dessert, a quintet of cute girls (average age 12.5) who sing infectious pop-techno songs like the seemingly harmless "Mail Me"? However, it's a crucial line that may send out the wrong message. They also sing how the world's like a jigsaw puzzle and how somewhere's there's a fit for everyone. "Don't fit, you say? Then make it so. ...There's nowhere for my piece to go. Find a place that lasts forever. Perhaps I'd better say goodbye."
  
  But throughout the carnage, emerges the theme of the disconnect Tokyoites have between their fellow comrades. A look at the faces on the subway cars yielded tiredness, emptiness, and unhappiness in their eyes. Indeed, the recurring melancholy instrumental theme reflects weariness at a life without meaning in the industrial waste of Tokyo.
  
  On the phone, Kuroda is asked by a child who has a penchant for clearing his throat: "What's your connection to yourself?... If you die, will you lose the connection to yourself? Even if you die, your connection to your wife will remain." It also comes down to the loss of empathy between people: "Why couldn't you feel the pain of others as you would your own? Why couldn't you bear the pain of others as you would your own? YOU are the criminal." Indeed, Kuroda's own two kids, Sakura and Toru, are more addicted to the Net and to TV rather than their own family.
  
  Maybe it's best to be like Mitsuko, the girl on the DVD. She is shocked, sad, angry, and betrayed when her boyfriend dives off a roof and lands on her, yet musters the courage to say, "I have to keep living." She is sullen, a bit harsh, despises stupid questions, but quite the realist, connected to herself.
  
  Apart from the carnage, there are some disturbing scenes, such as forms writhing in sheets in an abandoned bowling alley, and apart from the message of connection, the point of enjoying life is ultimately revealed, per Dessart:
  
  Scary it's true, but it's loads of fun too
  To open up and feel the brand of life
  For each and everyone.
  
  Light yourself with life
  Light yourself with love
  Light yourself with memories
  
  All it takes is just a little heart and courage on your part
  
  As we go, we'll forget the pain
  We'll feel life again.
  
  

• The Only Thing Committing Suicide is the Plot

  
  By A2GYX971VETQBV on 2004-10-25
  _Suicide Club_ certainly held my attention. I found myself both shocked and horrified by the casual manner in which suicide is depicted in this film. Seemingly endless streams of people launch themselves into the unknown; in fact, the opening scene in the underground train station (an actual site of many Japanese suicides) sprays blood all over the scene. What particularly makes this film casual is the always horrible sub-title job. For some reason, while this film seems to have some complexity to it, the dialogue is extremely watered down in the text and I just have to think that the actual script is much more complex and interesting.
  
  _Suicide Club_ is a film that seems to explore the darker side of life, Japanese culture, and death without coming to any sense of a resolution. Many of the characters and sub-plots never tie together and the audience is left with a bunch of dangling fragments, trying to pick up the pieces of this storyline that never seems to go anywhere. As has been my experience with most Japanese films, one just cannot take their eyes off this material because it is fresh and edgy. However, as an American film goer, I just can't appreciate the film's depth and complexity without some semblance of continuity and the ability to understand the language first-hand. Imagine "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolfe" in translation? It would be awful. Naturally, this is not really a strike against _Suicide Club_ as it is a foreign film, but I think that English speakers will be hard-pressed to extract the full meaning of this film without the complexity and subtlety that the script may have possessed.
  
  
  

• First Rule of Suicide Club: don't talk about Suicide Club!

  
  By A2HII4U9WQ0XUV on 2005-04-21
  Shion Sono's "Suicide Club" ("Jisatsu Circle")is Japan's answer to the American subversive smash-hit "Fight Club", only this time it's disaffected Tokyo white-collar workers hooking up in basements and industrial sites across Hokkaido, ritually mutilating each other, then committing traditional Japanese hara-kiri (suicide). Too late does our hero realize that, unlike his trans-Pacific colleagues, "Suicide Club" isn't going to be a growth industry.
  
  OK, OK, I'm just kidding---that's not what "Suicide Club" is about. I just couldn't help myself.
  
  Buy this movie, then go through the house and turn all the lights off. Order some sushi and boil up some hot sake, and ponder this lethal dose of cinematic curare served up in the form of "Suicide Club", Shion Sono's night-gaunt cave spelunk into madness, teen-culture, conformity, identity, consumerism, and the unanticipated deadliness of girl-groups.
  
  There's no point in doing a plot crunch of erstwhile Japanese pornographer Shion Sono's mind-warping "Suicide Club"; like his fellow countryman Takeshi Miike's equally ghoulish and puzzling "Audition", the less you know in coming to "Suicide Club", the more fun you'll have.
  
  If you want a few bone fragments of what little linear plot the movie offers, though, I'll humor you---and if you're this far, chances are you already know about Suicide Circle's big bloody fishook of an opener: 54 giggling, smiling Tokyo schoolgirls link hands, count to three, and in front of hundreds of shocked and stunned subway commuters, hurl themselves into the path of an oncoming train. One! Two! Three! Wheeeeeeee!
  
  The only things left in the wake of this horror (apart from a flood-tide of blood) are body-parts and a designer shoe-bag, so the police forensic team needs a strainer and plastic baggies to haul the evidence back to the Station.
  
  Now that's what some might call a promising start---I certainly do!---but trust me, it's *nothing* compared to the unbridled tsunami of ghoulish creepiness and pure unadulterated ick that flows once this baby gets rolling.
  
  The party is just getting started: as news of the atrocity on the subway platform filters out through TV and radio, the nation is gripped by a wave of copycat suicides among a wide range of people with no obvious connections. And what is the connection between the spate of suicides and the mind-rippingly awful girl-group "Desert" (or Dessert/Desart---the group name inexplicably changes)? Or the link to a website that is evidently tracking the suicides---*before* they occur?
  
  When I first watched the film, I had unwittingly rented the R-rated Blockbuster DVD, which trims the opening bloodbath down to about 10 seconds of ruddy splashing. I soon realized my mistake, but it wasn't the opener that sent me running out of the house to buy my own copy: it's the breathtaking second sequence.
  
  All I'll tell you is that most of the action in this sequence is filmed in almost unbearably long tracking shots of nurses navigating their way through the dark corridors of a nearly empty hospital. The sequence works---it's very subtle and you are convinced there are things happening just out of range of the camera that Sono is teasing you with---the director doesn't want you to see everything, not yet. That sequence alone was so cripplingly spooky that I rushed out and bought myself an unrated copy.
  
  To be honest, when the credits rolled I contemplated returning the thing, perhaps saying it was defective. Having watched the movie in its entirety, I was baffled, confused, frustrated and annoyed. I was quite taken by the visual bravado with which Sono and his trusty DP Kazuto Sato shot the film: it goes in a heartbeat from creepy crawly ick to techno garish and back again. So what was wrong?
  
  Certainly not the acting, which is all competent, surprising given the number of younger actors, and even though we obviously lose something in translation. The great Ryo Ishibashi squints and grumbles his way through another cop role (he also starred as the Police Inspector in the American remake of "The Grudge" and played against type as a film producer in Miike's "Audition").
  
  Best of all, Sono ratchets up the level of grue and inexplicable vileness: the autopsy sequence calls to mind "The Thing", and rest assured you'll never look at a tuna roll in the same way again.
  
  I think my problem with "Suicide Circle" is the film's abrupt shift, possibly psychotic shift in tone about 40 minutes in. Initially, I hated this mystifying claptraption; I felt cheated for having bought it---when on Earth, and why, would I ever watch the wretched thing again? If you feel that way after your first viewing, relax---that's normal.
  
  But I've changed my mind. I still hate "Suicide Circle", but I'm now convinced that it's a work of diabolical brilliance, and I suspect that Shion Sono has created a kind of cursed masterpiece, a work of viral cinema that infects the mind of the viewer and insidiously replicates long after the credits roll. I say this because, quite frankly, I can't get the infernal thing out of my head, and the more I think about it, the more mesmerized I am by this gory-beautiful little puzzle-box of horrors.
  
  "Suicide Club" is compulsively unforgettable and intellectually voracious: this is a film that positively squirms, teems, and writhes with ideas.
  
  I can't stop thinking about it. I made the mistake of looking, now I'm forced to watch, even when I close my eyes.
  
  JSG
  
  

• Gory but half-hearted social commentary

  
  By A2N0J52O368CVV on 2003-11-26
  Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono's vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film.

  As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won't disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides.

  It's really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan "To connect yourself to yourself" while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched.

  Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.
  
  

• "every day we push buttons that execute a million commands"
  By A36L47A45ZF3WP on 2004-12-11
  Suicide Club opens with 54 Japanese school girls jumping off a subway platform in front of an oncoming train and just gets better from there. As a horror fan, I loved this movie for it's disturbing violence and genuine creepiness, but the social commentary and philosophy behind it is equally effective.
  
  The opening scene was mindblowing for obvious reasons. But what made the movie even better after that was seeing how this effected the rest of society. If this actually happened, it would probably have an intense effect on everyone in the culture, in ways such as what we see here: it begins a wave of suicides across Tokyo.
  
  At the heart of the story is a group of very young children, who make mysterious phone calls to the police, and ask questions with philosophical ramifications which would seem far beyond the comprehension of their tender years. While this seems ridiculous, I believe this group is shown as children because they represent truth and purity. If they had been adults, they would immediately appear to be sinister, and I don't feel that they were. While they seem connected to the suicides, it becomes clear that this is, in no way, their intention. The theme they present is that of being "connected to yourself" and "connected to everyone else." It is difficult for some people to maintain one connection without severing the other. How do I assert my individuality without alienating myself from my family, and from society? How do I take care of everyone around me without conforming to the will of the group? These are some of the issues the characters in this film are struggling with.
  
  There is a scene later on that asks the age old parent-to-teenager question, "If all your friends jumped off a building, would you do it, too?" and answers it with disturbing results. The idea of being "connected to yourself" as an individual is examined here, and in the recurring theme of the J-pop group, Dessart. When the suicides begin to occur at a more rapid rate, one of the kids in the Japanese Junior Spice Girl group says, "Everybody's acting funny lately. We hope this song cheers everyone up!" Up to this point, I was looking at that little girl and saying to myself, "Yeah, right! You hope that song drives everyone to suicide!" But by the end, I was not so sure.
  
  If we listen to the lyrics of Dessart, what we find is nothing so deep and philosophical, but something to appeal to people who may be lost because they are having trouble maintaining the connections the children are concerned with. The first song we hear, "Mail Me," says, "By phone or PC, MAIL ME, you should know as friends go yours is the best hello, MAIL ME, I need to hear from you now, or I'LL DIE." This is something that young people would be able to relate to if they were connected to others, but not to themselves. It is possible to be connected to someone else, but you will still be alright by yourself if you do not hear from that person. You will not die without communication from someone else. The inclusion of the J-pop group further illustrates this idea of connections--you can value the ideas of everyone around you without owning a pop group's CD just because "everyone has one." And the theme of suicide, committed because others are doing it--I can have empathy for that person feeling his/her life was not worth living without coming to the conclusion that my own life cannot be worth living.
  
  The philosophy about connections becomes physically manifest in a clue the police keep finding--a chain of rectangular pieces of skin sewn together. It symbolizes pieces of individuals, all slighly different from each other, literally connected to each other.
  
  At one point, the movie goes off on a tangent into a scene with a serial killer named Genesis, who performs a violent and Rocky Horror-esque musical number. This awesome, if puzzling, interlude is actually an example of a person who is completely connected to himself, but not to other people. Genesis has completely asserted his own individuality, but lacks a connection to human kind. He does what he wants without respecting the lives of others, and so he kills.
  
  As the film progresses, it becomes apparent that the strange goings on do seem to be leading back to the cult of children. But it doesn't seem to be the children and their message that is causing the suicides, but rather a failure on part of those who speak to them to fully digest the message for themselves. When they ask, "If you die, would your connection to your loved one remain? If yes, then, why are you living?" they mean to make people understand that their connection to themselves is valuable to their life. Instead, people come away thinking that there is, in fact, no reason to live, because the connection they have to people would not be severed by their own death.
  
  In the end, Dessart gives a final performance, and says, "Our final message to you: LIVE AS YOU PLEASE." Is Dessart connected to the mysterious children? The ending would tell you, probably so. In spite of their best efforts, their message was being corrupted and misinterpreted, and causing people more pain, so the children choose to end their mission.
  
  Director Shion Sono examimes many themes present in Japanese culture, so it will help if you know a little bit about this before viewing Suicide Club. However, most of what he deals with, peer pressure, conformity, suicide, have universal interest. This is a brilliant movie, but takes a few viewings to fully absorb.
  
  
• Failed social satire drowned in blood
  By A2N0J52O368CVV on 2003-12-02
  Beneath the surface, Suicide Club is more than just another stylized blood bath. The director Sion Sono¡¦s vision of a bleak satire/commentary on the state of modern Japanese culture is apparent throughout the film. However, the underlying themes are so poorly executed and unstructured that they are eventually lost among the bits and pieces of plot/characters/limbs scattered throughout the film.

  As far as gore and shock value goes, Suicide Club won¡¦t disappoint fans of Audition or Battle Royale. The first 5 minutes of the movie inside Sinjuku station set a reverberating macabre tone throughout the movie with promises of wall-covering blood, strewn limbs and human-skin rolls (wink wink) to come. Director Sion Sono (also a noted gay porn director and experimental poet) does an excellent job creating and maintaining the creepy and sinister undercurrent throughout the movie. The problem is, the undercurrent simmers and simmers but never boils. The plot is at best non-linear and mostly illogical, peppered with characters with unclear motives, an out-of-nowhere Rocky Horror-esque musical number, and existential soliloquies that fans of Neo Genesis Evangelion would instantly identify. There are plenty of impressive moments throughout Suicide Club, but it is unclear whether they serve to enhance or befuddle the main mystery of the suicides.

  It¡¦s really a shame because Suicide Club is really a social commentary with underlying themes that cut deep into the Japanese psyche. The suicides baffle police detectives partially because the truth is hidden somewhere in bubble gum pop music, internet message boards and instant messaging, phenomena on the other side of the generation gap. The suicidal slogan ¡§To connect yourself to yourself¡¨ while trite to us Americans post-teens, is nevertheless an important commentary on the Japanese society that is historically obsessed with community and nationalism at the cost of individual liberty and identity. Perhaps the real horror of Suicide Club is that the premise of the movie, in the eyes of all the over-studied students, over-worked salaryman, and over-disconnected families of Japan, is not really that far fetched.

  Unfortunately, all its earnest intentions at social satire are mostly drowned in the blood of Suicide Club.
  
  

• Jisatsu saakuru.
  By APCHVFMSQZVY4 on 2005-09-27
  Suicide club was deffinently a strange film, I don't think that some people are going to get it. The first opening sequence was amazing as it was very gruesome, a bunch of school girls at a subway station decide to comit suicide by leaping of the platform infront of a moving train, soon a detective is called in to the scene in order to investigate the bizzare incident.
  
  during the course of the film alot of weird stuff happens the detective finds a roll of human skin and more suicides occur he also comunicates with a girl on the internet who might be the one responsible for starting this club as she gives him some clues. The way the film was shot was excellent it had alot of style and dark atmosphere the way I would describe it would be a combination of David Lynch and a gory art house film with a bit of social commentary.
  
  I thought that the message contained in this film was great and its open for discussion. To fully understand this film you have to watch it a second time at least but only if you have a strong stomach and yes I agree with reviewer Jeffrey Leach Hollywood is deffinently not going to make a remake out of this film cause they couldn't figure it out they will probably f*** up just look at Dark water, the film was a bit confusing but still the Japanese continue to make great horror films as I was completely surprised and amazed, I deffinently recomend this to fans of Japanese horror.
  
  
• One of the wost films I've seen. Ever.
  By A1Z2EO2S4G40RT on 2005-01-23
  I took this film not knowing what to except. This movie was on tha wall of "Employees favorites" in our local Blockbuster. Well, if I'll find the guy who nominated this movie I'll definately ask him for my money back.
  
  More to the point - this movie is NOT a thriller - there is no logic, no explanation, and lots of loose ends. It only show bizzare, unrelated event, and some (not too many) gory details. If you do take this movie after reading this, hoping that maybe "This Amir guy did not get it", and "There must be something good about this movie" please come back later and write your honest review...
  
  
• Confused
  By A305TEJ64XTH6Q on 2007-01-09
  I like Japanese films, and really wanted to like this one. However I must say there are a lot of confusing parts to the plot. Now I have read this is going to be part of a trilogy one day. If that is true I might give it a higher rating. As of now however, there are just a lot of things that don't make sense.
  
  
• I'm Pretty Sure I Liked This Movie
  By AZTOAD13FDS58 on 2004-05-15
  It was definitely confusing though. Immediately after finishing the movie I couldn't decide if I liked, or really did NOT like, "Suicide Club". I think much of the criticism stems from this being a Japanese social commentary, which is constructed very differently from American movies. There's no attempt to tie the loose ends or reason out the actions of the characters, although it's possible that some of the meaning was lost in the translation. Americans like their movies to make sense within the context of an overall plot. Making sense was not a top priority in this movie - the commentary was.

  The central question is the relationship of self with respect to modern pop society. Regardless of WHO was doing the killing or HOW they killed, it is the degradation of core values in the face of pop commercialism that is symbolically killing the youth of Japan. In asking the question "what is your relationship to yourself", the older generation could not comprehend the paradox because they could not relate to the pressures and unknowns plaguing the younger generation. In their quest to understand their relationship to themselves, the younger generation turns not to a stable core society but to pop culture, which in turn kills them (via suicide).

  I think the execution of the film would make much more sense to native Japanese, or perhaps they would not be as critical of the plot holes. The movie does meander, and the subplots are never fully explored or resolved. And yes, the whole character of Genesis seemed contrived, especially since I had no idea who he was or what he represented. Didn't like him torturing pets. Really didn't like his singing.

  As for the violence, the movie isn't that gory. Certainly "Seven" was far worse, or for that matter "Kill Bill". In fact the blood scenes weren't done that well, but the cheerfulness the kids have before their suicides is chilling.

  This is a good movie. The idea of cute Japanese girls slaughtering themselves alone is worth a look, and the social commentary is quite interesting. Just be prepared to end the moving asking "But what about..."
  
  

• Trying to be extreme and intellectual
  By ADQQE8RSV6KFP on 2004-12-31
  This movie tries to be extreme and also to be intellectual. It is neither. I agree with the majority of reviews that say there was something interesting about the beginning with the suicides and the sown-together skin of the "victims" being left at the scene.
  
  However, no real story ever develops and interest deteriorates ever minute you watch. There is a lot of time spent on story pieces that are never shown how they fit into the main story line. My assumption is that this was purposeful done, trying to be intellectual by "letting the audience interpret for themselves". It wasn't "intellectual". The story pieces didn't connect and the story fell apart because of it.
  
  This movie does paint a well-done dark atmosphere in the beginning which I enjoyed. The skin sewn together was a good effect similar to the stomach in the bag in Se7en. However, anything that involved blood was done as bad as I've seen anywhere. Someone off camera throws a bucket of blood on a wall or other surroundings.
  
  I wanted to like it. It introduced elements that I was interesting in having expanded and explored more. Then when I was interested, it went nowhere. All potential. But all the potential remains unexploited.
  
  In the end, it seems some bubblegum pop girl band is somehow behind it all. How? Who know? Not even the writer, I'm sure.
  
  It's not intellectual. It's not even quasi-intellectual. It's downright stupid. It's a bad movie.
  
  I hope this director can work on something dark and similar to this but a good story. I think a great movie could be made with a better story. (Oh, and of course, a dark movie but one without blood, which was extremely, incompetently done)
  
  
  
  
• Don't Kill Yourself!!
  By A1N85K51GIK3WG on 2005-09-02
  Please do not hurt yourself because you don't understand this movie. This is a great movie with a strong message and some people just don't get it. It may take two or maybe even three viewings to understand what they are saying but its clear as day.
  
  In my opinion its just like Fight Club. Some people will only see the violence and thats it. The message completely goes over their heads because they are blinded to it. Its about the influence, whether good or bad, of pop culture on the youth. Its about the growing population. Its about adults not taking responsiblity.
  
  The acting was great especially the young girl whose boyfriend takes a swan dive off a building. The cops were all great. See the movie and evalute it for yourself but its not for the kids. Its disturbing, violent and just plain scary. American directors please leave this one alone!! Do not butcher this one like you did the Ring or The Grudge or Dark Water.
  
  This movie and Battle Royale are two of the greatest.
  
  
• help this asian film lover to understand
  By AU51BJB28PEFG on 2004-01-25
  The first hour or so of this film is truly amazing !!. seriously.
  You find yourself baffled and looking for what is causing these suicides. There is a web page that updates everytime someone is killed....these circles representing each death vibrate....are they hipnostising the victim to kill themselves???? everytime this pop song plays on the tv or radio, someone seems to commit suicide...who knows what's going on. Twenty minutes before the end we see the main character unable to accept his loss in his family, commit suicide himself!!! wow!!! then we see an over the top character claiming to be a modern age manson. How is he responsible for the suicides?? is he responsible??? apparently there are undertones here warning us about pop culture and a girl in the film cracks some kind of code, revealing the relationship between the pop group and the deaths.
  What follows does not make any sense at all.
  Personally, to me, even though other reviewers out there are saying there are many hidden messages here, it feels like the director came to a point in the film where he wasn't sure what to blame the suicides on and threw in an abrupt inexplicable ending.
  It is a real shame. What start off as an awsome thrilling film (up there with RING,DARK WATER and AUDITION) becomes a serious let down.
  I love david lynch, Polish bros etc etc. I love puzzles!! but here I feel like I have been cheated out of any explanation whatsoever!
  
  
• Simple
  By AOYVEISIQLQWW on 2005-04-04
  This movie really deals on where you are as a person. If you are a surface person, you will look at this movie and just see another violent film and you will assume the plot is shallow because, simply, you are shallow. If you are a person deeply in touch with who you are, then you will understand this movie's purpose. It's that simple
  
  
• This is, by far, the strangest movie that I have ever seen
  By APPT4C6N78UQ2 on 2005-06-01
  I refuse to rate this. It does not deserve any stars.
  
  Okay, there are some people on here saying it is horror... some say it is satire... some say it is art... some say don't take it seriously... some say some other crap... in all honesty, this movie makes no sense at all. It was very good until... yes, the Rocky Horror Picture Show wannabes. It really started to unravel a bit before that. And I can kind of understand the point the movie is trying to make... BUT THERE IS NO PLOT!!! Nothing is tied together, nothing is explained, there is nothing to explain enything! You never figure out what the Suicide Club is, how it works, or what the hell all those little kids had to do with ANYTHING! Did they kill people? And, if they did, how the hell did they convince people to kill themselves? By saying "Oh, you're not connected to yourself!" Now tell me, why in God's name would that statement make you want to kill yourself? Or was it the little Prosti-Tots that convinced everyone to kill themselves by some kind of subliminal message in their terrible, terrible music? This movie makes no sense. NOBODY IN JAPAN KNOWS HOW TO MAKE A MOVIE!!! This movie reminds me so much of that piece of crap TOMIE that it makes me vomit. I rented that one too. It made no sense by the end. No one in Japan knows how to make movies. This movie proves it. Was it actually a hit in Japan??
  
  
• Note on Suicide Club DVD
  By A2KQRUUCBT8YUG on 2007-01-30
  Suicide Club is 4/3 letterboxed widescreen and will not display properly on the widescreen TV without zooming which cuts off parts of the subtitles When printed on the box, in big letters, it says "new anamorphic widesceen transfer" one would expect it to be correct! Wouldn't one?
  
  
  
  
• Frustrating
  By AEG3I82BVE2ZK on 2004-01-19
  It's one of those movies that annoys one royally, not because it's ineptly made, but because it's well-made but squanders a lot of potential.

  The opening scenes are remarkable and memorable. Fifty-four girls go to a train platform, laughing and joking, and as a train approaches, almost playfully take hands and jump under the train's wheels, where they're all killed in some amazingly explicit footage.

  The suspense is mounting...what is causing the wave of suicides among Japan's youth? What is the meaning of the strips of skin taken from each corpse, found in a bag at each crime scene, sewn together in a grisly chain? What is the meaning of the website that logs the suicides as they happen, before they're reported or even discovered?

  Unfortunately, the story is largely unresolved at the end. After getting off to such a great and intriguing start, it seems as if the writers and directors had no idea of where to take the story or how to end it. Plot elements are dropped. Important characters disappear halfway through. Insignificant characters suddenly take center stage. Time is wasted on red-herring subplots. The conclusion is a garbled mess that will leave the viewer scratching his head. The film comes to a stop rather than a satisfactory end.

  It's too bad, because the first half is so good and haunting. It's frustrating to see it veer off into surreal, pretentious nonsense.

  There's a great story here, waiting for a cohesive ending. With the wave of Asian-horror remakes on the way from Hollywood (DARK WATER, THE GRUDGE, etc), I almost hope some producer will take the first half of this movie and make a more comprehensible ending for it.
  
  

• I laughed, I cried, I said "wtf?"
  By AHJPXYTVFLPM1 on 2004-08-09
  I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. I understood the matrix the first time, I can follow political thrillers, I know how to work my VCR, and I didn't go see "Scoobie Doo."....so I feel pretty confident that I'm right when I say that this movie was completely unintelligible.
  
  It's not that it wasn't interesting, in fact, it draws you in with a mass suicide right at the beginning, but it goes nowhere from there. There are glimpses of social satire, such as the disgustingly terrible girl band that seems to make people want to kill themselves, and the fact that cell phones and internet are used to recruit people into the "Suicide Club," which is run by a five year old boy with a bad cough. There's also lots of talk of having a "connection to yourself" which is indirectly touted as a deterrent to suicide. I also found it significant that there was never any sincere dialogue between the characters...every one seemed very distant from one another.
  Anyway, my point is, there's something there, but it never actually materialized.
  
  Watch it if you want to laugh at incredibly unrealisic gore, or if you love asian girl bands, or if you like quasi-artistic pretentious indie films, or if you're just plain curious. BUT, do not watch it if your looking to see a film that has a coherent plot or an intelligent script.
  
  
• Commentary on a disasociated Japan *spoilers*
  By AF1VHA7BVWLO1 on 2004-08-24
  On a purely visceral level I dug it, on a cinematic level I dug it, but on an intellectual level I feel that it falls somewhat short. There's just too much that doesn't add up for me and at times it felt like it was being obtuse for the sake of being obtuse. I wouldn't call it pretentious or smug like some other obtuse movies I've seen (Public Access for one. A movie my friend aptly dubbed "the cinematic equivalent to blue balls"), but I definitely agree with the person who said that the only way to understand everything would be to crawl into the brain of the Shion Sono.
  
  I got the whole point about the act of suicide being up to the individual, and that it was a choice between being an individual and becoming part of society. The teenagers that jumped off the roof weren't linked to the little kids in rainslickers because there was no sports bag found. Therefore their decision to jump reinforces the idea that society or the group is really the culprit behind everything. Especially when you realize that the last girl to jump was the very first girl to stand on the ledge (I rewound the DVD three times and counted to be positive.) Had the others not joined her on the ledge (peer pressure) perhaps none of them would have jumped.
  
  I could even see that suicide was merely a metaphor for the obliteration of one's identity in order to become part of the group. The girls jump off the tracks, we see one girl's face (her identity) pulverized by the train and then just buckets of blood. Afterwards in the morgue, the "body" of the victim that they find is a combination of several bodies mashed together. When the teenagers jump off the roof we see them fall and then, once again, blood. We don't see the bodies afterwards other than the ear, but whose ear is it? And when the girls jump off Osaka Castle it happens off-screen. Once they become part of the group they no longer exist.
  
  Unfortunately, both of those ideas seem to be contradicted several times throughout the movie, so I can't be certain that those theories are valid. In fact, half of the movie seems to directly contradict the other half.
  
  If the whole point of the suicides is to enforce the idea that being an individual is more important than being part of the group, and if the chain of skin is supposed to represent that we are all connected to one another, how do those two ideas co-exist? Why did those who chose to commit suicide and those who didn't commit suicide BOTH have their backs shaved? Wouldn't it have made more sense to have those who chose suicide be the sole donators to the skin chain? Instead of living as an individual they elect to have a big hunk of skin taken off with a plane and commit suicide just so they can belong to the group. Maybe its just me, but that makes a whole hell of a lot more sense then what actually happened in the movie.
  
  Also, IF the message of the film is individuality over faceless society, then why did the second child berate Detective Kuroda for not caring about any of the victims until they were personally connected to him AFTER the first child "explained" the whole connection dealy? "Scum!" That seemed more of a "we are all connected and should take care of each other" message than a "live for yourself" message.
  
  If we know that the kids who jump off the roof of the school AREN'T connected to the other suicides because of the lack of the sports bag and its contents, then what about all of the other suicides that ARE linked to Dessert yet have no gym bag? There was no gym bag found at Mitsuko's boyfriend's suicide (since his skin was on one of the other skin chains) nor was there one at Detective Kuroda's house, but obviously both are connected to the original mass suicide.
  
  When the girls jump off of Osaka Castle while the young detective is staring at the website the red dots blink onto the screen AS he gets the phone call telling him about it, not before. So how could this jibe with what The Bat originally tells them about the dots appearing BEFORE the suicides? Especially since the suicides HAD to have happened some time before he got the phone call. Shouldn't those dots appear immediately after the Q&A with the audience of creepy children? That's supposedly when they decide to kill themselves or not, right?
  
  Other scenes just raise questions with no discernable answers or make no sense to me at all. Why did the security guard see the ghosts of the two nurses? Was that scene even necessary? Why didn't the other comedian kill himself too? Did he know his partner was going to knife himself in the throat? He must have, because he didn't even blink while the audience ran out screaming. Why are the little kids wearing yellow rain slickers? Did they get them on sale or something? How come BOTH of the mysterious kids who called the police cleared their throats after every speech, yet NONE of the kids in the audience did? Are there TWO sets of little kids? One group who runs the www.maru.ne.jp website and keep baby chicks and another group with post nasal drip who runs the Ruins.com website and keep rabbits, or are the two sites related? Why set up a website that says "Send this message to stop the suicides" if you're just going to call the people that sign up and tell them there is no Suicide Club? And what purpose did the other website serve other than being a psychotic score board? Why did three times as many girls/women kill themselves as boys/men? Were there only three sports bags and three skin chains? And if so does that mean that the kids had a set number of people they were going to test? What role do Dessert actually play other than being a key to a riddle? Are they themselves part of this whole thing, or are they being controlled? Do they even exist? We never see them other than on television or in print. What of the arena itself? Is it some mystical place or merely a conduit to the realm where those creepy little kids interrogate J-Pop fans? Why was it Dessert's last performance? Again, does that mean there was a set number of people needed for the skin chains? Oh, and perhaps most importantly, WHO THE HELL ARE THOSE LITTLE KIDS?!?!?!?!
  
  The only thing I feel that I completely understand was the purpose for Genesis and his "Suicide Club." A Suicide Club that only kills others and not themselves mind you, reinforcing the notion that there is indeed NO Suicide Club. I don't believe their purpose was for some Rocky Horror homage or sheer shock value. If you watch The Bat and her friend's expressions before they are kidnapped they are practically giddy about the prospect of contacting the people responsible for the suicides. She even signs her BBS post to "my DEAR Suicide Club". She went looking for some sort of idealized evil, but instead of getting what she had romanticized about she found true depravity. It's not unlike teenagers in our own culture who worship serial killers or mass murderers because they think it makes them dark and outsiders and therefore cool. Oh and yes, she did die after Genesis and his merry band caught her typing. Think about it. He wants to get caught, but more importantly he wants to be infamous. The higher the body count, the higher the level of infamy. Also think about what happened the FIRST time he told one of his goons to be entertaining.
  
  I really did like this movie a lot despite its many flaws. It's seemingly contradictory metaphors and puzzle pieces that don't quite fit (make them fit! whoo!) I'm sure that a lot of those contradictions and dead-ends exist solely to move along the plot or provide cooler imagery, but that doesn't bother me as much as it probably should. Even now as I write this I'm pondering all those unanswered and unanswerable questions, but not in a bad way. I'm curious rather than frustrated. And even though I wish the film gave more concrete answers, I agree with the person who said that the overall feeling the movie leaves you with is far more important than the solution to the puzzle.
  
  Which is good, because frankly I kind of doubt there even IS a solution.
  
  
• Suicide Club Review
  By ALRPUOWVACH9V on 2005-02-28
  Suicide Club (AKA Jisatsu Cirlcle, AKA Jisatsu Club) is more than a movie about the group suicides of Japanese school children (with a couple exceptions of adults), it is about more than murders committed by a gang led by a Charles Manson fanatic, more than people trying to find connections to the suicides, but while we're at it, let's just scratch the surface.
  
  Detective Kuroda (Ryo Ishibashi....seen in films such as Audition) is basically trying to find connections between a recent string of group suicides taking the lives of Japanese school children. After each group suicide, a large roll of human skin is found. None of the school children seem to be of the type to commit suicide. They're all normal kids; happy kids. They even have happy dispositions while in the process of killing themselves. The story branches to "The Bat", a girl/computer geek trying to find a connection between the murders (she also finds a website connected to suicides that haven't happened yet, another girl that is trying to connect the suicide of her boyfriend to any other event, and an insane man obsessed with Charles Manson that also breaks into song.
  
  Many people dislike this movie because they find it to be too confusing. They need to look at the whole movie in a symbolic sense. It is actually a movie about religion, about how fads sweep quickly throughout Japan, about families drifting apart, about the dangers of idolizing pop-icons/famous faces too drastically.
  
  While, in one scene, the movie attempts to be a bit too "artistic", and some of the special effects are a bit cheesy (example: blood sprays as it would from a Nightmare on Elm St. movie or a kung-fu flick), it does not really detract from the overall greatness of the film. It is still one of the best thrillers I've seen in a while. I highly recommend picking this one up.
  
  
• Intriguing, Thought-provoking and very disturbing.
  By AIYYKHP5N3YLO on 2003-12-01
  With the begining of the film showing us the gruesome act of 54 joyous high-school girls jumping into the path of an on-coming train, "Suicide Club" is one of the most graphic and intensely bizarre films in any type of film. Here is a movie, the prime example of self re-examination, that will leave you in a twisted state of mind that you may or may not be able to comprehend. I found myself at the end of the movie, questioning my own beliefs and morals. "Do i actually have that connection w/ myself?" "Do i know myself as much as i believe?" "If i were to die, would my self-sacrafice make me closer to the people around me?" "Does my life matter?" It terrified me that a movie, of all things, could do this kind of thing to a person.
  I also believe it to be a movie with multiple meanings. There is no possible way that every person who sees this will come up with the same meanings at the end. I found it to be giving a warning: Do not let pop culture and peer pressure influence your morality, common sense, pride and courage. You have the ability to say no or break free from the expectations of society and all their proverbial boxes.
  
  Do not expect to see a movie of camera turn-aways when a person(s) dies, it shows all the blood, no censorship. And let me tell you, i was very happy to see such disgusting and disturbing images on my big-screen t.v.
  "Suicide Club" is a great buy, even if you have not seen it before. I bought this movie w/out seeing it, and i was amazed. But it is definitely a movie you won't be able to watch day after day. You might have to wait a few days to watch it again because it will keep you thinking and keep you very, very disturbed. I know, i have only watched it once and still can't bring myself to watch it again yet...its been three days. Highly Reccomended for gore-fans, intellects, thinkers, philosephers and so on.
  
  
• Just because it's weird doesn't mean you have to like it
  By A3D2AIP1XQAZTZ on 2004-07-05
  I was intrigued with the plot at the beginning. There were some nice dark, suspensful scenes, and I thought I would really get into this film. But midway through, things began going downhill. At first, I could deal with the awful music, but even that too much by the end.

  It's true -- this movie is gruesome. But that's not what bothers me. What I didn't like was how terribly uncomfortable it made me feel by the time it was finished. I don't mind the blood -- it's a combination of the convoluted plot, the absolutely DREADFUL music, and the inexcuseably bad juxtaposition of the teenie-pop ensemble singing whilst people die.

  The plot goes thru plot twists that even David Lynch might enjoy. I can appreciate an artistic statement with such twists. But soon they become tiresome and forced. The Rocky Horror-like interlude was one of the worst things I've ever seen in film. It's not that it's poorly done. It's just wholly unpleasant and disgusting. Exuberant and ugly.

  Did I mention that the music in this movie makes my skin crawl? Between the worthless oft-repeated synth-orchestra melody and the bubblegum pop of Desert (Dessart? Dessert?), I couldn't wait to go to my stereo and listen to ANYTHING.

  I think a lot of people are saying good things about this movie just because it's weird. They can't follow the story (you're not supposed to be able to) so they think it's some form of high art. Wrong. It's just bad. I dig David Lynch as much as the next guy, but Suicide Club is just plain bad. Don't read anything into this movie that isn't there. This is the cinematic equivalent of someone scratching their nails on a chalk board.
  
  

• Strangely Intriguing
  By AHITZVJ210C7Z on 2005-01-28
  There is no doubt that Suicide Club will leave you haunted, and asking questions about what the plot was about. Shion Sono was more concerned about conveying a message than giving us a plot, and the confusing imagery and lack of connections between characters were part of the puzzle. However, I am still perplexed myself about many things, however, I truly enjoyed this movie.
  The gore was great, all those neat little girls in their school uniforms joining hands jumping in front of a subway train. The kid s jumping off buildings had an enormous amount of shock value that kept you watching the movie in awe. The mysterious "Bat"
  person, and the Glam Rock person that came out of nowhere, just to mention a few characters.
  It's futile to try to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Sono's message is about what is happening to our younger generation today with all the pop culture and pressures they have. Trying to find out who you are when you're a teenager is a nightmare, especially today with all our new technology. We have computers, video games with lavish graphics, music videos giving you subliminal messages, and so on. So, these kids are confused, lack identity, and are depressed in this film and if suicide is the thing to do, or the trend it could possibly happen.
  This is a dark satire about the vast differences between the older and new generation and lack of communication between them. As far as the film, if you can view it not expecting it to make a whole lot of sense, some of it will eventually make some sense.
  
  
  
• That's it everyone. Goodbye!
  By A2B8GXSCB1R05T on 2006-03-16
  Suicide means something different in Japan. Laking any religious proscription, it has been seen as a valid method of escape from unfavorable circumstances. Even today, tales of internet suicide pacts are regular news items, with people who never knew each other before gathering to die together, and escape an intolerable existence. "The Complete Guide to Suicide" is a consistent best seller.
  
  Director Sono Shion has attempted to capitalize, exploit and possibly understand this culture of suicide, taking the unusual stance of combining it with modern Japanese youth culture and teen-idol worship. The all-girl pop group "Desert" is an obvious stand-in for "Morning Musume," although Sono has taken their particular brand of harmless bubblegum pop and given them a darker, more destructive edge.
  
  "Suicide Circle" starts out with a bang, to be sure. The opening scene is probably 90% of the film's hype, and the first thing everyone mentions when talking about the movie. All those cheery young girls throwing themselves off the train platform is something that sticks with you. From there, it becomes a detective story, as Detective Kuroda (former rock star Ishibashi Ryo) hunts for the reason behind the recent suicide epidemic, his only clue being a roll of human flesh, stitched together from pieces willingly cut from the suicides.
  
  Unfortunately, the film falls apart with the introduction of the red-herring character Genesis, played by pop-idol Lolly, who bursts into a non-sequitur musical video that completely disrupts the established tone and pace. Perhaps Sono thought it was a bold and innovative digression, but it is one that ultimately fails and "Suicide Circle" never quite recovers.
  
  Its too bad, because otherwise this could have been one of the great modern Japanese films. It is unsettling, atmospheric and ultimately unresolved, as an issue like this must always be. If you have a skip button on your DVD player, and time it just right, then it will be a very satisfying experience.
  
  
• Hmm...
  By A2WZRBFLJESCSH on 2006-07-05
  What can one say about "Suicide Club" It's another one of those wacky movies from those crazy Japanese folks. In the vein of "Ju-On" and "Ringu"... definitely in the ballpark of "Audition"... but less horror and a little more shock value. Don't let that deter you. For some people (and some movies) that's a good thing. There have been movies such as "Evil Dead", "Wicker Man" and dare I say the appalling "Doom Generation" which have accumulated insane cult followings. I think the same applies here. It's hard to take the whole premise seriously, buckets of blood and all... but if you take it for what it is, it can be an enjoyable movie. Cheesy, but entertaining.
  
  I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying that the premise is just as the title suggests... an increasing number of mass suicides that occur in Tokyo. Detectives investigate the deaths and try to determine a point of origin. The outcome is, in my opinion, one of those predictable 'twists' that you can see coming from the first hint of foreshadowing. But... still an interesting one.
  
  If you're into the crazy Japanese flicks, into the cult horror flicks, or get off to seeing Asian girls in school uniforms... this movie is for you! If you're looking for an amazing achievement in foreign cinema... look elsewhere.
  
  
• Makes you wanna...
  By on 2003-11-27
  The premise of the movie is intriguing and the first hour at least kept my interest. The tone of the film is all over the place, so I wouldn't say the execution was great. Ryo Ishibashi is the lead in this and he is a great actor (as best seen in "Audition"). The problem is that after the first hour, the movie takes a horrid turn into some nightmarish faux musical. I'm not kidding, if you blink, you'll think you're watching a Japanese take on John Waters. The next half hour quickly deteriorates into an unwatchable mess. Horrible, truly horrible, and an absolute waste of time.
  
  
• Disgusting, Misguided, Stupid
  By on 2004-01-01
  I turned this movie off right when a man randomly starting crushing puppy skulls with his high heeled shoes (note: they were alive.). This is the most disturbing movie I have ever seen. I do not flinch watching Kill Bill or Bravehart, and Saving Private Ryan's gore did not catch me as particularily over the top. However, this movie and its makers are morally reprehensible. Do not watch this movie, it will degrade the morality of the viewer. If you like this movie you have no soul.
  
  
• Even Glam Rock Can't Save This Movie
  By A2HCQTEQ8JT8SL on 2004-03-20
  This movie started out OK. The cutesy school girls committing suicide was a good time, and there was even an excess of blood spraying on bystanders. The movie even held up about 45 minutes in, that is, until the main character committed suicide. Roll Credits. No actually, there is an hour left. This is when the movie divulges into a meaningless, directionless waste of film. The first half of the movie was building you up, and was actually pretty cool and interesting. With a quick pull of a trigger, the whole plot, character development and movie go into the toilet. I can only assume that this movie was intended to shock, but ends up falling infinitely short. It seems the director forgot that without coherency, nobody would care. If you want a good gore-fest shock-cinema movie, see Riki-Oh, or even Battle Royale. If you want a well-done, frightening movie, see Audition. Whatever you do, don't waste your money on this trite abomination of a film.
  
  
• sickening and stupid
  By on 2004-03-24
  The movie simply out, has no story to it. Groups of people jump off of buildings, or in front of oncoming trains, body parts fly everywhere, and our heroes, the local cops, try to make sense of it...oh yes, the internet is thrown in ( i guess that's like saying movies in the 1940's had automobiles ). In this case, the net supposedly has clues to what is causing this mass self killings. In the end, no sense is made at all---clearly the writer and director had a message about the hateful sameness of life in crowded Japan, where everyone looks the same ( japanese culture is notoriously intolerant of different ethnic groups ), and everyone does the same thing, riding crowded commuter trains and the worshipping commercial blaring tv at home. A weak attempt is made towrds the end to explain the effort of some sort of either a cult or perhaps even a master force that communicates via the medium of the moment ( WWW, TV ) to get it's message of suicide to the next chosen group, ( naturally, the HQ of the master force is a tv station ) but it is never explained and makes absolutely no sense.

  one of the worst movies I have ever seen.
  
  

• Battle Royale Directors Cut
• Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
• Ichi the Killer (Unrated Edition)
• Oldboy
• Battle Royale 2 Revenge Uncut SE