Parasite Eve

This movie could well be a modern version of William Castle's THE TINGLER. But in this case, it's not a parasite hidden in the human spine which wants to free itself and have its own life but rather the mitochondria in the human body. "Mitochondria" is a term of cell biology. They are self-replicating organelles, bounded by 2 membranes, that are found in the cytoplasm of all eukaryotic cells and produce cellular energy in the form of ATP via the oxidative phosphorylation reactions.

The theory of PARASITE EVE is that mitochondria are very much a species with their own intentions. And all those years since evolution spat out the first humans, they were waiting for the day when they could finally break free. This day is NOW, and their outbreak of the human bodies would surely mean the end of all human life on earth. It's up to one lonely and desperate Japanese scientist to stop them after his beloved wife was killed as it was long-term planned by the mitochondria.

Like in many other modern Japanese horror and science fiction movies, the pace of PARASITE EVE is slow and often melancholic. But the daring storyline of the movie and the tension which is built slowly but surely until the climatic finale is worth watching anyway.

Japanese cinema has become an interesting alternative for lovers of the fantastic film genre. The way how Japanese films tell their story differs a great deal from Hollywood productions. If you have a chance to see PARASITE EVE, go see it or even buy it on DVD or VCD. If you're not an action-only fan, you won't regret it.

~~~I only vaguely remember the playstation game this movie is related to. I have never read the original novel. However, I have sat thru the experience of this DVD, & I must say that it is an interesting film indeed. I like the fact that it takes some real, tangible scientific data, & uses it for the basis of a well-written, well-acted piece of cinema.

I thought that the relationships were kept simple enough to allow the audience to draw their own conclusions, yet were complex enough to keep the audience guessing as to what those conclusions should be. This gave a dynamic to the relationships between the Drs, & their respective patients, as well as the links between all of the main characters.

The camera & light work was exceptional, & I look forward to watching the movie again, just so I can pick one aspect to focus on at a time, allowing me to absorb them systematically.

I recommend Parasite Eve to anyonwwe,without a doubt is one of the best foreign films I have seen in a long while.

A++

This is one of a class of horror films, that seems to have begun with "Eyes without a Face" (1960), then "The Brain that Wouldn't Die" 1962, followed by dozens of instances, including the "real" movie Embryo of 1976.

The form is pretty well established.

The first part features a male doctor involved in radical research. We incidentally learn of that research in offhand pseudoscience terms. The main focus of that first part is to convince us of his absolute devotion to a woman, his obsession. Its never love in the way we have it in the world, but selfish obsession built on top of movie romance. That way we tap date movies, and imply what happens in some cases after the wedding.

The second half reports on the result of this obsession applied to "keeping" his love through applying the tools of his research, and is a sort of tragedy. In all the cases I know, the results are shaped by what cinematic effects are possible at the time. So what we get is a collection of terror that depends on you shifting into movieland. The first half of the movie tricks you into that because we so readily buy into the movie romance world. One could almost say we are a world of stories that become obsessions. Then that investment we make is (with our agreement) turned on us as different cinematic horrors are brought out. Its movie-centric folding at its simplest.

How does this one do? Pretty well at the first part, I think. It takes an hour and seventeen minutes, which will probably tax your patience. But its done competently enough. The problem with any such first section is that it depends on movie clichés, because that's what movie romance is all about: here dreamy mooneyed stuff. It worked for me.

The second part didn't work. I think it was perhaps because it was so obviously a grabbag of what cheap software could do. The pseudoscience is supposed to give you a bridge, something to use as an internal excuse. But if you know anything at all, it doesn't stick here because it is so, so very bogus.

But its still instructive. Failures are as good as successes.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

completely not want i expected, I played the first video game, so i was expecting what was in the game. To my surprise it blew the game out of the water. I'm not much of a fan of subtitled films, but I couldn't stop watching. It had nice special effects and they didn't go overboard like many of the films out nowadays, plus it has a great storyline, also unlike many films nowadays. I recommend buying this film. Don't rent it, don't borrow it, find it and buy it. trust me you'll love it.

This is a movie that recently received a release on DVD from ADV Films. The DVD is letterboxed and very high quality, offering subtitling on the original soundtrack. This was originally a made-for-television movie in Japan. It is now getting its US release.

The movie is actually very impressive, especially from a biological standpoint. Many terms and concepts within the storyline are actually workable, at least early in the film. This may seem like a minor point, but after watching numerous films that don't bother to do any research about the subject manner, it was nice to see someone pay attention to some technical details. Now, again, this is only for the first half of the film as the second half delves into some fairly weird biological twists.

If you are looking for a monster movie, this is not it. If you want martial arts, or a bullet-ballet, this isn't that kind of movie. However, if you are interested in seeing a film that has better-than-average acting, a decent, albeit strange, relationship, and a good sci-fi storyline, this one will entertain. The best science fiction has always been based upon concepts that originate from science fact. This script, taken from the novel by Hideaki Sena, understands that idea.

I have never read the novel, nor have I played the video games based upon it, so I cannot say how well they all relate. I have read that the video games are actually sequels to the novel, and that some fans of the video games expecting a similar product in this movie have been disappointed. It has been suggested that the movie's large amount of dialogue plays havoc with those who have a short attention span, but to make the movie a hack-and-slash flick would have been a big mistake.