Infection

The whole "J-horror" phenomenon may be winding down. I have not seen a clever or original entry in the sub-genre in some time. It seems they are becoming as bland as Hollywood even though most fans are still eating it up because they are in search of something different and smart. It also seems Taka Ichise produces every single one of these films so they can put some blurb about The Ring and The Grudge on the DVD box. It's getting old with me. Ringu and Ju-on were great horror films, but you can only beat a dead horse for so long. Infection (the first entry in the J-Horror Theater series) is definitely beating a dead horse. Nothing new is offered here regardless of all the potential the film had. Creepy empty hospital, weird patients, gooey green slime, and they blow it. It's just not scary, it doesn't deliver the goods like its predecessors. In fact, it's all very boring. I never once felt anything for the characters and nearly fell asleep multiple times. The situation was getting intense when they were searching for the host of the virus, but that doesn't last. In fact, there was no host at all it seems. The ending is about what I expected and I found it to be completely stupid. Some people are going to say that I missed the point, but I understood the film for the most part. It's just that I don't care. I've seen much better Asian efforts, such as The Eye and A Tale of Two Sisters, and the standards those films set are high. Infection just doesn't raise the bar.

I like how much work Japanese directors put into the pacing, atmospherics, and suspense of their horror films. This one is no exception. If you ever saw Kingdom Hospital and enjoyed it for the mix of suggestive spooky supernatural undertones clashing with rationalism and materialism thematically, then you might like this film as well. At first I thought this film would turn out to be something like 28 Days with ferocious infected zombies feeding on humans, but there is a much more clever plot line going on which I won't reveal. The plot seemed to have some holes in it til I realized what was really going on in the end. Mainly though, I enjoyed the mix of film with a suggestion of a supernatural influence in a materialist or rationalist world. Visual storytelling gets this idea across with images of, for example, swings swinging on their own near the hospital, or an old crazy lady who sees her dead relatives in mirrors staring at her reflection in a window looking like an apparition. I must say that after discovering Japanese thrillers and horror films, it is hard to go back to Hollywood offerings for sure. They seem so predictable, tame, and cookie-cutter in comparison.

Like so many J-horror flicks in years past, the plotting is a nonsensical mess of seemingly random events tied to a loose running narrative, but the visuals do a good job of maintaining interest.

A patient dies at a hospital due to a mistake made by a team of hospital personnel. Wanting so save their careers, they vow to cover it up. Around the same time, a young man arrives at the hospital exhibiting symptoms of an unknown contagion. After the youth dies due to the virus (by melting away, of all the unpleasant ways to go), the members of the conspiracy start behaving strangely and also experiencing the same symptoms. What is happening to them? That is about as linear as the plot ever gets, from there on the story starts rocketing back and forth between flashbacks, hallucinations, ghostly encounters and other odd events. Moreover, rather than moving toward a resolution of conflict, it merely gets weirder and stranger the longer it runs. The characters are mostly anarchistic views of social stereotypes, which makes hardly any of them likable or sympathetic. Also, the story drags for the first 30 minutes or so, while the last 30 minutes shoot by way to quickly; some re-editing could have helped with that.

Visually, the film is nice. A greenish hue covers most of the film, which gives it an eerie sort of discomfort. Also, many shot choices and camera angles add to the feeling of things not being right. There is a fair amount of 'gooey' scenes, but not very much in the way of the red stuff. Most of the scare set ups are fairly well done, but many of them conclude without much pay-off.

There's good (visuals), there's bad (the script), meaning it's really only meant for J-film fanatics.

6/10

This movie scared the living!%^*@ out of me! I watched it in daylight, but I was too scared to get up for a snack! The pacing can be a bit long, but if you have patience, it works.The use of lighting and wicked sets reminded me of Dario Argento's Suspiria, though lacking his flair for geometric patterns. The atmosphere is handily Lovecraftian with its sense of doom and inescapable dread. It was 117 outside, and I was stone-cold scared! This one has a place of honor on my shelf, right next to "Spiral", The Ring series, and my collection of Italian Splatter movies! I will be showing this at my Halloween party, along with some others to scare and sicken everyone.

"Infection" takes place in an old,dilapidated hospital that is barely able to keep its door open to the public due to a constant lack of adequate medicine,facilities and staff.The hospital is riddled with agony and suffering of countless patients and the strain on the doctors and nurses has reached the critical point.A doctor's negligence causes a patient to die and the panicked hospital staff decides to cover up the fatal mistake setting off a deadly chain of events.Paramedics bring a new patient into the hospital that has been stricken with so deadly that his innards have mysteriously disintegrated.The doctors attempt to contain the virus,but the ill patient escapes through the ventilation system ensuring that everyone inside the doomed hospital will have to fight for their lives from this horrifying epidemic.Unlike overrated "Cabin Fever","Infection" is a creepy and unsettling horror film.This is the first genre movie from the Taka Ichise-produced J-Horror Theater series.Director Masayuki Ochiai is already well-known as the director of "Parasite Eve" and "Hypnosis" ,while the cast includes Kôichi Satô,the star of "Rasen"."Infection" delivers its share of squirm inducing and gory moments and it certainly gets under your skin.Just ignore negative comments and enjoy this creepy piece of horror.9 out of 10.