KingVoyeur
04-19-2006, 09:23 AM
Ok, I was wondering if anyone else has seen this 2004 J-Horror flick. I caught it on TV last night, and found it to be one of the creepier J-Horror films I've seen. Think "Cabin Fever" meets "The Ring" meets "ER" with a LOT more gore.
The film is set in a creepy run down hospital that seems to be on the verge of shutting down. The staff is small, there are renovations that have been left unfinished, and the director has apparently left. Among the staff are a nurse fresh out of school, two young doctors, a veteran doctor, and a strict head nurse. Among the patients are an old woman who thinks she sees her ancestors in mirrors, a young boy, and a comatose burn victim. Tonight, the burn victim who has been comatose for months suddenly goes into cardiac arrest, and as the doctors and nurses try to revive him, one of the nurses makes a mistake that proves fatal for the patient. The group decides to cover-up the mistake and say the patient died of natural causes. At the same time, an ambulance drops off a patient who apparently has some sort of rash and his internal organs are liquefying, turning him into a gory mess (we never actually see him, just lots of gore and descriptions from the docotors). Soon, the infection begins to spread among the staff, but is it natural or something more supernatural that is taking revenge?
**Spoiler discussion**
You're never quite sure if the place is haunted. Everytime it seems like something ghostly has happened, it is shown to just be a normal event (shadow in front of a window, a dead body moving, etc.). This happens constantly and is very unnerving. Once members of the staff become infected, start going crazy and then liquefy into gory mush, it almost seems like they're possessed, but their actions could just be effects of the infection. However, some ghostly events do happen, like a swing outside swinging by itself, and a visitor who isn't really there. One by the one the staff succumbs until there is only one doctor left (the infection however, doesn't touch the patients). What happens next turns the entire story upside down. The filmmakers throw every film-ending twist ever done one right after the other, completely disorienting the viewer. The doctor thinks he's dreaming. Then a daytime staff psychiatrist comes in and to her it seems like the doctor killed everyone. Then, she freaks out and it seems like maybe she dreamed everything even though she wasn't even there!
The film is a tad confusing at the end, with all the twists that happen. It's very interesting how the filmmakers look at perspective and make you question every bit of reality, even things you've taken for fact all your life. I highly recommend it, especially for gore fans, and would love to hear comments from anyone else who's seen it!
The film is set in a creepy run down hospital that seems to be on the verge of shutting down. The staff is small, there are renovations that have been left unfinished, and the director has apparently left. Among the staff are a nurse fresh out of school, two young doctors, a veteran doctor, and a strict head nurse. Among the patients are an old woman who thinks she sees her ancestors in mirrors, a young boy, and a comatose burn victim. Tonight, the burn victim who has been comatose for months suddenly goes into cardiac arrest, and as the doctors and nurses try to revive him, one of the nurses makes a mistake that proves fatal for the patient. The group decides to cover-up the mistake and say the patient died of natural causes. At the same time, an ambulance drops off a patient who apparently has some sort of rash and his internal organs are liquefying, turning him into a gory mess (we never actually see him, just lots of gore and descriptions from the docotors). Soon, the infection begins to spread among the staff, but is it natural or something more supernatural that is taking revenge?
**Spoiler discussion**
You're never quite sure if the place is haunted. Everytime it seems like something ghostly has happened, it is shown to just be a normal event (shadow in front of a window, a dead body moving, etc.). This happens constantly and is very unnerving. Once members of the staff become infected, start going crazy and then liquefy into gory mush, it almost seems like they're possessed, but their actions could just be effects of the infection. However, some ghostly events do happen, like a swing outside swinging by itself, and a visitor who isn't really there. One by the one the staff succumbs until there is only one doctor left (the infection however, doesn't touch the patients). What happens next turns the entire story upside down. The filmmakers throw every film-ending twist ever done one right after the other, completely disorienting the viewer. The doctor thinks he's dreaming. Then a daytime staff psychiatrist comes in and to her it seems like the doctor killed everyone. Then, she freaks out and it seems like maybe she dreamed everything even though she wasn't even there!
The film is a tad confusing at the end, with all the twists that happen. It's very interesting how the filmmakers look at perspective and make you question every bit of reality, even things you've taken for fact all your life. I highly recommend it, especially for gore fans, and would love to hear comments from anyone else who's seen it!