Spiral (2000)

Welcome to the world of Junji Itou

So, I can see straight away why a lot of people weren't too keen on this on their viewing; it's weird, it's zany, it's grotesque and it's a massive "what the fk is going on here" all at the same time. It's not hard to see why a lot of people didn't like it or got confused (and if you're someone who got confused, I recommend reading Uzumaki by Junji Ito - the source material).

However - holy sht this is one of the best J-horrors I've watched in a long time. This is ultimately everything the manga is; it gave me the same feelings of confusion, the same shocked horror, the unnerving feeling creeping up my spine as I turned pages (or in this case, watched on). There were some really good jump scares in this that I can't even be angry about the cheapness of some; it all worked so well with the general theme that Ito gives throughout his works.

The sound track in this was very original and very out of the mold and I adore it, it adds so much to the film as does the bad acting at times - something I first thought would annoy me, but only goes on to be a defining part of the film as everything else.

All in all, I would say for sure, read the manga and then hop into this - don't mind the reviews and make your own viewing assumptions as you go along. Easily my favourite film of 2020 and I cannot wait to watch the rest of the works from this director and the cast. Brilliant, brilliant film, cannot wait for the eventual rewatch!

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