Similar to *Se7en* and *Zodiac* (two movies i'm not crazy about) so naturally this did not work for me as it's a lesser version of those two. The initial mystery was so captivating and got me fully on board. I like the atmosphere and the almost fantasy elements that spice up the usual *Zodiac*-ish recipe with the killer. A real good start but it runs out of ideas somewhere in the second act and after that it's just rince, repeat, rince, repeat... until I got irritated and disinterested in the outcome. There's no twist really at the end, it just hits a brick wall and expects you to come up with an ending. So flat. Nothing memorable.

The main character is the worst detective ever, he can't even interrogate someone for more than 5 minutes without having an outburst of emotions—but at the same time I get it, the killer is very irritating! No charisma or personality in sight, just a robot that pops out questions. I didn't really feel much watching this movie either, it tries to get emotional a few times but it was just poor and cheesy. Very light horror elements, this is more of a dark crime thriller with a couple of bloody scenes.

Inexplicable murders plague a Japanese town, conspicuous not just in their brutish commonality (each victim is finished in the same way: a broad X carved into their neck) but in the immediate presence and confused confession of a guilty party. The evidence doesn't lie - these men and women clearly committed the crime - but the striking similarities and a complete lack of motive or hesitation suggest something larger at work. Alongside an obsessive, emotionally distant police detective, we dig for clues, grow frustrated, luck into a break and suddenly find ourselves right in the middle of something that's beyond our control.

Exploring the tricky theme of impulsive, ritualistic violence as a sort of viral social disorder, Kiyoshi Kurosawa (no relation to Akira) toys with some heavy stuff in Cure. It's a bold experiment that doesn't always work. The setup of the first hour, for example, is awfully slow and disconnected, considering the amount of bloody murder going down. Once we edge nearer to the cause of this macabre work, though, things get interesting, fast. It's horror in both the traditional sense and a more modern one; a gory hunt for an unhinged mastermind (of sorts) with startling jumps and plenty of body bags, but also a haunting vision of madness as an uncontrollable plague, an invisible killer that moves from one host to the next. An imperfect but effective experiment, particularly as the screen betrays our trust in the third act.

Cure, a Japanese psychological mystery-horror film

It was fantastic. It's one of the eeriest movies I have seen in a while. Then again, Japanese movies know how to do that.

And this isn't just a crime thriller, but a horror movie. The murderer in the film uses hypnosis to make people commit murder, and the murderer toys with the detective effectively. He pretends to have memory loss, so whenever you ask him a question, he will ask you a question, then moments later ask you again and again. He acts like he's got the mind of a curious child. In some way, he is not different from cult leader Charles Manson, who was notoriously one of the evilest and most high-profile men in history, who is responsible for the brutal murder of Shannon Tate and her friends, and yet, he hasn't killed anyone for what we know but instead told others to do his dirty work.

And it makes you mad as well, as he gets on your nerves. But the thing is, he sounds confused and almost like a lost child. There is one creepy scene where the murderer hides in a dark room, and the detective tries to find him while the murderer asks who he is and why why why questions and then repeats the question as if he forgot, and the detective gets angrier and angrier trying to find him.

The acting in this movie is fan-freaking-tastic. I don’t know how to explain it, but it always sounds natural and raw whenever Japanese actors yell.

There's barely a score in the movie, but the sound is enhanced to the max, leaving an uneasy atmosphere.

I know, not the usual Halloween movie, but it is psychological and horrific.