r/J_Horror • u/Salty_Gap_ • 9d ago
Discussion What are your thoughts about this movie?
I watched it yesterday. It’s okay but not that great I guess.
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u/keveotaku-chan 5d ago
esta re buena esa pelicula,no es como la mejor del planeta pero me gustó mucho ya que la vi en video de peores universos japoneses para vivir
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u/TheHungryCreatures Creepy Spiral Folks 7d ago
Love this movie, goopy fun with an incredibly effective plot twist.
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u/ghorrorofficial 8d ago
This one is seriously underrated. The whole thing has such a weird, unsettling atmosphere. Definitely stayed with me after watching it.
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u/Most-Stable5550 8d ago
Watched this last year or so and it was a fun time. Not sure it quite landed in execution in some moments, but I feel it deserves an updated physical release for the collectors out there.
This was a good reminder that I need to watch some of the director’s other films.
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u/warriorkalia 8d ago
It's the reason I found a favorite music artist (Miwako Okuda)
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u/Salty_Gap_ 8d ago
Yeah, the music is top notch in the movie. I didn’t know that Miwako Okuda is the singer.
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u/MichaelVoorhees13 8d ago
Infection is an absolute banger. A contemporary is Premonition which is also excellent. Also from tat time is Reincarnation. Great time for J-Horror.
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u/wishxornwasjustxorn 8d ago
I will always hold this movie dearly cause i saw it with my sister, we haven't seen it since tho lol
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
Decent. I liked Koichi Sato in this and Spiral (1998) tbh. Although Shiro Sano was pretty good in this and even better in Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki (1992).
There’s a lot of actors in the J-Horror Theater series that have starred in other horror films. Infection (2004) is the first entry in the series followed by Premonition (2004)
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
also the J-Horror Theater series consists of:
- Infection (2004)
- Premonition (2004)
- Reincarnation (2005)
- Retribution (2006)
- Kaidan (2007)
- Kyofu (2010) / “The Sylvian Experiments”
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u/Salty_Gap_ 8d ago
Yeah, I am planning to watch the other movies in the J-Horror theatre series.
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
I recommend if you haven’t, check out Evil Dead Trap (1988) & Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki (1992) as they are crucial parts of J-Horror history as well
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u/Salty_Gap_ 7d ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I have already watched evil dead trap, I just need to watch the 2nd part. Do you know where can I find it?
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 7d ago
I think Amazon Prime and Amazon has it, unsure of where else though.
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u/video_dromer 8d ago
Phenomenal. Criminally underrated. Brilliant atmosphere, great acting, sharp storytelling. Absolute must see for J-Horror fans.
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
also some of the other actors and actresses in this film have been in other horror films and productions, Koichi Sato was in Spiral (1998), Shiro Sano was in Evil Dead Trap 2: Hideki (1992), Yoko Maki was in The Grudge (2004) as well as The Vanished (2006), Tae Kimura was in Ring: The Final Chapter (1999) as Sadako.
So there’s a lot of interesting facts behind this film that tie into the general Japanese horror history.
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u/Andrew_6207 9d ago edited 6d ago
I had this on DVD. I may have watched it twice. I seem to recall there was an overdose that precipitated the horror?
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u/Total-Initial-7051 9d ago
Better than 90% of any American horror films.
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u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
if you looked at films like The Evil Dead and how much that influenced Japanese horror cinema you’d likely not say that. I mean both Bloody Muscle: Bodybuilder in Hell (1995) by Shinichi Fukazawa as well as Kenichi Ugana’s Visitors: Complete Edition (2023) pulled inspiration from The Evil Dead
as well as slashers in Japan usually making reference to American horror films, some of them of course.
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u/Total-Initial-7051 8d ago
I did say 90%, not 100%, did I not? Now, I can say it IS better than ANY modern American horror film.
I will agree with you about the original Evil Dead movie, which I really hope you're talking about.•
u/Dizzy-Economist6064 Splatter Hound 8d ago
yes and also Evil Dead II (1987) having had influence on some J-Horror films as well as films such as Poltergeist (1982) as it inspired the TV scene in Ring (1998) and also stuff like Videodrome (1983) having influence on stuff like Yoshihiro Nishimura’s Anatomia Extinction (1995).
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u/FrankSonata 9d ago edited 8d ago
I really like this movie. It's not a masterpiece or anything, but it's a solid film. I love how quickly things get going, how larger-than-life some of it is (like how overtly evil Dr. Akai is), and how they go all-in for the camera work and lighting. The filmmakers had an idea, and they gave it 100% of their effort. If anyone else had made it, it would have been terrible.
There's a bit that might be lost in translation, although they do mention it in the film. The English word for "infection" comes from Latin "inficere", meaning "to dye" or "to taint with colour". Basically, one of the earliest ways people detected infections was discoloration of tissues, e.g. pale skin, red swelling, yellow or green pus. Well, Japanese is similar. The word "infection" in Japanese is 感染, which has two characters. The first means "emotion", and the second means "dying" or "colouring". Similarly, way back when, people knew you were sick with an infection if there was discoloration and if you had some kind of change in emotions, e.g. lethargic, irritable, stressed.
In this movie, they even talk about the redness of the apple and how people with a certain kind of brain damage can misinterpret the colour as green. They also mention how unconscious patients never get infected, but awake people, and especially more emotional people, get infected pretty quickly. The infection basically makes you hysterical (emotions: the first character in 感染) and makes things change colour (colouring: the second character in 感染), especially involving red and green, as with the nurse holding a red apple that gets illuminated and appears green, or how people don't bleed red blood but instead ooze green goo. Towards the end of the night, not only is everyone completely hysterical, but the whole hospital is lit with green and red lights, showing that the whole place is infected. The next morning, we see it's actually still normal, with white walls and stuff, so what happened during the night was probably just what the characters were seeing. It's a movie that is unclear as to what actually happens and what is imagined by feverish, infected minds. It's campy and over-the-top because it is basically a fever dream.
Also most of the staff have names with either a character for colour in them, or are a homophone for a colour. Like the main doctor, Dr. Akiba. His name means "autumn leaves" (colourful) and his first name is Seiichi, the first character of which has "blue" in it. The new, bullied nurse also has "blue" in one of the characters for her name (the 青 part in 安積). Or the wonderfully evil Dr. Akai, whose name has "red", the "aka" 赤 part of "Akai" 赤い. Colours, especially red and green, are a really big thing that isn't just a stylistic choice but taps into what's going on with the infection and what an infection even is.
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u/Salty_Gap_ 9d ago
Wow, that’s some detailed analysis right there. I have never put this much thinking about the details but now I think I have to give it a rewatch to understand it from a different point of view. Btw thanks to tell me so much about the detailings of the movie.🙂🙂
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u/mark_tranquilitybase 9d ago
Very different from my usual J-Horror watchs and I loved it. Not a big semiotics guy but I fucking love what they did with the colors
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u/WabbieSabbie 9d ago
Watched it 15 years ago. Enjoyed it. Especially the twist.
Watched it again 2 months ago. Enjoyed it even more. Probably because I'm older and would notice more stuff related to its themes and all.
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u/Starbbex0617 9d ago
Loveee this movie. It's a little campy but definitely fits right up there with awesome Asian horror.
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u/katakatakara 9d ago
Some pretty silly stuff 😂 I also remember like a bunch of shots with dutch angles.
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u/LovecraftGhoul 9d ago
I love it but it took me a few times watching it to really fall for it.
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u/Salty_Gap_ 9d ago
Oh, I will watch it again then.
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u/LovecraftGhoul 9d ago
I do agree the ending feels a bit rushed but I like the overall feel of it plus good acting and the idea I liked.
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u/amitkattal 9d ago
I love it for a lot of reasons- the eerie vibe and desolate hospital environment and the mystery about what actually happened. But i can see why its not gonna be everyone's favourite. Same reason Pulse is my all time favourite horror movie but my friends find that extremely boring
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u/AltruisticCableCar 9d ago
Is this the one where they turn into like green goo? If so I've seen it, if not... well, I have not.
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u/Salty_Gap_ 9d ago
Yes.
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u/AltruisticCableCar 9d ago
I watched it when I lived in Japan, it was on their Netflix back then and it had no foreign subs and my Japanese isn't that good. Them turning into goo is basically all I remember. 😅
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u/FrankSonata 9d ago
When I first came to Japan, I spoke absolutely nothing and went to the cinema to watch some English movie that turned out to be sold out. Since I was there anyway, I wanted to watch something, so I chose a random movie based on the trailers playing. It looked like a very shitty zombie movie--perfect for light entertainment, and not the sort of thing you need to understand the language for.
At first I was kind of annoyed, because it was even shittier than I had expected. The acting was so bad and awkward, the sound was terrible, etc. but I'd paid like 2500 yen for a ticket and popcorn, so I was determined to sit it out and get my money's worth.
Anyway, it was One Cut Of The Dead and it is absolutely fucking fantastic. If you haven't seen it, avoid spoilers, because it starts bad but gets much better. Very different from Infection, with less slime, but a bit more vomit and blood.
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u/AltruisticCableCar 9d ago
I could introduce myself and say "I don't understand" and read some hiragana when I first moved to Japan, haha. I can relate!
Never heard of that movie but I'm adding it to my watch list. I generally go blind into most things because that's how I prefer it. Some trailers spoil waaaaay too much to a point where I'm like do I even want to watch it now? If I do watch a trailer I usually know within 20 seconds or so if I want to see it and then just turn it off and wait for the movie.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Also, it's a bit ridiculous that out of all the things I did in Japan I never went to the cinema.
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u/Salty_Gap_ 9d ago
Oh, I understand 😅😅my Japanese isn’t good either. So, I also need English subtitles.
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u/AltruisticCableCar 9d ago
Now that I know the English title maybe I'll look it up and watch it again. Maybe if I can understand more than like 10% of the dialogue I'll enjoy it more, haha.
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u/Visorxs 9d ago
We watched this when i was 7yo, and all i can remember is i cant sleep that night. 😭
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u/Pretzelbite 9d ago
I also watched this as a kid and was absolutely terrified…. The scene with the old lady on the bed freaked me out so bad
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u/Salty_Gap_ 9d ago
The movie has a solid start like how the infection was spreading and how the doctors are trying find a way out but I didn’t like the ending. It felt like they rushed the ending.
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u/Nerv81 1d ago
Awesome little flick. I actually just got it cheap off amazon the other day.