Chad

Undeadcow

The hard boiled cop thriller nature of Cure gels into a gritty tone with good pacing. The premise of hypnotic suggestion murders is a great way to offer crazy wtf killings and surrealism to the crime proceedings adding a surprisingly intense psychological bend. While the material is smart and well staged I'll admit Kiyoshi Kurosawa films are often too slow for me or with twists that don't quite stand up to the development. The detective cannot be well hypnotized seems like a device that negates the film because outside of plot the resolution was preinstalled. I'm not sure I quite understand the end with the phonogram or waitress; Wikipedia suggests it's ambiguous to suggest maybe the cop now has hypnotic powers with murderous intent but that makes little sense to me. Perhaps it's these details that will make Cure stick with me a little longer than most as a puzzle; or stand more as a testament to style over substance.

FWIW I streamed a copy of this on Youtube from Japanesemoviefan and noticed some occasional jitters; but nothing to distracting.

Toddarino

I watched on YouTube as well. It was alright. A tad slow, but I thought the concept was interesting.
Movie pet peeve though. He doesn’t touch his food at the diner.

numbercrunch

I am not sure what to make of this one. A police officer investigates a series of murders where the victim has a large x carved from his neck to his chest. More of a psychological horror than a serial killer film. Very interesting, but also leaves you with a lot of questions
7/10

exharrison

It was interesting and I enjoyed the style despite not being what I expected. I actually kind of like the ambiguity of the ending. Even if it does have its issues.

Toddarino

The Q&A on YouTube was decent as well.

jholmes

That was interesting. Unique police procedural mystery with a trippy killer/method. The amnesia guy, Mimaya, really was infuriating, wasn't he? :-) And it managed to not go to the obvious places (like the detective killing his wife). I would have liked a wee bit more explanation on why Mimaya forgot who he was since that didn't seem to happen to the detective at the end, though it was implied that he now bore the curse. Though he didn't ask the waitress about herself so not sure about that.

Anywho, I like police procedurals and this one kept my interest for sure. I'd give it a 4/5.

rbrown498

I just don't get the films of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I've watched his Kairo (Pulse) three times and still don't know what's going on in it. I was able to follow this one a lot easier, but it's still not exactly my idea of an enthralling movie. I might like it more on a second viewing; it's certainly got an interesting feel to it. For the moment, however, I'm on the fence about it.

My subset film rankings for the Challenge thus far:

1. Battle Royale
2. Carrie (1976)
3. Curse of the Demon
4. Slither
5. Witchfinder General
6. A Bay of Blood / The Spiral Staircase (averaged together)
7. Silent Madness
8. Slumber Party Massacre II (based purely on its out-of-left-field aesthetic)
9. In Search of Darkness
10. Road Games
11. Cure
12. Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II
13. Grave Robbers (Ladrones de Tumbas)
14. The Severed Arm
15. The Mortuary Collection
16. Cutting Class

wishbone

Police should have let Vincent D'Onofrio's Detective Goren have a crack at Mamiya. With the ambiguous ending it seems like evil still wins.

Trevor

Thanks, I’ll have to check that out!

Another winner for me. Love the premise and the ambiguity. I take the ending as the evil being passed on to our protagonist.

Stealing rbrown’s subset ranking idea:

Curse of the Demon, 8/10
The Phantom Carriage, 8/10
Carrie, 8/10
Cure, 8/10
Battle Royale, 8/10
The Spiral Staircase, 8/10
Slumber Party Massacre 2, 7/10
A Bay of Blood, 7/10
The Frighteners, 7/10
Road Games, 7/10
Slither, 7/10
Witchfinder General 7/10
The Mortuary Collection, 6/10
Cutting Class, 6/10
Prom Night 2: Hello Mary Lou, 6/10
In Search of Darkness, 6/10
Grave Robbers, 5/10
Silent Madness, 5/10
The Severed Arm, 4/10

clckworang

I liked the movie all right. It's one I've heard about for a long time but never seen. Happy to finally remedy that. Interesting to see some of the comments. Perhaps because I'm too literal minded or missed some things, but I never thought of it as a curse. I never really thought Mimaya had amnesia. I thought his questions were misdirections to finally break someone down. That's why the ending really threw me because I didn't understand what motivation Takabe would have to kill. A curse would make more sense. I guess it's also left ambiguous who killed the wife. There are definitely lingering questions, but I'm not sure I care enough what the answers are.