Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
This post marks the beginning of a new series I’m calling ‘Double Bill’ where I watch a duo of films that relate to each other. I’m not talking ‘horror films’ but rather a category that’s a little more focused. Today, we’re talking about two Junji Ito film adaptations that will have your head spinning, maybe literally.
Tomie
Director: Ataru Oikawa
Running Time: 95 minutes
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2
The first film in this double bill, Tomie (1998), follows Tsukiko, a photography student, who is attempting to recover some forgotten memories associated with repressed trauma. During her visits with a psychiatrist, she uncovers the name of her former best friend. A name that may allow her to remember everything. That name is Tomie.
Meanwhile, Tomie’s head is regrowing a body in the custody of a recently escaped psychiatric hospital patient. Little does Tsukiko know that Tomie is growing fast and she’s out for revenge for an incident that occurred while the pair were at school together.
Later in the film, we meet a dodgy detective who is investigating Tomie and her seemingly supernatural nature. According to him, she is immortal and has lived several lives, causing men to fall dangerously in love with her. In the past, the detective says she has driven several of her classmates to suicide.
When Tsukiko and Tomie eventually meet once again, there are revelations which culminate in the finale. While she has been portrayed as an evil succubus who wants to use men for her own purposes, you could say Tomie is just your average high school student. She is self-conscious and curious but the Japanese educational and societal landscape does not allow for this in this time period.
With an excellent score and dreamlike images, Tomie feels like a relic, like an old home video lost to time. Although very much reminiscent of late 90s J-horror, it also possesses its own charm despite the tropes. The ending can also be read from a feminist perspective which is not necessarily what I expected but which I appreciated.
Uzumaki
Director: Higuchinsky
Running Time: 90 minutes
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Uzumaki (2000) is another film made in the late 90s/early 2000s J-horror period and based on a popular manga by Junji Ito. This one follows a town that has been cursed by spirals, causing people to become obsessed with the shape. Some people want to rid their bodies of spiral-shaped anatomical structures, some people want to collect spirals and some people become spirals themselves.
A pair of high school students resist the urge to run away to try and save the other inhabitants, including their parents. When this doesn’t go to plan, the spirals quickly take over, causing havoc and mayhem across the town.
While Uzumaki still has a fantastic score, dreamlike pacing and unique shots, it’s not quite as good as Tomie. The special effects are fun but also borderline laugh-out-loud and my eyebrows were raised for large portions of the film. It just didn’t have the same eeriness despite arguably being about a much more terrifying scenario. I certainly don’t know anyone who wants to become a spiral.
Although both adaptations lack some clarity, there’s a section in the middle of Uzumaki which is totally bizarre and doesn’t seem to make any sense. A detective goes to the library to research the spirals and a series of images relating to cults and symbols pop up on the screen. This is then presented as a huge and important finding. However, it doesn’t feel that revelatory and immediately loses any traction once that detective meets their spiral-related fate.
Recommendations or Regrets?
If I’d read the source materials, I think I may have harboured some disappointment because this seems to be the general theme amongst other people for whom Junji Ito is a favourite. However, because I watched these films with a separate perspective, I enjoyed them both for what they were.
While they are both somewhat cheesy and lacking in some clarity, they both feel like fever dreams that I’d want to keep returning to. The standout aspects of both were the scores and I’d quite happily listen to them both on their own without rewatching the films.
If you’re a fan of the 90s/early 2000s trends in J-horror, I’d recommend giving these two films a watch. Even if it’s just for the bizarre nature of them both, I think they’re worth adding to your watchlist.
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