Uzumaki

Uzumaki is a film released in 2000 based off the popular horror manga of the same name. Like the manga the movie follows highschool student Kirie and her boyfriend Shuichi and the horrors they face in their little town of Kurozu-cho. Shuichi's father begins to act strangely, developing an obsession with uzumaki, or spirals. Shuichi claims that the town is cursed by the spiral and that his father has fallen victim to the spiral. After Shuichi's father kills himself in a very unordinary way, a sequence of events occur that further prove Shuichi's statement.

Overall, it's a good movie for its time. It's a visually good looking movie and the special effects were brilliant, making the movie look and feel close to Junji Ito's original vision. The overall plot feels very cluttered, however, as they tried to fit as many events from all three books into one movie as possible while still trying to capture the overall premise of Junji Ito's original story.

If you're a fan of the books and you're looking for a movie that's close to its original source material, I'm afraid you won't find it here. It's not so much that it's poorly written, it's more or less the limitations on budget and effects. The studio just didn't have enough money and resources to capture the epic ending of the books.

In all, if you're a loyal fan of Junji Ito or even a loyal fan of the horror genre, this movie might not be the best one out there, but it's an overlooked gem that's worth checking out.

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