HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2020: Cure (1997)

There’s no sponsor today, so the Randomizer gave me this film written and directed (and based on the novel by) Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Cure.  I had a vague recollection of trying to watch this long ago on IFC back when I had cable, and not getting far into it before falling asleep.  However, given the reputation of the film--supposedly this was championed by, among other people, Martin Scorcese--I thought it deserved a reviewing.

And not only am I glad I got a chance to see this a second time, I now understand why I fell asleep during that first viewing.

Detective Takabe (Koji Yoshuko) is becoming incredibly frustrated by investigation a series of grotesque murders.  The victim and killer seem random, no connection between any of the cases save that the killers always carves an X over the victims’ chest in such a way that both their carotid arteries are cut.  Working with the psychiatrist Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki), he discovers--but not before the viewer does--that an amnesiac drifter (Masato Hagiwara) seems to be using a version of mesmerism to trigger these murders.  Takabe goes to great extremes trying to understand how and why this drifter carried these acts out, even as he begins to realize he is coming dangerously close to falling under the man’s sway.

This is an incredibly quiet movie--outside of a small clip of inappropriately peppy music during the shocking opening sequence, playing while the third killer is showering off the blood of his prostitute victim, I don’t think there’s any sort of soundtrack.  Kurasawa relies on ambient sound to score his film, allowing us to accept the groundedness of a film that shouldn’t be grounded much at all.  As such, we’re focused totally on Takabe, who is an....adequate cop whose nerves are being frayed by this drifter even as he deals with the increasing mental illness of his wife.  For the first two acts, Kurasawa does his scenes as long, unbroken shots, many times in long shot, forcing us to concentrate on what’s going on in the story over the artifice of telling it on film.  There are very few things that could be considered scares in an American movie, very sparse gore, so this police procedural with a hypnosis angle becomes....hypnotic.  Watching it in my old apartment in Ridgewood, with the lights off, one Saturday night, I’m not surprised I drifted off.

....until we get to what is a jump scare, a jump scare so bald-faced that it would be laughed out of a conventionally shot American film, that actually made me jump and was Kurasawa’s way of letting me know that we were entering a more supernatural territory and tipping us off to the fact that Takabe was brought under at some point during his interrogation of the drifter the police learn is named Mamiya.  It’s a small sea change, but it gives our writer/director permission to become more creative.  Suddenly, long static shots give way to a series of editing decision, and there are moments where I actively wondered if it was really going on or part of Takabe’s fantasy.  By the time we are let in on the film’s center conceit in a strange sequence where our two ‘heroes’ watch a video of some footage shot in the 19th century, we are far gone and realize the inevitable conclusion to this story.

There is one other thing that I thinks works overwhelmingly in this film’s favor, and I’m not sure if it was intended.  The print of this film I watched was not the best, but I swore at random times throughout this story’s hour-and-fifty-one minute running time that the film slows down just a tiny bit, just long enough that you notice that the actors are moving sluggishly, before returning to normal speed.  Because it’s used so sparingly, attention is not drawn to it--but it did make me feel uncomfortable.  I would like to think, given some of the other conscious choices he made, that this was Kurasawa’s intention, but I admit this might be just a weird case of serendipity.

As you gathered, this is a very long film.  I don’t think it feels long, and a large part of that is the shift in filmmaking Kurasawa makes at the film’s midpoint.  It is very deliberate, it takes its time getting to the point and may not be for everyone.  But I can’t help thinking that this was a pre-shock to the ‘Indie Horror’ we are getting here in the States, where a director doesn’t hold our hand and expects us to do a little work in getting that uneasy feeling.  I do recommend this.

Tomorrow it’s finally time for my second bout with Nicholas Kaufmann as I view his choice for this year, The Food of The Gods, a film by Bert I. Gordon (His initials are BIG!) supposedly based on an H.G. Wells novel and featuring former child preacher Marjoe Gortner and, making her second appearance in this year’s Gauntlet of Ghoulishness, Ida Lupino.  Will I reach a new level of suffering at Nicholas’ hand?  We’ll find out!

There are Three Sponsorship Slots Left in the Halloween Horrorfest this year.  To claim one, do one of four things:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Black Lives Matter.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

As with last year, if I end up with more sponsors than there are days in October, I will go into Horrorfest Overtime, which means Halloween goes into November for me--and you!