Page 173 - Nightmare Japan Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema

160 Nightmare Japan

Image 17: One spiral among many in Higuchinsky’s Uzumaki (Courtesy Rapid Eye
Movies)

Fade Away and Radiate: Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Pulse

In an interview with Patrick Macias, Kurosawa Kiyoshi responds to a
question regarding influences upon his cinematic vision by praising the
work of Tobe Hooper, the American director of such horror films as The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (USA, 1974), Lifeforce (USA, 1985), and
Spontaneous Combustion (USA, 1990). Given Hooper’s aptitude for
constructing nightmarish scenes redolent with a tension-filled and
claustrophobic atmosphere, as well as Hooper’s works’ overtly politically
and philosophically charged agendas, Kurosawa’s admiration for
Hooper’s films should come as no surprise. Throughout horror films like
Cure (Kyua, 1997), Charisma (Karisuma, 1999) and Seance (Kôrei,
2000), Kurosawa consistently demonstrates a mastery of the genre; his
films deliver plentiful shocks, but not before his deliberate pacing and
meticulous compositions submerge audiences within an uneasy sea of
escalating expectation and fear. In Pulse, his most accomplished work to
date, Kurosawa demonstrates the skill of an artist in near total command