Page 189 - Nightmare Japan Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema

176 Nightmare Japan

Contagion and Chaos:
Ochiai Masayuki’s Infection and Tsuruta Norio’s Premonition

The first two entries in a projected series of feature-length ‘J-horror’ films
directed by several of the genre’s most respected filmmakers, 1 Ochiai
Masayuki’s Infection (2004) and Tsuruta Norio’s Premonition (2004)
offer refreshingly thoughtful and, at times, strikingly original variations
upon the frantic propagation of retread narratives and all-too-predictable
conceits that threaten to dilute the genre. At once contributions to, and
variations upon, the plethora of horror films created to accrue quick
capital while the genre remains a ‘hot’ property in domestic and foreign
markets, Infection and Premonition demonstrate that the future of
Japanese horror resides in filmmakers’ dedication to the potentially
hazardous thrills of innovation rather than their adherence to the insipid
tedium of clichéd repetition. Each film contains and exceeds the visual
and narratological constructs that infuse much of Japanese horror cinema,
paving the way for future artists to advance the genre in creative and
socially critical directions.
Ochiai Masayuki’s Infection takes place within a dilapidated
urban hospital staffed by a skeleton crew of ethically questionable
physicians and under-prepared nurses. Surreal and frequently darkly
humorous in tone, Infection’s action unfolds slowly at first, though as the
film builds momentum, it becomes increasingly clear that Ochiai is more
concerned with generating atmosphere and exhibiting gruesome special
effects than in constructing a coherent narrative. That said, the events
depicted in Infection are as gripping as they are sardonic, ultimately
referencing a plurality of socio-cultural anxieties with the subtlety of a
scalpel slashing across a pulsing artery. When a physician’s negligence
contributes to a patient’s demise, the hospital’s guilt-ridden, panicking
employees collaborate to shield him. This suppression of culpability
results in a chain of successively grisly events exacerbated by the
unwelcome arrival, via ambulance, of an internally putrefying man. The

1 At the time of this writing, the release of Rinne (2005), Shimizu Takashi’s contribution to the
J-Horror Theatre series, is imminent.