Directed
by Masayuki Ochiai, 1999, 110 mins. starring Goro Inagaki, Miho
Kanno, Ken Utsui, Takeshi Masu, Yuki Watanabe, Shigemitsu Ogi, Ren
Osugi, Kenta Satoi, Noborou Shirai, Tadao Nakamura, and Katsumi
Takahashi.
Hypnosis
(aka Saimin, aka The Hypnotist), directed by Masayuki
Ochiai (who also adapted the screenplay from the original novel
by Keisuke Matsuoka, and whose previous cinematic offering was the
sci-fi horror success Parasite Eve, which also starred
Goro Inagaki) is a highly odd film, and no mistake. From the psychedelic
and wildly colourful style of the movie, you might well have thought
that the story had started out life as a manga; but that''s actually
not the case, which is a surprise, given its lurid, two-dimensional
feel and cartoony, unreal characterisations.
That's
not to say it's a bad film, by any means: some of the best films
of late have boasted the same kind of beautifully bizarre manga-type
visual aesthetics, including Ichi The
Killer and Uzumaki, both of which
were, of course, manga-based movies. Certainly elements of other
horror movies appear here, particularly in reference to Uzumaki
in a few places, but also the occasional nod to Ring
and Cronenberg's Videodrome in the use of creepy messages
and strange goings-on being projected via the TV screen.
However,
Hypnosis is not really a scary film, despite its
horror-genre status and delectable visuals. Packed to the brim with
slightly silly and glib characters, including the obligatory cynical
old cop with a dark-ish secret (played by Ken Utsui), the good-looking
young doctor of hypnosis (who you can spot as the film's love interest
within the first two minutes, played by Japanese pin-up Goro Inagaki),
the hammy-evil TV hypnotist (Takeshi Masu) and, of course, the multiple-personality
victim of the hypnotist, with a much darker secret than
the old cop (essayed by the ever-shrill-and-barely-watchable Miho
Kanno), Hypnosis is hardly an exercise in gritty reality
from the get-go.
That
said, it's a very entertaining, trashy freak-out of a movie, as
long as you don't take it too seriously. There's nothing profound
about it: this is no Cure, despite dealing
with the same kind of subject matter. It's way too predictable to
scare the crap out of you or give you nightmares - quite apart from
anything else, if you can't spot the real villain of this piece
within the first half-hour then I suggest you haven't watched enough
Scooby Doo on TV - but it's lightweight, weird, and fun, and that's
its true merit.
Synopsis
The
film opens with several scenes of bizarre and inexplicable suicide.
A happy wedding party is somewhat ruined by the groom, who strangles
himself with his own tie despite just getting married; an old man,
celebrating his wife's birthday, goes into a weird trance and jumps
through a plate-glass window; and a pretty young athlete, already
under pressure from her coach to perform better, goes crazy and
runs until her legs break and the bones pop out of her calves. All
of the cases have only one thing in common: none of the victims
were unhappy enough to commit suicide - in fact, two of them were
celebrating very happy occasions - and all of them mentioned something
about "a green monkey" before they wigged out and died.
Of
course, the local police are called in to investigate all three
strange cases: an old detective named Sakurai (played really well
by Ken Utsui) is put in charge of the investigation, along with
his somewhat jumpy young female assistant (who seems to
spend the entire movie alternately screaming and puking, to much
comic effect), a young doctor of psychology whose speciality is
hypnosis, Toshiya Saga (Goro Inagaki), and a cynical and unhelpful
detective from the drugs squad. It's not until the assistant mentions
that all three victims were overheard mumbling nonsense about a
'green monkey' before their deaths that Sakurai realises the three
were somehow related.
And
when the cases of Green Monkey-related suicide start coming in left,
right and centre for no apparent reason, finally Saga makes a connection
between the victims and hypnosis: his theory is that somehow, all
the victims have had a hypnotic suggestion implanted in their subconscious
minds so that, at a given sign, they would all make a reference
to the same green monkey before killing themselves in numerous horrible
ways... and it's not long before the team make another possible
connection, this time to a popular hypnosis show on TV called 'Contact',
led by a completely over-the-top evil hypnotist named Jissoji (Takeshi
Masu) whose favourite pastime seems to be picking out attractive
young ladies from his audience, humiliating them in public on national
TV, and then taking them back to his hotel room and raping them
while they're still under his mesmeric influence.
However,
what the team don't yet know is that Jissoji has been approached
by a mysterious, timid young woman named Yuka Irie (Miho Kanno)
who is in desperate trouble and begs him to help her, offering him
lots of money to cure her affliction. She is haunted by strange
images of green monkeys, and thinks she is possessed by the spirit
of an alien named Andria from the planet Fatima: in fact, under
stress, she changes her personality entirely to become Andria, sitting
bolt upright and chanting in a peculiar wooden voice.
Naturally,
being the kind of nice, kindly chap he is, Jissoji agrees to help
her... but in fact his ulterior motive is to use her bizarre alterego
as the star performer of his TV show. And when she mentions her
delusional green monkey on air, Sakurai and Saga are shocked, and
go straight to the TV studio to talk to Yuka. But Jissoji has other
plans for them, and puts Saga under hypnosis; however, the young
doctor has taken quite a fancy to Yuka, and is hellbent on proving
that Jissoji is not only the man behind the suicide wave, but also
that he's holding Yuka prisoner against her will.
But
when Saga spots Yuka wandering the streets in a trance and follows
her to the red-light district, he makes what he thinks is a breakthrough
discovery about the girl: she disappears into a seedy nightclub,
and when she reappears at the bar, she manifests a completely different
character. Dressed all in red, wearing an eyepatch and laughing
like an extroverted banshee and calling herself Rieko, it becomes
obvious to Saga that she's suffering from multiple personality syndrome,
and decides to check her up at the local psychiatric hospital, where
he discovers some interesting facts about her mental breakdown...
But
exactly how right are Saga and Sakurai about Jissoji's
level of influence over Yuka, and who is the mysterious 'Mouse'
that the nurse at the psychiatric hospital refers to? Why are so
many people killing themselves and talking about green monkies?
If it truly is due to hypnotic suggestion, what on earth could be
triggering off the trances? And will they discover the truth in
time to save their own skins?
Overall,
Hypnosis is a slick, stylish, great-looking, highly entertaining
film, bags of fun with some truly gruesome death scenes - one in
particular comes to mind, involving the young runner who runs until
her legs break and the bones rip out through her knees, which made
your humble reviewer shriek with mixed laughter and sympathy on
first viewing - and some awesome, dark-humoured imagery. And the
acting quality is pretty decent throughout, despite the major underpinning
role of the movie being played by Miho Kanno, who does a fairly
competent (if occasionally irritatingly hysterical and over-the-top)
job of playing her half-pathetic, half-psychotic character.
When
all's said and done, you could do worse than buying a huge bag of
popcorn and sticking Hypnosis on the DVD player on a Sunday
night. Just don't concentrate too hard on it, and please - I beg
you - if you're at all vulnerable to the power of mesmeric suggestion,
do not focus too much on the spiralling wheel during the
hypnosis scenes or... well, you might get a personal visit from
Miho Kanno - don't say we didn't warn you ;-)
Snowblood
Apple Rating for this film:
Entertainment value: 7/10
Chills: 1/10
Violence: 9/10
Sex: 2/10
Laughs: 7/10
Gory Suicides: rivals Suicide Circle and possibly wins
out through the sheer body-count alone
Recipe for Miho Kanno: 25% frumpy sad sack, 25% wooden alien, 25%
extra-shrill red-light slapper, 25% Sadako-style spirit of evil
- pop in microwave for 2 minutes, then add powdered Molly Ringwald
and Gorgonzola to taste
Red Herrings: 1, and if you can't spot it after the first 30 minutes,
shame on you ;-)
Litres of Tomato Ketchup: several tankers' worth
***Recommended***
This
film is currently under discussion here
at the Snowblood Apple Forums.
Hypnosis
Wallpaper
You can download this wallpaper here: [800x600]
[1024x768]
Wallpaper credit: Alex Apple, 2003
Snowblood Apple Filmographies
Masayuki
Ochiai
Goro Inagaki
Miho Kanno
Ken Utsui
Takeshi Masu
Shigemitsu Ogi
Links
http://www.artsmagic.co.uk/EasternCultCinema/
- you can buy a Region 2 PAL DVD of Hypnosis online here
at Artsmagic's official movie page; also features reviews, images,
special info, and a very nice wallpaper, based on the DVD cover
and originally from the poster you can spot behind Miho Kanno in
the nightclub scene of the film - do I win a prize for spotting
it?! (er, probably not ;-D)
http://www.bizarreingredients.co.uk/japan/a/hypnosis/hypnosis.htm
- Bazz's great and (as ever) highly insightful review of the movie,
with a synopsis, lovely images and comments
http://www.erahk.com/video/thriller/hypnosis/c_hypnosis.html
- official Chinese distributor's site with downloadable trailer,
photos, and useful info about the cast [Chinese only]
http://members.tripod.com/liliantws/saimin/saimin.htm
- page with downloads, links, cast pics, summary and info
http://www.toho.co.jp/music/soundtrack/saimin/saimin.htm
- official Toho page featuring downloadable samples from the soundtrack
http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com/COCP50089.htm
- information concerning the soundtrack, with a short plot outline
from the movie
http://taykis.tripod.com/kimuramatsu/eng_dreviews4.html
- a short review of the Saimin drama series that followed
on from the movie's success in Japan
http://www.unrated.co.uk/reviews.htm
- there's a short review of the movie here, along with a huge amount
of reviews of other great movies
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