Kairo (2001)

Director:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Writer:

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (writer)

Release Date:

9 November 2005 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Yûrei ni aitai desu ka? (Do you want to meet a ghost?)

Plot:

Japanese university students investigate a series of suicides linked to an Internet Web cam that promises visitors the chance to interact with the dead.

Plot Keywords:

Internet | Shadow | Alone | Forbidden Room | One Word Title

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Haruhiko Katô	...	Ryosuke Kawashima
Kumiko Asô	...	Michi Kudo
Koyuki	...	Harue Karasawa
Kurume Arisaka	...	Junko Sasano
Masatoshi Matsuo	...	Toshio Yabe
Shinji Takeda	...	Yoshizaki
Jun Fubuki	...	Michi's mother
Shun Sugata	...	Boss
Shô Aikawa	...	Employee
Kôji Yakusho	...	Ship Captain
Kenji Mizuhashi	...	Taguchi
Takumi Tanji	...	Man with Bag
Hassei Takano	...	Student A
Atsushi Yuki	...	Student B
Go Takashima	...	Student C

Also Known As:

Pulse (International: English title)
The Circuit

MPAA:

Rated R for some violent images.

Runtime:

118 min | Hong Kong:119 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:Not Rated | Germany:12 | Australia:MA (2006) | New Zealand:R13 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Singapore:PG | France:U | Hong Kong:IIB (DVD rating) | South Korea:15

Company:

Daiei Eiga

Trivia:

A large number of scenes were shot from windows.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Pulse (2006/I)

Soundtrack:

Hane Lay Down My Arms

The creepiest horror movie ever made

Sorry for the hyperbole topic but I mean it. I am a horror movie fanatic and I have become desensitized to cheap scares with loud noises and murderers running around with axes. I am very picky and only like one out of every few dozen horror movies I watch. I also don't like nonsensical supernatural horror that uses creepy images as a gimmick without actually bothering to make any sense. So when I say that this is the creepiest horror movie ever made, it is not hyperbole.

That said, this movie will bore or confound the average horror movie watcher. It is not linear or logical and it doesn't explain everything that is going on, but it doesn't have to.

This is an apocalyptic horror movie about loneliness and how people may become distant islands and ghosts even through connecting technology like cellphones and the internet. I don't know how anyone can make a horror movie about loneliness and make it creepy as hell but Kiyoshi Kurosawa pulled it off.

That's all you need to know. Experience it with the lights off, no breaks, noise or distractions, or I will lock you in a room with a depressed ghost and tape the door shut with red tape until you become so lonely you will evaporate into nothing.