GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

poe426 THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS in its depiction(s) of medically-induced paranormal power(s) brings to mind some of the early work of Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg; i.e.; the black and white short STEREO and the feature film that may or may not have sprung from that, SCANNERS, as well as the mind-bending VIDEODROME (not to mention dozens of other such movies in between- and since). When her daughter Miyuki joins a group of would-be suicides in an airtight van with the treacherous Hattori, her mother takes the opportunity to subject her to a series of experiments, promising her: "You're going to see what humans can't. The reality of the world beyond our world." Following the experiment, Miyuki disappears from her mother's clinic with another subject. Miyuki's sister, Kaori, arrives to try to help find her, but when she and her mother return to the clinic, everyone there is dead. In a VERY Cronenbergeque scene, her mother shows Kaori that the walls have become "just like skin" because Miyuki's thoughts have started to affect the Reality all around her. There are some great twists near the end of the movie, but the ending itself is surprisingly disappointing because it's been done a million times before. Still, I would recommend THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS to anyone who's a fan of David Cronenberg or of exceptionally well-crafted Japanese fright films.

gothic_a666 'Kyofu' starts out as intriguing only to plummet into muddled vagaries and plot-less shenanigans with an overly ambitious undertone and is never fully realized. The initial thrust of the movie includes a failed suicide who ends up a guinea pig captive of her own mother, the experiments including brain surgery in a quest to alter human perception and bring the species to a whole new level. A chilling scenario given that the point of the reference were human experiments that the Imperial army actually performed on prisoners of war during WWII.In fact, the horrors of such things like Unit 731 are beyond anything 'Kyofu' could ever hope to achieve, testifying that real life can so often trump fiction. But perhaps it is unfair to expect this movie to deliver on that account, however, this is a movie spawned from a rich tradition of scary cinema and it fails to live up to the expectations within the genre.Instead of exploring a genuinely scary story the movie loses itself in meanderings about life after death, virgin pregnancy, a looming bright light that becomes very fake looking CG created fog to represent the never quite explained threat, and there is even one of those infuriating twists that by now are all too tiresome.'Kyofu' does try to be scary and its vocabulary is for the most part that of Asian horror with a slow pace, plenty of moody scenery be it a creepy clinic or the many forest scenes that seem to invoke such classics as the Tale of Two Sisters. Unfortunately it does not adhere to the aesthetics by adding conspicuous special effects that become more laughable as the movie reaches its convoluted climax.Through most of it there is a feeling of disconnected bits all pieced together with no actual sense, almost as if scenes could have been edited in any random order to the same general effect. While not long it feels like it exhausted itself long before it comes to an actual conclusion. The characters seem only half present and their very stilted lines about the afterlife ring hollow.All and all, it's a shame how such promise was wasted. Here was an opportunity for dealing with one of the darkest sides of Japan, its frighteningly high suicide rate and to possibly go into beyond disturbing human experiments to justify the title of 'Kyofu' (Fear). Hailing from the writer of the ever so famous Ringu this effort comes across as a disappointment on all fronts.

Boba_Fett1138 It's quite unbelievable how much people are still praising the Japanese horror genre. Let me tell you, as a real horror fan and lover, that there are still far more great Hollywood genre movies than Japanese ones out there. Problem with Japanese genre movies often is that they are all too much alike in story and atmosphere and usually aren't helped by a very high budget.Problem with this movie is that it presents itself as a mysterious and clever one, while in fact it's being neither really. The movie is only mysterious because it's being told that way but not because the story in itself is being a very interesting or real clever and mysterious one. It actually causes the movie to work out more confusing and messy than anything else really.It's actually hard to believe this movie got written and directed by the same man who wrote the screenplay for the original "Ringu" movie and most of its official sequels, which I all also personally quite liked.The movie is also far too slow with its buildup, during its first half. When looking back at it, most of the stuff that happens in the first half isn't even that relevant for the movie and is also quite out of tone with its second half, which is far more horror orientated.But it's not like the movie is having any real good horror in it though. It's the type of horror that is featuring ghostly figures and lots of computer effects, that just never become scary. The movie also just really doesn't have the right required atmosphere for that.There is far too much wrong with this movie to consider it a remotely decent or recommendable one, not even for the lovers of Japenese horror (no, I am not saying J-horror!).4/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Claudio Carvalho Dr. Hattori and her husband watch footage of brain surgery experiments with Manchurian, Russian and Japanese guinea pigs that had been found in the basement of a wrecked hospital. Out of the blue, there is a white light and when they look back, they see they children Ota Miyuki and Kaori staring at the light.Years later, Miyuki (Yuri Nakamura) vanishes from the Tama Medical University Hospital and her sister Kaori (Mina Fujii), Miyuki's boyfriend Motojima and detective Hirasawa are seeking her. However, Miyuki and the teenagers Kazochi, Takumi, Hattori and Rieko have been submitted to a nightmarish experiment by Dr. Hattori and her team with tragic results."Kyôfu" is an intriguing film, with a mad scientist that submits her daughters and other teenagers to creepy experiments that recalled me the Dharma Projet from "Lost". Unfortunately the screenplay is a complete mess and despite the good acting, cinematography, make-up and effects, the film is unintelligible. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Herança Amaldiçoada" ("Cursed Heritage")