Gripping story with well-crafted characters

Am I Missing Something?

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I had stumbled across this film after playing parasite eve 2 (so many years ago). I thoroughly enjoyed the game and thought they should make a movie, thinking that it would be far more interesting than the resident evil movies and so on. That was when I found the film, but deciding that there were no copies to be found in Australia, i gave up the search. I now get US DVD, I got this one thinking I would give it a try.To begin with let me say, do not watch this movie expecting it to be like the square soft versions of the Parasite Eve franchise, this movie can before, and while it has a slower pace than the rest of the installments, I still believe that it works very well.The story begin with a man who is a scientist, and on the eve of he and his wife's anniversary, she falls victim to a horrible car crash, she is pronounced, brain dead. The husband reluctantly agreed to turn off her life support and give her organs away, on the condition that they give her kidney. The organ goes to a young girl (who is apparently the mother of Aya Brea, the central character of the game, though there seems to be some debate amongst fans) and the young girl begin to experience strange occurrences.The film is very deep emotionally compared to most others in the J-horror genre, there are, however, some freaky bits such as Mariko in the hospital. One thing that should be mentioned is the special effects, they are quite good for a Japanese movie made in 1997.One of the downsides to this film is there are moments where the tension simply turns to tedious and while I believe overall the film turned out OK, there is a point, in the hospital where I just tuned out. The final climax however does build up well, leading to the final, very verbal resolution, which I thoroughly enjoyed, it was very well executed. The final scene is very emotional and is a very solid finale.In conclusion this movie is worth seeing, while it is not perfect, it should entertain movie go-ers and fans of parasite eve alike, as it gives them a chances to see the events leading up to the game.

This film was beautifully laid out, the plot being subtle and uncontrived, the characters acting a bit outlandish at times, but still with a realism that allowed the forward movement of the tale. Overall, I'd recommend this movie to anyone willing to commit a few hours of their time to the intense psychoanalysis of Japanese story telling needed to grasp even a small portion of this film. Needless to say, I'm still clutching my head and crying for my mother.*SPOILERS BELOW* The only thing, in my mind, that detracted from this movie was that the ending scenes (within the kidney patient's hospital) were so unbelievable - even from a SciFi perspective. Why would anything/anyone wait anxiously for 10 billion years for their evolution, only to throw it all away for some weirdo with flaming arms? o_O

I really enjoyed this film. I'm a BIG fan of the game and it was interesting to see how they blended elements of the original story into the storyline of the SquareSoft title.It is an interesting concept... and perhaps one that could have been explored a little move fully. The ideas that the film presents are original, and displayed in a pretty original way. I chalk most of my "huh?" factor (mostly in relation to character motivation) to the difference in cultures.Some of the effects are pretty groovy, too! It's a little slow moving at first, but it does start to pay off towards the end. Hang in there.And then go and play the game!

completely not want i expected, I played the first video game, so i was expecting what was in the game. To my surprise it blew the game out of the water. I'm not much of a fan of subtitled films, but I couldn't stop watching. It had nice special effects and they didn't go overboard like many of the films out nowadays, plus it has a great storyline, also unlike many films nowadays. I recommend buying this film. Don't rent it, don't borrow it, find it and buy it. trust me you'll love it.