Film:
Cure (
Kyua)
Format: Blu-ray from Sandwich Public Library through interlibrary loan on rockin’ flatscreen.
As with any genre, there are lots and lots of subgenres in the horror genre.
Cure, with the very Anglicized Japanese name
Kyua is a serial killer film, but there is a lot here that is at least implied to be supernatural. Serial killer films are frequently upsetting because of their connection to something that could happen. What makes
Cure more upsetting is not the implied supernatural element, but the fact that the murders in this film feel random, senseless, and like anyone could be on either side of them.
The story begins in the middle of a series of bizarre murders being investigated by Kenichi Takabe (Kōji Yakusho). Each of the crimes on the surface appear to be completely unrelated. They all have different perpetrators, so it’s difficult to call them part of the work of a serial killer. However, the crimes are very clearly related because they occur in very specific ways that are identical.
