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48 out of 62 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best recent Asian horror films, 20 July 2005
10/10
Author: Brandt Sponseller from New York City

Like many horror fans, I've been watching a lot of Asian films recently. Although Asian horror isn't new, easy availability of it in the United States is relatively recent. Unlike many horror fans, though, I'm not generally of the opinion that Asian horror is better on the whole than American horror. That's not to say I think American horror is usually better, either. I just think the two are different.

The odd thing is that even understanding that difference, a lot of reviews for Infection are complaining that the film is a bit "confusing", "disjointed", or more charitably, "non-linear". That's to be expected from a viewer who hasn't seen a lot of Asian horror yet. But oddly, those comments are often coming from viewers who seem to love the genre. It's odd, because the genre is characterized by being more non-linear. Compared to the typical U.S. horror film, Asian horror has many of the same differences that European horror from the late 1960s and early 1970s had--it tends to be more surreal and poetic. Rather than a focus on transparent literalism, there is a focus on metaphor, symbolism and dream logic. For anyone familiar with academic philosophy, the difference is reflected there. U.S. horror is equivalent to analytic philosophy, European horror to continental, and Asian horror seems rooted in Zen, Taoism, and so on.

Thus, when you begin watching a film like Infection, you have to expect something different than what you'd expect from, say, Cursed (2004) or Valentine (2001). Although in many ways, Infection is more straightforward and spends more time providing explanations than the typical Asian genre film. It's nowhere near as inscrutable as Charisma (aka Karisuma, 1999) or Chaos (aka Kaosu, 1999), but it's not as transparent as Dark Water (aka Honogurai mizu no soko kara, 2002). Rather, it fits nicely in the middle of the two extremes.

The story is set in a small Japanese hospital. Right from the start, we see that they're having odd problems and things are beginning to get out of control. The hospital is understaffed and quite a few employees do not seem to be as competent as they should be. Meanwhile, we see an ambulance that keeps announcing that it has a patient with a possibly dangerous infection who needs to be seen immediately. We're not sure who they're broadcasting this to. After a while, it becomes clear that they're broadcasting it to no on in particular. Eventually, The ambulance drops off its patient despite protests from a doctor about not being able to handle the case. The patient has a bizarre, possibly fatal infection, and it seems to be spreading.

Although infection makes a fair amount of sense on a literal level, much of the film is meant as an extended, in-depth metaphor for infections, and not just literal biological infections. Director/co-writer Masayuki Ochiai and co-writer Ryoichi Kimizuka stress a phenomenon that's more like meme theory--they're looking at how ideas, or any kind of information or state, starts with a seed that's passed on and evolves/transforms over "generations". Since this is a horror film, a lot of the focus is on how that can go sour.

At the same time, the film works just as well on another level--an unabashed series of cringe-worthy horror set pieces. All of these layers co-exist happily, and most viewers can choose to engage (or not) with the film on any or all of Infection's modes. Like most artworks, you get out of Infection whatever you put into it. That means that this isn't really for passive viewing.

Just as would happen in an infection, or under the various infection-like phenomena that are being symbolized, Ochiai gives us a gradual transformation in style, structure and content. The opening scenes are normally lit, the hospital is well populated with relatively normal folks, and the patients' problems seem only slightly odd. At the very beginning, the film could just as well turn into something of a hospital "soap opera". But imperceptibly from moment to moment (it's only perceptible when you take a step back for a "broad" view), the lighting and color schemes change, first becoming a bit darker, then emphasizing pinks, reds, yellows and finally greens and blues--a color transformation not unlike a minor inflammation leading to bruising, sickness and strong nausea, and finally death.

At the same time, our cast of characters--both medical professionals and patients--gradually dwindles until we're left with only a small core or normality. Infection becomes increasingly claustrophobic, and Ochiai makes a similar transformation in his physical threats--from "hard", external problems, to a gradual getting under the skin, to complete bodily dissolution. At the same time, a ghostly presence becomes more prominent. These kinds of infectious progressions imbue every aspect of the film and are quite ingenious.

But wait--there's more! Ochiai has also given us a mind-bending "rubber reality" film. He makes a philosophical point about color perception early on that ends up being correlated with the changing color schemes on a completely different level, rooted in the mental. This aspect comes as something of a twist near the end, and imply a recontextualization of the whole to that point, although the point may just be the role of the mental in "infections". But just so we don't forget the ultimate aim, Ochiai gives us a small horror set piece tag at the very end that exists only for its own sake.

My love of this film might also have personal roots--just about the only things that disturb me in reality are medical in nature--doctors, hospitals, treatments, sickness, etc., so films like this hit close to my phobias. At any rate, for me, this is one of the best Asian horror films of recent years, right up there with Ebola Syndrome (aka Yibola bing du, 1996), Battle Royale (Batoru rowaiaru, 2000) and Suicide Club (Jisatsu saakuru, 2002). Don't miss it, but go in with the right frame of mind. And bring penicillin.

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37 out of 45 people found the following comment useful :-
Great J-horror! What "Cabin Fever" should have been!, 27 May 2005
8/10
Author: willywants

A run-down hospital receives a patient one night with bizarre symptoms. Symptoms that defy medical explanation. A virus that liquefies organs, muscle tissue—yet keeps the host alive. One by one, the staff of the hospital contract the disease, hallucinating, going crazy, and literally melting to piles of rot. Will anyone survive through the night? Is the disease a real, horrific virus, or one with supernatural origins? Wow, what a creepy, unsettling movie. Good acting from the whole cast, an intelligent script, top-notch direction, and man is it scary! Writer/director Masayuki Ochiai did a great job on this one. The imagery, cinematography, and effects were beautifully done. The plot twists towards the end were a little too fast and confusing but the movie is definitely worth while. This is great J-horror in my opinion, much better than the overrated "Ju-On" and its definitely better than 2002's similar virus-themed horror-comedy, "Cabin Fever". Rent it, but don't expect to sleep well afterwords! 8/10.

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29 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
Confused yet?, 11 May 2005
6/10
Author: ZombieKilla81 from Hawaii, USA

Like so many J-horror flicks in years past, the plotting is a nonsensical mess of seemingly random events tied to a loose running narrative, but the visuals do a good job of maintaining interest.

A patient dies at a hospital due to a mistake made by a team of hospital personnel. Wanting so save their careers, they vow to cover it up. Around the same time, a young man arrives at the hospital exhibiting symptoms of an unknown contagion. After the youth dies due to the virus (by melting away, of all the unpleasant ways to go), the members of the conspiracy start behaving strangely and also experiencing the same symptoms. What is happening to them? That is about as linear as the plot ever gets, from there on the story starts rocketing back and forth between flashbacks, hallucinations, ghostly encounters and other odd events. Moreover, rather than moving toward a resolution of conflict, it merely gets weirder and stranger the longer it runs. The characters are mostly anarchistic views of social stereotypes, which makes hardly any of them likable or sympathetic. Also, the story drags for the first 30 minutes or so, while the last 30 minutes shoot by way to quickly; some re-editing could have helped with that.

Visually, the film is nice. A greenish hue covers most of the film, which gives it an eerie sort of discomfort. Also, many shot choices and camera angles add to the feeling of things not being right. There is a fair amount of 'gooey' scenes, but not very much in the way of the red stuff. Most of the scare set ups are fairly well done, but many of them conclude without much pay-off.

There's good (visuals), there's bad (the script), meaning it's really only meant for J-film fanatics.

6/10

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24 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
Bizarre and unsettling Japanese horror film., 17 July 2005
9/10
Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland

"Infection" takes place in an old,dilapidated hospital that is barely able to keep its door open to the public due to a constant lack of adequate medicine,facilities and staff.The hospital is riddled with agony and suffering of countless patients and the strain on the doctors and nurses has reached the critical point.A doctor's negligence causes a patient to die and the panicked hospital staff decides to cover up the fatal mistake setting off a deadly chain of events.Paramedics bring a new patient into the hospital that has been stricken with so deadly that his innards have mysteriously disintegrated.The doctors attempt to contain the virus,but the ill patient escapes through the ventilation system ensuring that everyone inside the doomed hospital will have to fight for their lives from this horrifying epidemic.Unlike overrated "Cabin Fever","Infection" is a creepy and unsettling horror film.This is the first genre movie from the Taka Ichise-produced J-Horror Theater series.Director Masayuki Ochiai is already well-known as the director of "Parasite Eve" and "Hypnosis" ,while the cast includes Kôichi Satô,the star of "Rasen"."Infection" delivers its share of squirm inducing and gory moments and it certainly gets under your skin.Just ignore negative comments and enjoy this creepy piece of horror.9 out of 10.

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15 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Tepid and muddled, 25 June 2005
4/10
Author: thither from San Francisco

I was hoping for a little more out of this movie. It is set in a hospital, which is an inherently creepy setting that has been used to good effect in several good horror movies (eg, Session 9, the Eye 2). Unfortunately, though the cinematography is good, there's not much in this movie that rises above the sort of low-level creepiness inherent in all hospitals.

At times I was struck with the idea that the director had originally planned to make a fairly straight-forward hospital-slasher movie, but due to some kind of colossal blunder ended up being shipped 50 gallons of green goo instead of the 50 gallons of fake blood that he ordered. Infection was then swiftly rewritten to accommodate this mix-up, and while they were at it they tacked on some twists at the end which might have been fresh prior to the global movie-twist mania that swept the world circa 1993 or so.

It's not a terrible movie, and there is some endearing acting by the three lead doctors (who do fairly well with pretty colorless characters). Overall, though, it plays out like a Halloween episode of E.R. Many scenes that ought to frighten the viewer are just drawn out, only the most extreme of the gross-out scenes are really effective, and the movie is full of dross that doesn't enhance its story or its mood.

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9 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Awesome, 28 September 2005
Author: Vastarien202 from United States

This movie scared the living!%^*@ out of me! I watched it in daylight, but I was too scared to get up for a snack! The pacing can be a bit long, but if you have patience, it works.The use of lighting and wicked sets reminded me of Dario Argento's Suspiria, though lacking his flair for geometric patterns. The atmosphere is handily Lovecraftian with its sense of doom and inescapable dread. It was 117 outside, and I was stone-cold scared! This one has a place of honor on my shelf, right next to "Spiral", The Ring series, and my collection of Italian Splatter movies! I will be showing this at my Halloween party, along with some others to scare and sicken everyone.

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10 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
See This Movie Then Buy It!, 5 August 2005
10/10
Author: largonomiko from United States

When it comes to horror movies, no one does it better then the Japanese. Every Japanese horror movie I've ever seen has frightened me so much that I refused to sleep for several days. Perfect examples of their brilliant work can be also be seen in Ju-on and Premonition.

As for Infection: I loved this movie! I'm going to buy it as soon as possible. It's weird, it's creepy, it's icky; what more could you want in a horror movie? The story grabs you and doesn't let go until the credits roll. Very few horror movies have ever made me want to cover my eyes. This movie not only made me want to cover my eyes but at the same time I wanted to see what was going to happen. I even jumped sky high several times. This movie scared me big time. A Must See and A Must Buy!

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Unsettling and atmospheric, 19 January 2009
7/10
Author: LoneWolfAndCub from Australia

I have always been a big fan of Asian horror, as the directors seem to have a knack for incredibly creepy visuals and creepy atmospheres. Kansen (Infection), is no exception to this, as it rivals Ju-On, Ringu and Gin Gwai for thrills and chills. What is really amazing is that there is no reliance on long haired girls or little boys, what is scary here is the hospital itself, and the characters within. This is very different to most supernatural horror films, as the story focuses on the characters for the majority of the film.

Infection is set in an under-staffed and under-financed hospital where the staff are under a lot of stress. One night, while trying to save a burns victim who has been there for three months, a young nurse accidentally gives him a lethal injection. Dr. Uozumi convinces all the other staff to create a false report to save the hospital. That same night a patient is brought in with a severe infection which causes the internal organs to liquefy. Soon all the staff are working together to discover what this disease is before it starts to spread to far.

As with most Japanese horror films, the plot is not wrapped up nicely, and in this case, it is the most puzzling of them all. Although I now have formed a solid conclusion for myself, it was still an incredibly confusing and muddled final 10 minutes. I think the last section could have been fixed up, as the pace slowed down after a very tight hour. However, the film is highly original for the most part and features some genuine scares and disgusting and beautiful visuals (much like Dario Argento's Suspiria). Amongst all the American trash being released, this stands tall and further proves that Asia (and Europe) are producing the highest quality horror.

3½/5

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the hospital..., 11 September 2005
6/10
Author: Zorknot from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I saw a Japanese live action movie called Infection a couple days ago. I give it 6.5 out of 10. It's about a hospital where the doctors and nurses make a mistake and try to cover it up while some strange disease is making them go insane. Very creepy, and it had some neat psychological bits that I liked. It was however, a little stupid. For instance they're in a hospital. It's night time. Do they turn on the lights? No. They run around chasing some diseased patient with flashlights. Then there are some rather clichéd characters, which aren't clichéd unless you've seen a lot of anime but still.

There's the young girl who's unsure of herself, there's the dark secret controller of everything who's too sure of himself (a la Gendo Ikari) and there's the well meaning guy who's just doing things for his family but doesn't ever get to see them. The good news on this count is that all these characters die gruesome and terrible deaths.

At first I really enjoyed the movie, the director made even the mundane scenes of a hospital extremely creepy and disturbing. But then the characters started doing really stupid things. That and there were long scenes where nothing was going on except someone walking down a hall or looking out a window. I eventually used the fast forward button for these scenes and the movie improved dramatically. The ending had its requisite twist, but it was a creepy one. Basically the Directing was awesome in this, their should have been more editing, the acting was passable, and the writing alternates between being clever and being horror movie stupid. It's better than most of the J-horror I've seen recently, but its not anything to put on your bedroom ceiling or anything.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Creepy, Claustrophobic, Uncomfortable, 13 August 2006
7/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In a general hospital near bankruptcy, the reduced staff is working under a severe stress. During the emergency attendance to a burned patient with Dr. Uozumi (Masanobu Takashima) and two other nurses, Dr. Akiba (Kôichi Satô) and the nurse commit an error, injecting sodium chlorate and killing him. Dr. Uozumi convinces the team to forge the report to save their careers. Meanwhile, an ambulance leaves a patient in the emergency with a lethal infection. When the muscles and internal organs of the patient liquefy, Dr. Kiyoshi Akai (Shirô Sano) convinces his two colleagues to examine and research the virus, leading the employees of the night shift to a tragic end.

"Kansen" is a creepy, claustrophobic, uncomfortable horror movie. The scary story is very tense, but has a disappointing conclusion. The idea of a virus that spreads through the mind, through the complex of guilty of the doctors and nurses that killed a patient, is original, but the resolution of the plot is very confused. I believe the screenplay deserved a better development of the end, specially the reasons why the female doctor contracts the virus in the end, if she has not been in the hospital along the night. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Infecção" ("Infection")

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