回路 (Kairo – original title)
15 | 1h 59min | Horror,
Mystery, Sci-Fi | Japan
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Stars: Haruhiko Katô, Kumiko Asô, Koyuki
Two groups of people discover evidence that suggests spirits may be trying to invade the human world through the Internet.
The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, it was well-received critically and has a cult following. An American remake, also titled Pulse, debuted in 2006.
Horrifying.
Plot
The plot centres on ghosts invading the world of the living via the Internet. It features two parallel story lines.
First story
Kudo Michi (Kumiko Asō), an employee at a plant shop, has recently moved to Tokyo. Her co-workers include Sasano Junko, Toshio Yabe and Taguchi, who has been missing for some days working on a computer disk. Michi goes to Taguchi's apartment and finds him distracted and aloof; in the middle of their conversation, he casually makes a noose, leaves, and hangs himself. Michi and her friends inspect the disk he left behind and discover it contains an image of Taguchi staring at his own computer monitor, creating an endless series of images. In the other monitor on his desk, they discover a ghostly face staring out into Taguchi's room.
Yabe receives a phone call of a distorted voice saying, "Help me." Upon checking his phone, he sees the same image found on Taguchi's disk. He goes to Taguchi's apartment and sees a ghostly black stain on the wall where he hanged himself, as well as a paper with "The forbidden room" written on it. He notices a door sealed with red tape and enters, encountering a ghost. Yabe becomes depressed and tells Michi that he saw something horrible in "the forbidden room."
Michi receives a call like the one Yabe had received. She checks on Yabe and sees a black stain on the wall similar to Taguchi's one. She panics when she realizes Junko has unsealed and entered a red-taped door. Inside, she witnesses Junko being cornered by a ghost and rescues her. Junko becomes catatonic from the encounter. She later steps toward the wall and becomes a black stain. Worried, Michi goes to check on her mother and meets Ryosuke Kawashima.
Second story
Ryosuke, an economics student, has recently signed up to a new Internet Service Provider. His computer accesses a website by itself, showing him disturbing images of people alone in dark rooms, exhibiting bizarre behaviour. That night, Ryosuke wakes up to find his computer on again with the disturbing images. He unplugs his computer in a panic. The next day, Harue Karasawa (Koyuki), a post-graduate computer science student, suggests he either bookmark the page or print the images for her to examine. Ryosuke attempts to do so, but finds that his computer will not follow his commands. Instead, a video plays of a man with his head in a plastic bag in a room with the words "HELP ME" written all over the walls.
A classmate explains his theory that souls have begun to invade the physical world. Karasawa acts strange and suggests that ghosts would want to save humans from the loneliness of the afterlife. Ryosuke tries to escape with her to a faraway place using the subway. However, the train stops and Harue is seized by a desire to return home. Upon returning to her apartment, she claims that she is "not alone". When Ryosuke bursts in, she is gone.
As more and more people begin to vanish, evacuations of Tokyo begin, and a full-scale invasion of the Kanto region by the ghosts is underway. Ryosuke meets Michi and they find Harue in an abandoned factory, where she shoots herself. When Ryosuke and Michi's car runs out of gas, Ryosuke enters a warehouse to search for fuel. He opens a door sealed with red tape and encounters a ghost who explains that "death was eternal loneliness." Although he tries to resist the ghost's influence, Ryosuke loses the will to live, and Michi drags him to safety. They drive through a burning Tokyo, encountering apocalyptic scenery as well as a U.S. Army cargo plane that crashes from the sky. After locating a small motorboat, the pair are found and brought aboard a ship departing from Tokyo, crewed by a small group of survivors who tell them that similar events are happening all over the world. As the ship heads for Latin America, Ryosuke and Michi go below deck, where Ryosuke disintegrates into ashes.
The plot centres on ghosts invading the world of the living via the Internet. It features two parallel story lines.
First story
Kudo Michi (Kumiko Asō), an employee at a plant shop, has recently moved to Tokyo. Her co-workers include Sasano Junko, Toshio Yabe and Taguchi, who has been missing for some days working on a computer disk. Michi goes to Taguchi's apartment and finds him distracted and aloof; in the middle of their conversation, he casually makes a noose, leaves, and hangs himself. Michi and her friends inspect the disk he left behind and discover it contains an image of Taguchi staring at his own computer monitor, creating an endless series of images. In the other monitor on his desk, they discover a ghostly face staring out into Taguchi's room.
Yabe receives a phone call of a distorted voice saying, "Help me." Upon checking his phone, he sees the same image found on Taguchi's disk. He goes to Taguchi's apartment and sees a ghostly black stain on the wall where he hanged himself, as well as a paper with "The forbidden room" written on it. He notices a door sealed with red tape and enters, encountering a ghost. Yabe becomes depressed and tells Michi that he saw something horrible in "the forbidden room."
Michi receives a call like the one Yabe had received. She checks on Yabe and sees a black stain on the wall similar to Taguchi's one. She panics when she realizes Junko has unsealed and entered a red-taped door. Inside, she witnesses Junko being cornered by a ghost and rescues her. Junko becomes catatonic from the encounter. She later steps toward the wall and becomes a black stain. Worried, Michi goes to check on her mother and meets Ryosuke Kawashima.
Second story
Ryosuke, an economics student, has recently signed up to a new Internet Service Provider. His computer accesses a website by itself, showing him disturbing images of people alone in dark rooms, exhibiting bizarre behaviour. That night, Ryosuke wakes up to find his computer on again with the disturbing images. He unplugs his computer in a panic. The next day, Harue Karasawa (Koyuki), a post-graduate computer science student, suggests he either bookmark the page or print the images for her to examine. Ryosuke attempts to do so, but finds that his computer will not follow his commands. Instead, a video plays of a man with his head in a plastic bag in a room with the words "HELP ME" written all over the walls.
A classmate explains his theory that souls have begun to invade the physical world. Karasawa acts strange and suggests that ghosts would want to save humans from the loneliness of the afterlife. Ryosuke tries to escape with her to a faraway place using the subway. However, the train stops and Harue is seized by a desire to return home. Upon returning to her apartment, she claims that she is "not alone". When Ryosuke bursts in, she is gone.
As more and more people begin to vanish, evacuations of Tokyo begin, and a full-scale invasion of the Kanto region by the ghosts is underway. Ryosuke meets Michi and they find Harue in an abandoned factory, where she shoots herself. When Ryosuke and Michi's car runs out of gas, Ryosuke enters a warehouse to search for fuel. He opens a door sealed with red tape and encounters a ghost who explains that "death was eternal loneliness." Although he tries to resist the ghost's influence, Ryosuke loses the will to live, and Michi drags him to safety. They drive through a burning Tokyo, encountering apocalyptic scenery as well as a U.S. Army cargo plane that crashes from the sky. After locating a small motorboat, the pair are found and brought aboard a ship departing from Tokyo, crewed by a small group of survivors who tell them that similar events are happening all over the world. As the ship heads for Latin America, Ryosuke and Michi go below deck, where Ryosuke disintegrates into ashes.