Review of Suicide Club (2001) by David D — 16 Jan 2008

Coming from the same vintage as Ju-on and Ringu, this is, for the most part, a very successful creepy, gratuitous J-horror flick, replete with gore, the supernatural, and perhaps the most disturbing sequence of all, which was terrifying in its believability (you (will) know which one I'm talking about). I say "for the most part" because at the end, it transcends this and becomes so much more.

Not because it tries to explain the elaborate mystery it has laid out - precisely because it avoids the temptation to explain anything. It's the cinematic equivalent of the Book of Job - after all sorts of suffering, the conclusion (albeit not from God in this case, but from an equally mysterious and omniscient figure) comes down: "It's foolish to expect an answer." So while it may leave you scratching your head, it leaves the mystery intact.

Now find me another horror movie that can say that.