Cure
In the hands of director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a serial-killer movie is not merely a serial-killer movie.Curedoesn't so much scream and shout as drive the audience slowly crazy--much like Kurosawa's subsequent creepfests,SeanceandPulse(a.k.a.Kairo). Koji Yakusho, the happy-foot husband inShall We Dance, plays a weary detective on a baffling murder case, which paradoxically becomes even more puzzling as the solution begins to emerge. Kurosawa's use of empty spaces, and his uncanny command of the soundtrack (the eerie collection of hums and drones would win David Lynch's approval) makes for a shivery experience... though not one interested in resolving itself in a conventional manner. And why should it? At some terrible point in this movie you realize that catching the bad guy isn't going to make Kurosawa's poisoned world any cleaner or safer. Stick with the director's elliptical style, andCurewill leave dread in its tainted wake.--Robert Horton