Uzumaki (2000)

[bunniefuu]

Toho productions presents

Genetic structure

Hello?

Ando? You still sound so depressed.
It's been two years, you know.

What is it?

Ryuji takayama's dead.

Who?

Ryuji takayama.
He was in medical school with us.

This is a joke, isn't it?

It'd be in poor taste.
They think it might be suicide.

Suicide?
Ryuji takayama k*lling himself?

Or it could be foul play.
They've ordered an autopsy.

What?

The autopsy you're doing today
is on ryuji takayama.

See you at the hospital.

Spiral

There are no signs of violence
and no obvious cause of death,

so we need an autopsy.

Depending on what you find,
it could be a m*rder investigation.

That would mean
a formal autopsy later...

It was sudden death.

Sudden death?

Yesterday morning, at home.

There's no mistake.
It's ryuji takayama.

- Good morning.
- Morning.

Got it!

It's DNA amino acids.

The numbers are your code.

"Ripper"?
What's that supposed to mean?

Takayama?

Don't you get it?

It's you.

Your future.

Ripper...?

Shall we begin?



Partial necrosis,
left side of the heart.

Coronary arterial thrombosis.

Death from myocardial infarction
from blockage of left coronary artery.

Ulceration in the throat.

Take a specimen.

You couldn't slash your own wrists.

How could you do this to me?

Ando...

Dr Ando, we've found
something rather strange...

Ryuji takayama...

Lecturer in science
at kyoei university.

Supposedly a bit odd.

His ex-wife, reiko asakawa.

The boy with her is theirs.

They'd recently re-established contact
after quite a long time.

Do you suspect something?

Reiko asakawa got to his place
as the ambulance arrived.

Then she went home, got the boy
and vanished.

Vanished?

The medics said she took
a video tape from his apartment.

A video tape?

He'd phoned her just as he was dying.

But it was his girlfriend
who found him.

She dropped by his apartment
and found him dead.

It's very suspicious.

But he died of a heart attack.

That's strange.

Would you like to meet
the girlfriend?

She's very quiet.
We haven't got much out of her.

Dr Ando, the chief pathologist.

Mai takano, who found him.

Could you describe the scene
again for the doctor?

It wasn't suicide or m*rder.

I'd like to ask
about dr takayama's health.

His health?

He didn't look like someone
about to die of heart failure.

Did he ever complain to you
about having chest pains

or feeling generally listless?

No.

Ms takano...

Why did you suddenly show up
at his apartment yesterday morning?

Where did reiko asakawa
and her boy vanish to?

Do you have any idea?

I don't know.

Tell me.

I don't know.

I really don't.

Why won't you talk?
Tell me what you know.

You know ryuji takayama was
seeing his ex-wife, don't you?

Talk, damn it!

Stop hiding things
and tell me what I want to know!

- Don't touch me!
- Talk!

Don't touch me!

Detective maekawa!

I know about you.

Dr takayama mentioned your name
about a month ago.

What did he tell you about me?

That in university you all used
to make up secret codes for fun.

We'd base them on what
we were studying in medical school.

His were the hardest to break.

He was a bright guy.

He said you were the only one
who could decipher his.

Before he died, he and reiko
were investigating something.

What was it?

A video tape.

A video tape?

Whoever saw it died.

They died?

Yes.

Four people saw it.

They all died.

That's not possible.

Dr Ando...

Yes?

You know dr takayama wasn't
like other people, don't you?

I was always surprised
how he could predict the future

and guess what people were thinking,
if that's what you mean.

I'm sure he knew...

That you and I...

Would be meeting like this.

But why did he have to die
and leave me here alone?

Bullshit!

Doctor?

Doctor?

Department of pathology

- miyashita...
- How did it go?

A tumour brought on his heart attack.

A tumour?

Look at this.

A tumour like that on a blood vessel
causing myocardial infarction?

Trust takayama to get
something weird like this!

What about the ulcer?

I couldn't find anything
like that, either.

I asked around.

I sent the results to a retired professor
from bunkai university.

He said it looked like a smallpox lesion.

That can't be right.

That virus has been eradicated.

Did his girlfriend give you any ideas
about why he died?

Her idea's crazier
than the virus theory.

What did she say?

Are you ready for this?
She says a video k*lled him.

- A video?
- Yeah.

What do you mean?

She says there's a video tape
that kills you if you see it.

So reiko asakawa took the tape
and disappeared?

Yes, he's here now.

- For me?
- It's the police.

They've found reiko asakawa
and her son.

She's had a car accident.

The other car's been towed away.

Fortunately, the driver
wasn't badly hurt.

Doctor!

What a mess! They're taking
the bodies away right now.

- The boy, too?
- Yes.

She was heading for her parents' place.
They say they don't know anything.

It's strange, though...

Looks like the boy was already dead
when the accident happened.

What?

Hey, you! Get away from there!

I'm sorry. I'm a journalist.
Reiko asakawa worked for me.

Worked for you?

Detective... that's a video deck
in there, isn't it?

A video deck?

Welcome home!

Why are you standing there?

- You're late.
- Yeah.

How's takanori?

He was waiting up for you,
but he fell asleep.

I see...

I'll look in on him.

- Don't wake him up.
- I know.

Sorry. Did I wake you?

What's up?

The boy died, too?

Yes.

But he didn't die from the accident.

He was already dead.
Of a heart attack.

The police think reiko asakawa
noticed him dead in the back seat

and swerved into the other car.

So now takayama, reiko asakawa,

and their child are all dead.

I guess the boy saw the video, then.

There's no connection.

We know why he died.

You can't link a video that kills
to a tumour on a blood vessel.

Dr takayama once talked to me
about his son.

What did he say?

That he was sorry he'd passed
on his genes in this world.

He was sorry he'd passed
on his genes in this world?

Yes.

No parent in this world
wants his own child dead.

Dr Ando...

What is it?

Dr takayama didn't want
his son to die.

He was trying to find a way
to save the boy, for reiko's sake.

But by the time dr takayama died,
something had changed him.

He'd seen... something.

Whatever it was...

I still don't know.

Could you collate these for me?

Your rats are glowing.

We put fluorescent jellyfish
protein genes into rat ova.

It's for a class.

Engineering DNA...

Amazing how far we've come,
isn't it?

Do you experiment on people, too?

Sorry...

Do you remember me?
Yoshino, nnb news.

What can I do for you?

There's something I'd like you to see.

What is it?

Reiko asakawa's journal.

- Her journal?
- Yes. She describes a video tape.

A tape that kills.

Four people died of heart attacks
at exactly the same time.

She learned they'd all watched a video
a week before at a lodge in izu.

So she went down there
and found the tape.

She watched it,
and thought she had a week to live.

She and ryuji takayama tried
desperately to learn its secret.

But somehow...

Her son seems to have seen
the video as well.

It says the tape is spirit photography
of a woman named sadako yamamura.

Her mother shizuko's psychic powers
made her a media scandal.

She was denounced as a fake
and k*lled herself.

But her daughter sadako
had even greater powers.

Hers was a tragic life.
She was treated as a monster.

She was m*rder*d by her father,

her biological father.

She had the power to curse people
and k*ll them. The power of hatred.

Do you really believe all that?

Asakawa seems to have thought
the only way to save someone

was to copy the video and show it
to someone else within a week.

To save her son, she took it
to show her father...

Taking another deck to copy it from.

But a week later,
her son died of a heart attack.

A week later...

And her father?

He k*lled himself.

He left a note that said:

"Don't worry. I've taken it upon myself
to destroy the tape."

This is sadako yamamura.

It was taken when she was acting
with a small troupe in Tokyo.

One more thing...

I found it at the asakawa place.
It's a copy of the video.

A present.

Watch it if you like.

What's wrong?

Have you watched it?

No.

I don't believe the story,
but it still gives me the creeps.

But you're a doctor.

I want to know the science
behind all this. Please help me out.

If you find anything,
could you call me? Please?

"Present"?

Present...

Is this your present to me?

Sada

Sadako!

Forgive me, sadako!

You should never have been born!

Sadako!

Don't tell me that.
This is a newsroom!

If we broadcast that,
we'll sound like some tabloid.

I told you, you can't publicise this.

Don't be stupid!

We went to a lot of trouble
over sadako yamamura.

It's true about the video.
It carries sadako's curse.

Whoever sees it dies.

You're crazy.
Do you know what you're saying?

Watch it yourself
and see if I'm right.

I don't need to hear this.
Goodbye.

- Wait!
- What?

- Give me the video.
- I did.

The copy you have.
I want to destroy them all before I die.

"Die"? So you...

- Give it to me!
- No. Now get lost!

- Give me that video!
- This conversation is over.

- Let go!
- You don't understand!

- What are you doing?
- Give me the video, I said!

Give me the video!

I said give it to me!

Give it to me!

What on earth were you thinking?

Say something.

You look even gloomier than usual.
Like you could die any minute.

Maybe so.

Take some of that jellyfish DNA
and brighten up.

Smile!

The four students who died
had the same symptoms.

They were autopsied in Yokohama.

All myocardial infarction,
with tumours on the blood vessels.

Yeah?

It might be a virus.

A virus...

If so, it's odd that reiko asakawa
didn't catch it.

Because it's not a virus.

Then what is it?

A curse.

Don't be an idiot!

Ryuji takayama

I owe you an apology.

There was a video.
I know what takayama wanted, too.

What he wanted?

What he wanted me to do.

What?

Eliminate that video from this world.

When he died,
he saw it would turn out like this.

He realised he could use me
to stop sadako yamamura.

By giving me what I wanted,
he could have the video destroyed.

What was it you wanted, dr Ando?

What?

He sent me the video as a present.

You watched it?

Why?

You're wrong.

How am I wrong?

That's not what he wanted.

It's the video.
What else could it be?

He wanted me to destroy it.
That's the only explanation.

Dr Ando!

Mr yoshino's on the phone for you.

There's my next message.

It's open.

I have a question.

- A question?
- Yes.

What is it?

Was the well that sadako fell into
broken in one place?

- Did you watch the video?
- Of course not!

How did you know? The journal
didn't say anything about that.

I'm sorry I ever got involved with this.

Take the video and the journal
and get the hell out of here!

You watched it, didn't you?

I told you I didn't, damn it!

I see sadako in my dreams.

I can't sleep
with those things around.

I want to forget this. Leave!

Mr yoshino! Mr yoshino!

Hey! Yoshino!

What's wrong?

Dr Ando...

Don't look. Come on.

It's over.

That's the end.

I'm a pathologist.

All I've ever done
is cut open the dead.

But now I've saved a few lives.

Maybe dozens.

Maybe even hundreds.

I've ended sadako's curse.

The video's last victim...

Will be me.

You poor man...

You lost the most precious thing
in your life, didn't you?

You've wanted to end it all.

You've always felt guilty
about letting your son die.

But... there's no shame
in being afraid of dying.

Or regretting that
you watched the video.

How did you know
that I let my son die?

When I touch a person...

I know what they're thinking.

More or less.

Do you have the same power
as takayama?

He was the only one
who could stand being with me.

The only one who understood me...

Was dr takayama.

So there's no point in lying to you.

I'm a fool.

You're right.

I don't get it
till it slaps me in the face.

I'm...

Afraid to die.

Help me.

I don't want to die.

Why did I watch that video?

Why did takayama do this to me?

Doesn't it hurt
when you feel my pain?

Sometimes I thought
it was just depression.

His saying he was sorry
he'd left a child in this world.

But he was serious.

He could see into the future.

So why did that happen to him?

But you can't see your own future.

He couldn't. I can't.

No one knows that.

Will you do me a favour?

Will you be there when I die?

I'm sorry.

It's OK.

I finally found it.

It's not like smallpox. You've never
seen anything like that before.

So there was a virus?

That's crazy!

That reporter yoshino
didn't die of a heart attack.

What?

He suffocated.
I've asked for tissue samples.

I think we'll find this virus there, too.

A different cause of death?

What's going on?

- What's wrong?
- I want to show you something.

You watch a video
and you get a virus?

Interesting! Like optical
data exchange on a computer.

The retina takes in DNA data
from the video

and reconstructs the virus
in the body.

Optics... that might be it.

That's impossible, Ando!
Use your head!

Then why didn't reiko have the virus?
She saw the video!

It doesn't make sense.

Would a woman whose curse could k*ll
get pushed into a well and die?

The cause of death is
a very low-infection virus, not a curse.

That's what I thought as well.

Till I saw the video.

Till you saw the video?

Run the tests on me.

This is crazy!

- I remembered what sadako saw!
- Oh, come on!

I saw a clinic in a forest in izu,
where she was k*lled!

About thirty years ago.

What kind of clinics were there in izu
at that time?

Tb?

And one more.

And...

Smallpox.

It's smallpox.

Mai!

Mai!

Mai!

sh*t!

Where is she?

Mai!

So you're still here?

Good news.
There was no virus in your sample.

So the video's got nothing to do
with the virus.

Look at this. This is the virus
we got from yoshino's throat.

There's another virus mixed in there.
It's mutating.

That explains the cause of death.

Luckily, it's not very infectious.
We'll have to analyse how it works.

This might be a discovery.

Did something happen
between you and mai takano?

Eh?

Don't worry, she'll turn up.

The family wants to talk to you
about the death certificate.

- For the insurance?
- Probably.

- Doctor?
- You go on ahead.

You smell like a corpse.

Are we ready?

OK, bring it up!

Steady!

Slowly! Slowly!

Keep it coming!

Come on, come on...

Hold it!

A little more!

Detective!

It's a curse.

- I've never seen anything like it.
- Wait a moment.

No way!

She'd just given birth.

- Given birth?
- Yes.

Take her away.

But there was no sign of a baby.

The building's air inlet
looks just like a well.

Miyashita?

Hey, Ando...

Did sadako yamamura's well
have a piece missing out of it?

Miyashita...

Yoshino didn't see the video.

But he was infected.

Why would that be, do you think?

Reiko asakawa's notebook.

That's all it could be.

I saw it.

The well's shape, colour...
I dreamed it just like I was there.

I only read the notebook,
but I saw it clear as day.

So it's not just the video?
Writing spreads the virus too?

But not everyone has to die.
There's a way to be saved.

How?

Reiko asakawa left a journal.
Whoever reads it gets the virus.

In other words,
she was helping to spread it!

To spread the virus?

She was sadako's accomplice!

Tell me, what did you do
to save yourself?

- Me?
- You're the only one still alive!

What did you do?
How did you save yourself?

- I'm not sadako's accomplice!
- Liar!

- I'm not spreading any virus!
- Tell me!

I didn't do anything!

Give that back.

It's mine.

Give it back!

I know why I was reborn.

I put my DNA on that video.
And it went from you into mai.

Into her womb.

By making love to her,

you've made it possible
for me to be reborn.

Damn you!

Why did you have to k*ll mai?

Mai's not dead.

She's alive. Inside me.

All her memories remain in me.

You're sadako... not mai.

I'm mai.

Liar!

Ando, you didn't have sex with me
out of love.

You only did it
because you were afraid of dying.

I wanted to help you.

But you didn't love me.

What do you know?

You were happy to feel superior
to dr takayama.

No.

You used mai and me
to come back to this world.

You k*lled mai!

That was your fault.

You made love to me.

Forgive me... mai.

I forgive you, mr Ando.

I forgive you.

What do you want?

Takayama, reiko asakawa
and mai are all dead.

What is it you want, anyway?

No one knows their own future.

I just wanted everyone to know.

Know what?

The fear I've felt.

Fear?

Yes.

Fear.

Sadako, stop it!

I still have something for you to do.
After all, you're my accomplice.

No, I'm not!

I did what takayama wanted.
I destroyed the video.

I told you, that's not
what dr takayama wanted.

It's because of him
I was able to come back.

That's how I was reborn.

That's crazy...

He wanted to stop you.

Didn't he?

This time, I want to help him.

What?

You still have his cells.

We can use my uterus.

I'm not doing that!

Is that so?

I'd never do that.

Look...

Your wish will come true, too.

Ando...

Takayama...

Takayama!

You take an ovum from me,
and put the DNA data into it.

Then you return it to my uterus.

The life memory stays in the DNA.

Within two or three weeks,

an ovum from me,
with hormones to speed up cell division,

will grow to a person
the age they were when they died.

Implant this into her
and the procedures are done.

You look awful.

So do you.

We're traitors.

Who are we betraying? The world?

Or god?

Daddy!

Takanori...

I've missed you, takanori!

Daddy...

Well? Like my present?

Good thing you had the hair.

Take better care of him this time.
He's my brother.

Both my wish and mai's wish
have been granted.

Reiko asakawa's journal
is being published... as a novel.

What did you say?

People will read it.

And the fear sadako felt
will spread throughout the world.

And the virus will be born
in its readers.

How will the world change then?

Sadako will be born.

There'll be more people like her.

It'll spread not just as a virus,
but as living people.

After that, I don't know.

- Probably...
- Probably?

Humanity will evolve
because of this virus.

Minute organisms became complex
and evolved into humans.

Now a new stage
of evolution will begin.

The world will change.

We're all in that spiral.

Me and you.

What have you seen?

Tell me what the future will be like.

Daddy! Come on!

Stay away from takanori.

But I gave birth to him.

Stay away.

Hey, Ando...

You've sold out this world
to get your boy back.

Let go of me.

Goodbye.

What kind of life will he have?

Takayama...

What about your boy?
We still have his cells.

You know we could do it.

I couldn't be so cruel.

I couldn't bring a child
back into this world.

You're wrong.

You're wrong.

Ando...

It'll be a long time yet...
Before you can breathe easy.

So long.