Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa • 1997 • Japan
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s arresting international breakthrough established him as one of the leaders of an emerging new wave of Japanese horror while pushing the genre into uncharted realms of philosophical and existential exploration. A string of shocking, seemingly unmotivated murders—each committed by a different person yet all bearing the same grisly hallmarks—leads Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) into a labyrinthine investigation to discover what connects them, and into a disturbing game of cat and mouse with an enigmatic amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara) who may be evil incarnate. Awash in hushed, hypnotic dread, CURE is a tour de force of psychological tension and a hallucinatory journey into the darkest recesses of the human mind.
Up Next in Art-House Horror
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Trouble Every Day
Directed by Claire Denis • 2001 • France
Starring Vincent Gallo, Tricia Vessey, Béatrice DalleClaire Denis’s poetic take on the body-horror genre is an atmospheric reverie of blood and lust that lays bare the filmmaker’s core artistic concerns around power, desire, and delirium. Newlyweds Shane...
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The Lure
Directed by Agnieszka Smoczyńska • 2015 • Poland
Starring Kinga Preis, Michalina Olszańska, Marta MazurekThis genre-defying horror-musical mash-up—the bold debut of Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska—follows a pair of carnivorous mermaid sisters drawn ashore to explore life on land in an alte...
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Suicide by Sunlight
Directed by Nikyatu Jusu • 2019 • United States
Starring Natalie Paul, Teren Carter, Motell Gyn FosterProtected from the sun by her melanin, a day-walking Black vampire in New York City struggles to balance her job as a nurse, her relationship to her estranged children, and her bloodlust.