Synopsis: A death row inmate survives the electric chair and is given a choice; either undergo another attempt at execution or subject himself to a series of strange psychological experiments. He chooses the experiments. It turns out that they are really testing an alien virus that is drawn to/feeds off murderous impulses within the host and ultimately takes away the host's humanity. Oh yeah, it also gives you super powers.
My Take: This one was ok while they are conducting the experiments on the prisoner, his interactions with the other prisoner test-subject are pretty cool; but, once the balance shifts from horror/suspense to bad sci-fi, I lost interest. The alien virus premise is just plain ridiculous. Director Kitamura's style is hard to describe - it has earned him a strong cult following, but this is the second movie I've seen of his and I haven't cared for either one. It has the feel of a 2-hour long MTV video, with lots of shiny, flashy stuff, constant techno music, and not much dialogue, just people standing around, posing for the camera. Both of the Kitamura movies I've seen (Aragami being the other) go to great lengths to build up anticipation for big fight scenes that turn out just to be mediocre. The big climax here involves the main prisoner battling a character that is suddenly introduced right before the fight - a monster infected with the virus. Actually, its just some guy wearing a really bad costume and lots of CGI blur to cover it up. There are a few darkly humorous moments, but I recommend you avoid this one, or at least watch it at 2x speed, you won't miss anything.1/2 out of 4 Zombie Faces
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