Jisatsu Sakuro ( Suicide Club ), Japan , 2002.

Available on DVD, seemingly everywhere but here. (Try Ebay)

This is the most twisted thing I've seen all year. Suicide Club, aka Suicide Circle, explores the Japanese national obsession with popping yer cork along with wierd cults, creepy pre-teen pop, and information technology.

After fifty-six schoolgirls fling themselves on front of a rush hour underground train, Tokyo is beset by a rash of apparently sponbtaneous suicides, and the cops can't work it out. Is it even a crime?

Suicide Club bombards you with information, misinformation, conflicting theories and pseudo-facts. Who is "the Charlie Manson of the Information Age"? And what's with the creepy sub-teen girl-band?

A website is soon unveiled which seems to predict the mass self-slaughter, but only gives basic information, with the victims displayed as red and white dots on the screen, red for female, white for male. Slightly more women than men are in the deadly club, and, er, that's about it. A really disgusting clue (of sorts) is also revealed fairly early, but I don't want to ruin the suspense for you. I'll just say that another translation of the title is "Suicide Circle" and the clue is partly a crappy pun beloved of the Japanese. You'll get it when you see it.

It is a bit daft in places though- One of the cops responds to the suggestion of cult involvement by saying "A suicide cult? Ridiculous." and one scene, set in a hospital, leaves you thinking: Hey, is there some kind of law against turning on the flipping lights at night in Japanese hospitals? And how come they don't have any patients? But those are about the only really silly, Hammer-Horror moments there are- the rest is pure scare.

Suicide Club hasn't been given a UK release, but English subtitled versions are available from the USA. Your best bet is going to be Ebay, but if you absolutely can't wait, your friendly local Otaku-matic, All-Things Anime-and J-Horror store might stock it.

A very gory, creepoid, twisted flick that will leave you asking the question: What the FUCK is WRONG with Japanese people?

8 / 10

Konsumer Kitten sez: If you buy this film, be sure to have a sick bag handy when you watch. Best viewed at night, with the lights off, alone. And don't expect an uncut version to be released in Britain soon- It's got more gore than an Al-Qaeeda press release.

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