n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

For the first half of this movie, mostly consisting of introductions and rising suspense, the story was fantastic. Many of the scenes were unsettling and they successfully introduced each important character while keeping the plot going. Special effects-wise, the movie is absolutely laughable, yet the creepy portions of the movie kept the suspense building. In fact, that's one of the major successes of the movie; it builds tension by having creepy moments interspersed with unsettling scenery and props. Unfortunately, due to the writer seemingly giving up after building aforementioned suspense, we get a movie that builds lots of suspense, but never really tells us what the monster was, or how it was defeated. We are left bereft of resolution and closure. It is left to the imagination how real the monster was, and there is no satisfaction of knowing that the cast has overcome great obstacles.The movie is tense, and builds suspense, but on a plot line, it doesn't comprehend that a climax and resolution are necessary to end a good story. Without a climax, there is no way to truly evaluate a story for meaning, and thus the strong first half is useless.*spoiler warning*As far as I could tell, there is an attempt to use uncertainty between reality and hallucination as a plot device. When a doctor in the research reel suggests that the patients hallucinate an astral projection, they are /actually/ projecting, and a vampire-like doppelganger takes control. Supposedly, by believing in an afterlife, one can protect themselves from these beings. (There's also some strange portion about a virgin becoming pregnant). The film has pretty lofty goals, but could have been trimmed and given a climax and resolution. If that had been done, it would have been a good addition to the genre.Unfortunately, the film does a poor job of providing this information, leaving the viewer without any solid facts to orient themselves. This disorientation is excellent while building suspense, but should have been fixed after the climax, or during.

THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS in its depiction(s) of medically-induced paranormal power(s) brings to mind some of the early work of Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg; i.e.; the black and white short STEREO and the feature film that may or may not have sprung from that, SCANNERS, as well as the mind-bending VIDEODROME (not to mention dozens of other such movies in between- and since). When her daughter Miyuki joins a group of would-be suicides in an airtight van with the treacherous Hattori, her mother takes the opportunity to subject her to a series of experiments, promising her: "You're going to see what humans can't. The reality of the world beyond our world." Following the experiment, Miyuki disappears from her mother's clinic with another subject. Miyuki's sister, Kaori, arrives to try to help find her, but when she and her mother return to the clinic, everyone there is dead. In a VERY Cronenbergeque scene, her mother shows Kaori that the walls have become "just like skin" because Miyuki's thoughts have started to affect the Reality all around her. There are some great twists near the end of the movie, but the ending itself is surprisingly disappointing because it's been done a million times before. Still, I would recommend THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS to anyone who's a fan of David Cronenberg or of exceptionally well-crafted Japanese fright films.

It's quite unbelievable how much people are still praising the Japanese horror genre. Let me tell you, as a real horror fan and lover, that there are still far more great Hollywood genre movies than Japanese ones out there. Problem with Japanese genre movies often is that they are all too much alike in story and atmosphere and usually aren't helped by a very high budget.Problem with this movie is that it presents itself as a mysterious and clever one, while in fact it's being neither really. The movie is only mysterious because it's being told that way but not because the story in itself is being a very interesting or real clever and mysterious one. It actually causes the movie to work out more confusing and messy than anything else really.It's actually hard to believe this movie got written and directed by the same man who wrote the screenplay for the original "Ringu" movie and most of its official sequels, which I all also personally quite liked.The movie is also far too slow with its buildup, during its first half. When looking back at it, most of the stuff that happens in the first half isn't even that relevant for the movie and is also quite out of tone with its second half, which is far more horror orientated.But it's not like the movie is having any real good horror in it though. It's the type of horror that is featuring ghostly figures and lots of computer effects, that just never become scary. The movie also just really doesn't have the right required atmosphere for that.There is far too much wrong with this movie to consider it a remotely decent or recommendable one, not even for the lovers of Japenese horror (no, I am not saying J-horror!).4/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Dr. Hattori and her husband watch footage of brain surgery experiments with Manchurian, Russian and Japanese guinea pigs that had been found in the basement of a wrecked hospital. Out of the blue, there is a white light and when they look back, they see they children Ota Miyuki and Kaori staring at the light.Years later, Miyuki (Yuri Nakamura) vanishes from the Tama Medical University Hospital and her sister Kaori (Mina Fujii), Miyuki's boyfriend Motojima and detective Hirasawa are seeking her. However, Miyuki and the teenagers Kazochi, Takumi, Hattori and Rieko have been submitted to a nightmarish experiment by Dr. Hattori and her team with tragic results."Kyôfu" is an intriguing film, with a mad scientist that submits her daughters and other teenagers to creepy experiments that recalled me the Dharma Projet from "Lost". Unfortunately the screenplay is a complete mess and despite the good acting, cinematography, make-up and effects, the film is unintelligible. My vote is three.Title (Brazil): "Herança Amaldiçoada" ("Cursed Heritage")