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Instead of just being electrocuted, 2 convicts, Yashiro (Hideo Sakaki) - who
has killed the rapists of his girflriend - & Tsusushi - who is just an
overall bad guy are put into a roomy cell together where they do enjoy some
commodities but have to take part in a yet unrevealed experiment.
Of course the 2 men soon get at each others throats, as Yashiro is such a
general nice & cool boy while Tsusushi is an evil punk - but then those in
charge of the experiment include a woman - Yurika (Ryo) - too, just to heve the
men really go on a rampage ...
But why ?
Yuriko's brain holds an Isomer, a supernatural parasite that feeds on
bloodlust that gives her any supernatural power imaginable - but slowly feeds
of her brain, draining her of her own personality. & since one of the
doctors behind the experiments is Yurika's sister Asuka (Koyuki), every effort
is made to find someone more bloodthirsty to make the parasite leave Yurika's
body for better nurtuuring grounds. & who would be more bloodthirsty than
one of the 2 convicts ?
& really, when Tsusushi atacks Yurika & goody-good Yashiro wants to
save her, somehow seeing his girlfriend Misako (Erika Oda), who has killed
herself after being gangraped, the Isomer jumps from Yurika's body to his.
Happy ending now is it ?
Of course not, as it happens in these movies, some shady government
organization lead by Tokutake (Bengal) has since taken over the experiments,
wanting to turn the Isomer into the perfect killing machine. & now, to test
the Isomer-enhanced-Yashiro, they send in a SWAT team, who are wo fourse no
match for Yashiro's powers (no surprise there), & after some more pointless
to-&-fro, Tokutake throws his own Isomer-enhanced goon into the mix, just
to test the strengths of the two ... & would you know it, the goon seems to
be winning, until Yashiro looks into his dark heart (yawn !) & thus turns
the tables, killing the goon, before there is some major cleaning up to do to
amount to a happy ending ...
The doctor responsible for the experiments sees huis errors & shoots
Tokutake before committing suicide, & Yurika & Asuka weep a lot &
are thus released from any guilt, & Yashiro goes to the surface to see the
sun one more time before he shoots himself, too, happily of course since Misako
awaits him in heaven.
A very very stupid & very very clichéd movie, that seems to take itself
seriously, though: The first half or so is actually made up as a psychological
piece ... despite the fact that the 2 characters involved are about the most
one-dimensional I have seen in ages. At the same time, storytelling is dull to
a standstill, & when the action finally sets in about halfway through the
movie, it is competently done but completely uninvolving, as its outcome is
totally predictable. & the ending, with all the baddies killed off &
the good guys weeping or killing themselves for a better future ... now can an
ending be any more blut than that ?
One of director Ryuhei Kitamura's previous films was Versus - which
was great since it at the same time was a good genre movie and a good
genre parody ... Alive, unfortunately, is neither. So, even if you liked
Versus ... no, let me rephrase that: Especially if you liked Versus,
do not watch this.
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