His hands set ablaze reach out to embrace her, yet she remains as cold as a corpse. They deserve to burn together. They do burn together. & it’s a bitter dream come true.
- A novel-style summary of the beautiful ending to Ochiai’s horror-drama written by me.
The film Parasite Eve is as much of a stage play as any film could possibly be. Beautiful orchestral music takes a melodramatic third act filled with campy 90’s sci-fi, & evolves it into a beautiful song singing the tune of grief. I can’t tell whether the ending was a victory or defeat & I don’t think Nagashima knew either, but the comparisons to Silent Hill 2 can’t be denied. In fact, I’d say the film is if the plot of the Rebirth ending resulted in the Maria one; James in the rebirth ending taking what he learned about the potential ability to resurrect within his Silent Hill’s church, only, instead of James drifting on his canoe to an ambiguous result, he would find himself actually managing to produce a doppelgänger of his wife Mary. James, instead of getting closure via suicide or repentance & progression decides to just rebound with a clone of her, in this case being the fan-favorite Maria, only for her to cough up blood the moment they step into his vehicle, showing the lethal cycle will continue, forcing James to dance to the beat of grief until he comes to a conclusion or simply dies.
Nagashima was a scientist equally as lost in grief yet not nearly as suicidal due to his obsessive nature in her potential rebirth, having her liver evolve into a doppelgänger of her. & while she’s far more hostile than Maria with science-based superhuman abilities, his conclusion is the same, (quite literally) continuing to bask in the flames of grief until his death with a smile on his face. While he was unable to recover & move on, he was happy to burn so long as he was with her. So, while both men tread the same line, James never managed to find the content in the inability to recover like Nagashima did added there’s a clear tonal difference between both. Silent Hill 2 is bleak to the very end, any sort of bittersweetness coming from his & Mary’s unbridled love for one another, as well as (depending on the ending), him repenting for the sins of the selfish decision he made, overcoming his guilt, keeping Mary in his heart while building something new with the adoption of Laura, with any flatness in the voice acting actually amplifying the horror by giving an uncomfortable Twin Peaks feel, while Parasite Eve finds itself embracing the campiness, being faithful to the novel while reinforcing a structure which subsequent material, save for the abomination known as *The Third Birthday.
*
The typical Parasite Eve plot comes from blowing up a real world scientific concept to superhuman proportions in a way that feels natural, blossoming into a unique, slow paced soap-opera style Sci-Fi horror flick that actually manages to be emotionally engaging, & at times rather complex; reaching up to the top of the roller coaster until it just borders the third act, & the moment it hits just shooting down the tracks, constantly gaining momentum until it slams into a wall & just blows the whole thing up. For the original novel & the first PlayStation title this actually works really well, while the 2nd game it sort of finds itself in the middle, & the Third Birthday doesn’t even have a structure at all yet alone following one so unique to this franchise. Luckily though, I can say the adaptation of the film manages to shoot the bullet through the needle-hole like the source material despite being a made-for-TV film. If anything, I’d say the melodrama actually only works because it’s a low-budget made-for-TV film as it’s limited resources forces them to lock almost all the drama between the performances & camera work, with the only effects being from the green screen used to make Kiyomi float in the most stiff, uncanny fashion possible while glowing from this yellow-y white hue & the actual fire when they burn objects & stunt doubles. It gives a really uncanny-valley film that makes it uncomfortable to watch in a way only a Made-For-Tv property like this could accomplish, hitting a very similar mark Stephen King’s It two-part special & the original Ringu film (yes, the 1998 classic is technically a remake, & the American version, aka The Ring, is an American-nized remake of that remake) & I gotta say… I love it.
This isn’t to say the film is flawless, not even close. It has some massive pacing issues during the middle, & the third act can feel a little too melodramatic for it’s own good (it’s a weird thing to say I know), being outright campy at some points in a way that’s not entertaining, only a bit awkward, & the low-quality of the only available version didn’t help, making it outright hard to see at points due to the grains effects on the light contrast. Yet, despite all of this, I still found myself taking a good bit away from this & even getting emotional in the end. I really like that ending. It’s over the top in a way that somehow in the most unironically beautiful way I couldn’t even imagine. If you like older, low-budget horror films, niché J-horror flicks, or just like the Parasite Eve saga at all I recommend this. If you aren’t into this kind of thing, I don’t think it’ll change your mind.
So.. I’m thinking a Decent to Strong 7 (out of 10) on this one.
His hands set ablaze reach out to embrace her, yet she remains as cold as a corpse. They deserve to burn together. They do burn together. & it’s a bitter dream come true.
- A novel-style summary of the beautiful ending to Ochiai’s horror-drama written by me.
The film Parasite Eve is as much of a stage play as any film could possibly be. Beautiful orchestral music takes a melodramatic third act filled with campy 90’s sci-fi, & evolves it into a beautiful song singing the tune of grief. I can’t tell whether the ending was a victory or defeat & I don’t think Nagashima knew either, but the comparisons to Silent Hill 2 can’t be denied. In fact, I’d say the film is if the plot of the Rebirth ending resulted in the Maria one; James in the rebirth ending taking what he learned about the potential ability to resurrect within his Silent Hill’s church, only, instead of James drifting on his canoe to an ambiguous result, he would find himself actually managing to produce a doppelgänger of his wife Mary. James, instead of getting closure via suicide or repentance & progression decides to just rebound with a clone of her, in this case being the fan-favorite Maria, only for her to cough up blood the moment they step into his vehicle, showing the lethal cycle will continue, forcing James to dance to the beat of grief until he comes to a conclusion or simply dies.
Nagashima was a scientist equally as lost in grief yet not nearly as suicidal due to his obsessive nature in her potential rebirth, having her liver evolve into a doppelgänger of her. & while she’s far more hostile than Maria with science-based superhuman abilities, his conclusion is the same, (quite literally) continuing to bask in the flames of grief until his death with a smile on his face. While he was unable to recover & move on, he was happy to burn so long as he was with her. So, while both men tread the same line, James never managed to find the content in the inability to recover like Nagashima did added there’s a clear tonal difference between both. Silent Hill 2 is bleak to the very end, any sort of bittersweetness coming from his & Mary’s unbridled love for one another, as well as (depending on the ending), him repenting for the sins of the selfish decision he made, overcoming his guilt, keeping Mary in his heart while building something new with the adoption of Laura, with any flatness in the voice acting actually amplifying the horror by giving an uncomfortable Twin Peaks feel, while Parasite Eve finds itself embracing the campiness, being faithful to the novel while reinforcing a structure which subsequent material, save for the abomination known as *The Third Birthday.
*
The typical Parasite Eve plot comes from blowing up a real world scientific concept to superhuman proportions in a way that feels natural, blossoming into a unique, slow paced soap-opera style Sci-Fi horror flick that actually manages to be emotionally engaging, & at times rather complex; reaching up to the top of the roller coaster until it just borders the third act, & the moment it hits just shooting down the tracks, constantly gaining momentum until it slams into a wall & just blows the whole thing up. For the original novel & the first PlayStation title this actually works really well, while the 2nd game it sort of finds itself in the middle, & the Third Birthday doesn’t even have a structure at all yet alone following one so unique to this franchise. Luckily though, I can say the adaptation of the film manages to shoot the bullet through the needle-hole like the source material despite being a made-for-TV film. If anything, I’d say the melodrama actually only works because it’s a low-budget made-for-TV film as it’s limited resources forces them to lock almost all the drama between the performances & camera work, with the only effects being from the green screen used to make Kiyomi float in the most stiff, uncanny fashion possible while glowing from this yellow-y white hue & the actual fire when they burn objects & stunt doubles. It gives a really uncanny-valley film that makes it uncomfortable to watch in a way only a Made-For-Tv property like this could accomplish, hitting a very similar mark Stephen King’s It two-part special & the original Ringu film (yes, the 1998 classic is technically a remake, & the American version, aka The Ring, is an American-nized remake of that remake) & I gotta say… I love it.
This isn’t to say the film is flawless, not even close. It has some massive pacing issues during the middle, & the third act can feel a little too melodramatic for it’s own good (it’s a weird thing to say I know), being outright campy at some points in a way that’s not entertaining, only a bit awkward, & the low-quality of the only available version didn’t help, making it outright hard to see at points due to the grains effects on the light contrast. Yet, despite all of this, I still found myself taking a good bit away from this & even getting emotional in the end. I really like that ending. It’s over the top in a way that somehow in the most unironically beautiful way I couldn’t even imagine. If you like older, low-budget horror films, niché J-horror flicks, or just like the Parasite Eve saga at all I recommend this. If you aren’t into this kind of thing, I don’t think it’ll change your mind.
So.. I’m thinking a Decent to Strong 7 (out of 10) on this one.
