INFECTION

In a hospital crippled by the lack of drugs and staff, chaos reigns supreme. A critically ill patient dies due to the negligence of one of the few remaining doctors in the facility. To avoid legal problems, the responsible parties decide to cover up the incident, awaiting a better solution. As if that weren't enough, a stretcher is abandoned in the emergency room lobby: it carries a patient afflicted with a mysterious viral disease that causes the dissolution of organs and tissues. The infection will begin to spread and it will be the start of a nightmare. It is called "J Horror Theatre" the anthology produced by Taka Ichise, who had the good idea of grouping six works born from some of the most talented Japanese horror directors in a single project that includes, in addition to "Infection", the following films: "Premonition", "Reincarnation", "Retribution", "Kaidan" and "Kyôfu". To open the dance is "Infection" ("Kansen" is the original title), a hospital film with strong weird tones that succeeds in the attempt to distance itself from the typical cliché of Japanese horrors "Ghost with long black hair thirsty for revenge". What immediately strikes is the crazy and strange setting: the only location of the film is indeed a bare and dilapidated hospital, populated by bizarre patients who wander the corridors like ghosts. The film is built on a twisted and intricate narrative base and the story will take a sinister and inexplicable turn after the death of a completely burned patient who mysteriously fell out of bed. The real nightmare, however, is announced by a stretcher left by the ambulance in the emergency room lobby, which carries an individual whose body is literally liquefying into a viscous green sludge. Horrified, the doctors are convinced by a colleague to accept the patient and analyze the case. Going against professional ethics for their own benefit, causing and covering up the death of a patient, will have unimaginable repercussions on a doctor, and the guilt will begin to eat away at them from the inside, exactly like the mysterious virus. Worthy of note is the performance of the cast as well as the characterization of the characters, fundamental for the development of the story: the cynical doctor, the rookie nurse, the honest head nurse, the crazy old patient who talks to the mirrors and so on. In a surreal and claustrophobic atmosphere, the disease begins in some way to spread, insinuating itself into the minds of those present and irreversibly altering their psycho-physical state: no longer responding to their own actions, the "infected" begin to commit acts of violence against themselves and others. But is the macabre spectacle to which the survivors are subjected real or is it the fruit of a hallucination? In fact, several cryptic and apparently incomprehensible events often make us doubt, but despite the general chaos and the numerous question marks, the film flows pleasantly and manages to fully capture the attention of the viewer, increasingly involved in the whirlwind of chaos and delirium. Well executed are also the most bloody scenes where, obviously, the predominant color is not red but green. In a crescendo of pure madness, between green blobs and pseudo-crazy ghosts, we arrive at the unexpected epilogue that offers us an exhaustive and shocking key to reading, without however resolving the knots completely. A perfectly executed mix between ghost story and hospital horror in the style of "The Kingdom", where the focus is one: the human mind and its mysteries, the effect of guilt on mental health, the difficulty of treating a terminal patient and the awareness of a choice that will not be the right one for everyone. A film absolutely recommended to lovers of weird with almond eyes but also to those who want to enjoy a made in Japan show a little different from the usual.