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Seven teenagers
find themselves trapped in a parallel
universe while at an amusement park. A clown tells
them that they have been chosen to participate in a
game and even though no one's very excited about it,
they all join in on the fun. What they don't know is
that breaking the rules will have deadly consequences.
Having just sat through the miserably dull "Twilight
Syndrome: Dead Cruise", I wasn't exactly ecstatic to
have to sit through another Twilight Syndrome movie
but since I had a bad fever anyway I figured that
this was the best time to do it. Surprisingly enough,
Dead Go Round is NOTHING like Dead Cruise. In fact,
it's pretty darn good. Sure enough, Dead Go Round is
also based on a manga but this time it's done right.
Dead Go Round is what you'd get if you'd mix Uzumaki
with Dark Ride. It's got a steady pace throughout the
entire movie and there's not a dull moment to be found
in here. Like I said, the exact opposite of Dead Cruise.
In Dead Go Round we also have a game going on, just
like in Dead Cruise. This time, seven teenagers find
themselves trapped in an abandoned amusement park
with a mysterious clown forcing them to play a deadly
game. But not everything is as it seems. What starts
out as a normal slasher flick soon turns into a weird
twisted fairytale and it's simply outstanding. Sure,
Dead Go Round may have its flaws but it's the best
Japanese horror movie that I've seen in several years,
I can tell you that much.
I'm sure that both Dead Cruise and Dead Go Round had
similar budgets but Dead Go Round really feels a lot
more expensive. Perhaps due to the far better directing,
or perhaps due to the awesome location or perhaps
due to the very cool special effects used in Dead Go
Round but either way it is much more of a treat for
the eye. Dead Cruise looked like it was shot on HD,
but Dead Go Round almost looked 35mm-ish. Acting-wise
the movie is also severely better with not only a
solid cast but some terrific characters. I rooted for
every single one of these characters right away as
they're pretty unusual for horror films. The ones you
expect to die first die last and the ones you expect
to survive die first - clearly the people behind Dead
Go Round knew what they were doing.
If you're a fan of obscure J-horror movies such as
Uzumaki and Infection I'm sure that you will enjoy
Dead Go Round as well. It's unfortunate that Dead
Cruise wasn't as entertaining as this one but hey,
at least one of the Twilight Syndrome movies ended
up being a positive surprise. A bizarre horror movie
not to be missed.
We get an impalement and some minor gore. Nothing huge.
Felt rather expensive and epic - I was impressed.
A terrific and very bizarre horror movie that is not
to be missed. Unfortunately I don't see this finding
distribution outside of Japan but if I were you I'd
order the Japanese DVD right away - especially if
bizarre slasher mangas are your thing.
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