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is a 2000 Japanese horror film based on the manga of the same name. The film was the featured film debut of Akihiro Higuchi under the alias of Higuchinsky and stars Eriko Hatsune, Fhi Fan and Hinako Saeki. The film is about a town infected with malevolent spirals. The film was backed by Omega Micott who released the film simultaneously in Japan and in San Francisco to create hype around the film on the internet. The films reviews praised the visuals but commented that the film was not entirely effective in being a scary horror film.
is a seinen horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. Appearing as a serial in the weekly manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1998 to 1999, the chapters were compiled into three bound volumes by Shogakukan and published from August 1998 to September 1999. In March 2000, Shogakukan released an omnibus edition, followed by a second omnibus version in August 2010. In North America, Viz Media serialized an English-language translation of the series in its monthly magazine Pulp from February 2001 to August 2002. Viz Media then published the volumes from October 2001 to October 2002, with a re-release from October 2007 to February 2008, and published a hardcover omnibus edition in October 2013.
The series tells the story of the citizens of Kurôzu-cho, a fictional city which is plagued by a supernatural curse involving spirals. The story for Uzumaki originated when Ito attempted to write a story about people living in a very long row house, and he was inspired to use a spiral shape to achieve the desired length. Ito believes the horror of Uzumaki is effective due to its subversion of symbols which are normally positively portrayed in Japanese media, and its Lovecraftian theme of protagonists struggling against a mysterious force stronger than themselves.
The manga was adapted into two video games for the WonderSwan and a Japanese live-action film directed by Higunchinsky. The manga has received generally positive reviews from English-language critics. It was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2003, and placed in the Young Adult Library Services Association's list of the "Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens" in 2009.