Get Your Reps In: “Cure” Is as Good as Its Sickness

Cure (1997)

You rarely think about how darkness and shaky camerawork can be comforting conventions in horror films, but Cure makes the case in reverse—with a series of harshly lit and statically shot murders scarier than anything that goes bump in the night. Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s modern horror-crime classic plays Oct. 14 at the Clinton Street Theater, its enduring appeal a stunning mix of stylistic forthrightness, elusive performances, and thematic unknowability.

In this story of a detective (Koji Yakusho) investigating murders connected only by a mutilative calling card, most of the killings occur in broad daylight—unsparing, unstylized, and all the more frightening for it. Combine that with near-subliminal editing tricks that make homicidal ideation seem almost like a memory that just slipped away, and Cure is a master class in using eminently available filmmaking techniques to revolutionize the oldest cop story in the book. Clinton, Oct. 14.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: The Sealed Soil and Chess of the Wind (1977), Oct. 10–12. Academy: Carrie (1976), Kuroneko (1968) and Saw (2004), Oct. 8 and 9. Cinema 21: Alien (1979), Oct. 10 and 11. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), Oct. 11. Ghost Almanac vintage horror clip show, Oct. 13. Cinemagic: Christine (1983) and Hocus Pocus (1993), Oct. 8. The Exorcist (1973), Oct. 9. Tremors (1990), Oct. 10, 12 and 14. Spookies (1986), Oct. 10 and 13. An American Werewolf in London (1981), Oct. 12 and 14. The Cabin in the Woods (2011), Oct. 11. 30 Days of Night (2007), Oct. 11 and 14. Scooby-Doo (2002), Oct. 12, 13 and 15. Sinister (2012), Oct. 12 and 13. Clinton: Mister Designer (1989), Oct. 8. The Return of the Living Dead (1985), Oct. 9. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), Oct. 10. The Cabin in the Woods (2011) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Oct. 11. Alien (1979), Oct. 12. The Descent (2005), Oct. 13. Cult Classics: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Oct. 12. Hollywood: Zafari (2024) and Psychotronic Halloween Special in 16 mm, Oct. 8. Doctor X (1932), Oct. 9. Re-Animator (1985), Oct. 10–15. Slither (2006), Oct. 10. The Innocents (1961), Oct. 11 and 12. Hocus Pocus (1993), Oct. 11. Kite (1998), Oct. 12. Messiah of Evil (1973), Oct. 13. Tomorrow: Seed of Chucky (2004), Oct. 9. Suspiria (2018) and Suspiria (1977), Oct. 11. A Place of Rage (1991), Oct. 12.