| Infection | |
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Japanese film poster |
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| Directed by | Masayuki Ochiai |
| Produced by | Takashige Ichise |
| Written by | Ryoichi Kimizuka (story), Masayuki Ochiai (screenplay) |
| Starring | Kōichi Satō Masanobu Takashima |
| Release date(s) | October 2, 2004 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Infection (感染 Kansen) is a 2004 Japanese horror film, and is volume one of six in the J-Horror Theater series. The film was directed by Masayuki Ochiai as a theatrical version based on an episode of the Japanese horror TV series Yonimo Kimyō na Monogatari (世にも奇妙な物語 lit. Tales of the Unusual). The episode, subtitled "Kyūkan" ("急患" lit. "Urgent Patient"), was written by Ryoichi Kimizuka and first broadcast in 1991 in Japan.[1]
Contents |
The film takes place in an under-staffed hospital that is quickly losing money. As night begins to fall, an ambulance comes to the hospital bringing a patient with a strange black rash. Dr. Akiba refuses to admit the patient, due to the hospital being low on resources and staff. While arguing with the paramedic, Dr. Akiba is alerted to a serious crisis in Room 3 of the hospital. A patient, though unconscious, has somehow fallen to the floor and his vital signs are dropping quickly. They think they have saved him when they realize that the nurse has apparently mistakenly used calcium chlorate instead of calcium chloride and injected the wrong drug into his intravenous drip (potassium is pronounced as "kariumu" in Japanese which is the Latin for potassium, kalium and calcium is pronounced as "karushiumu" so they may be similar for Japanese viewers; while calcium chlorate[2] is used at the subtitle in American DVDs rather than potassium chloride to make more sense for non-Japanese viewers). The present staff members — Doctors Akiba, Uozumi and four nurses (head nurse, new, in-experienced nurse, mean nurse and the misuse nurse)—after a long and harsh argument, decide to cover up the true cause of his death and say that he died naturally. They move the body to an unused room and start heating it to speed up decay to hide the damaged blood chemistry.
Soon afterward, Akiba discovers that the patient he rejected earlier has been left in the hallway. Another doctor, Akai, makes his presence known and suggests that they study the symptoms of this new patient as his symptoms (his body mass liquefying into a green goo) represent uncharted medical territory — a chance to make a name for themselves. Not knowing how much Akai knows about the events in Room 3, the other doctors reluctantly agree to study the new patient for the moment. Before long though, the staff return to the room to find that the patient has vanished from the examination room, and the head nurse has been left unconscious on the floor. Not enough liquid matter is left to suggest the patient had fully liquefied, so the staff try to locate him.
It becomes obvious that they are all at risk of infection when the head nurse goes mad in front of the misuse nurse. She had been sterilizing some supplies for reuse while holding the trays under boiling water, severely scalding her hands and getting needles stuck in them as well. She begins to bleed the green goo from her ears and eyes as the doctors come to her aid. They put her on a bed and cover her with plastic, and her internal organs begin to liquefy.
Then youngest inexperienced nurse, who has been repeatedly insulted and victimized by the mean nurse, goes into the room where the head nurse rests. The head nurse is not in her bed and is standing several feet behind the inexperienced nurse. Later we see the inexperienced nurse sitting down on a chair. The mean nurse finds her practicing drawing blood on herself, as earlier she had been scalded for not being very good at it. She mentions that she was a sickly child and looked up to the nurses that helped her, and that's why she wanted to become a nurse. She then lets out an insane laugh. The mean nurse frantically apologizes for her behavior earlier but the inexperienced nurse plunges two needles into herself and green goo explodes out of her, splattering the mean nurse.
Akiba, Uozumi and Akai discuss the infection and the mean nurse overhears, growing panicked. The inexperienced nurse's corpse then sits up on its own. Uozumi argues with Akai and storms out of the room. The mean nurse, meanwhile is talking to what she believes is the burn victim's mother, who has arrived to visit her son. She is turned away by the mean nurse. After more discussion, Akiba goes to follow Uozumi, first checking if the mean nurse is alright. She is found, eating food she claims the burn victim's mother had left them. When shown, it appears that she is eating squares of flesh.
Uozumi is in one of the rooms and he speaks to a patient he had killed. Uozumi is overcome with guilt and starts crying. Akiba then enters and notices that Uozumi is alone. Uozumi's eyes turn white and the goo begins to come from him. Uozumi starts screaming and Akiba flees in terror. Akiba, panicking, turns to find the mean nurse, now infected and covered in green goo, smiling and hanging upside down from the ceiling.
Akiba finds the misuse nurse, now giving her own blood to the dead burn patient, but before he can stop her, the infected head nurse steps out of the shadows asking him to join her and the other infected staff. Akiba flees and leaves the already infected misuse nurse behind.
In the morning, Akiba faces Akai, stating that Akai was the one who created and spread the virus in order to use the other staff members as guinea pigs. Akai denies it, and instead states that the infection is spread mentally, infecting the subconscious mind. Akai urges Akiba to remember the events that happened in Room 3.
At this point, the final doctor Nakazono comes in and finds Akiba holding a conversation with no one. She challenges him, and Akiba states he is talking to Akai, but then he realizes he was looking in a mirror, and no one was really there. He looks around and sees the corpses of the mean nurse and the inexperienced nurse, dead and covered in blood, not in the green goo that was on them before. He realizes that his last few hours had not been a reality.
Nakazono calls the police and, while returning the burn patient to his original room, Akiba recalls the events in Room number 3 and realizes that "Akai" was actually the burn patient. He then sees the same series of events with himself as the burn patient, while Akai takes over Akiba's role and gives the orders for the wrong drug. He comes to his senses and cuts himself with a scalpel in order to see the color of his blood. He sees red blood come out of the cut, but in the mirror he sees the blood as oozing green goo.
As more staff arrive in the morning, the hospital is cleared of all patients due to the night's events, revealing all of the staff except for Nakazono are dead and the police starts the search for Akiba, who has vanished. When Nakazono is leaving the hospital, she sees all the red lights change to green and vice versa; panicking, she accidentally cuts her hand, and sees green blood pour out of her hand.
The movie ends with a shot of a locker in the room where the burn victim was heated. Someone inside of the locker is calling for help, and green goo starts pouring out of it. The top of the locker starts opening and a hand full of goo reaches out. By the watch on the hand it can be determined that Akiba is hidden inside the locker. The hand then falls onto the floor.
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