poe426 Review of The Sylvian Experiments

The Sylvian Experiments (2010)

"For the evolution of human spirituality..."

[9/10 · 22 September 2014]

THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS in its depiction(s) of medically-induced paranormal power(s) brings to mind some of the early work of Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg; i.e.; the black and white short STEREO and the feature film that may or may not have sprung from that, SCANNERS, as well as the mind-bending VIDEODROME (not to mention dozens of other such movies in between- and since). When her daughter Miyuki joins a group of would-be suicides in an airtight van with the treacherous Hattori, her mother takes the opportunity to subject her to a series of experiments, promising her: "You're going to see what humans can't. The reality of the world beyond our world." Following the experiment, Miyuki disappears from her mother's clinic with another subject. Miyuki's sister, Kaori, arrives to try to help find her, but when she and her mother return to the clinic, everyone there is dead. In a VERY Cronenbergeque scene, her mother shows Kaori that the walls have become "just like skin" because Miyuki's thoughts have started to affect the Reality all around her. There are some great twists near the end of the movie, but the ending itself is surprisingly disappointing because it's been done a million times before. Still, I would recommend THE SYLVIAN EXPERIMENTS to anyone who's a fan of David Cronenberg or of exceptionally well-crafted Japanese fright films.