Genetic Structure
Hello?
Ando? You still sound so depressed. It's been two years, you know.
What is it?
- Ryuji Takayama's dead. - Who?
Ryuji Takayama. He was in med school with us.
This is a joke, isn't it.
It'd be in poor taste. They think it might be suicide.
Suicide? Ryuji Takayama?
Or it could be foul play. They've ordered an autopsy.
What?
The autopsy you're doing today is Ryuji Takayama.
See you at the hospital.
RING - THE SPIRAL
No signs of violence
and no obvious cause of death, so we need an autopsy.
Depending on what you find, it could be a murder investigation.
That would mean a formal autopsy later.
- It was sudden death. - Sudden death?
Yesterday morning, at home.
There's no mistake. It's Ryuji Takayama.
Good morning.
Got it!
It's DNA amino acids.
The numbers are your code.
"Ripper"?
What's that supposed to mean?
Takayama?
You don't get it?
It's you.
Your future.
"Ripper"...
Shall we begin?
1,520 grams.
Partial necrosis, left side of the heart.
Coronary arterial thrombosis.
Death from myocardial infarction from blockage of left coronary artery.
Ulceration in the throat...
Take a specimen.
You couldn't slash your own wrists.
How could you do this to me?
Ando...
Dr. Ando?
This was in the stomach.
Ryuji Takayama,
lecturer in science at Kyoei University.
Supposedly a bit odd.
His ex-wife, Reiko Asakawa.
The boy with her is theirs.
They'd recently re-established contact
after quite a long time.
Do you suspect something?
Reiko Asakawa got to his place as the ambulance arrived.
Then she went home, got the boy and vanished.
Vanished?
The medics said she took a video tape from his apartment.
A video tape?
He'd phoned her just as he was dying.
But it was his girlfriend who found him.
She dropped by his apartment and found him dead.
It's very suspicious.
He died of a heart attack.
That's strange.
Would you like to meet the girlfriend?
She's very quiet. We haven't got much out of her.
Dr. Ando, the chief pathologist.
Mai Takano, who found him.
Could you describe the scene again for the doctor?
It wasn't suicide, or murder.
I'd like to ask about Professor Takayama's health.
His health?
He didn't look like someone about to die of heart failure.
Did he ever complain to you about having chest pains
or feeling generally listless?
No.
Ms. Takano...
...why did you suddenly show up at his apartment yesterday morning?
Where did Reiko Asakawa and her boy vanish to?
Do you have any idea?
I don't know.
Tell me.
I don't know. I really don't.
Why won't you talk? Tell me what you know.
You know Ryuji Takayama
was seeing his ex-wife, don't you?
Talk, damn it!
Stop hiding things and tell me what you know!
- Don't touch me. - Talk!
Don't touch me.
Detective Maekawa!
I know about you.
Professor Takayama mentioned your name about a month ago.
What did he tell you about me?
That in university
you all used to make up secret codes for fun.
We'd base them on what we were studying in med school.
His were the hardest to break.
He was a bright guy.
He said you were the only one who could decipher his.
Before he died, he and Reiko were investigating something.
What?
A video.
A video?
Whoever saw it died.
Died?
Yes.
Four people saw it.
They all died.
That's not possible.
Dr. Ando...
...you know Professor Takayama
wasn't like other people, don't you?
I was always surprised how he could predict the future
and guess what people were thinking, if that's what you mean.
I'm sure he knew
that you and I
would be meeting like this.
But why did he have to die
and leave me here alone?
Horse shit!
Doctor?
Doctor! Doctor!
Department of Pathology
Miyashita...
How did it go?
A tumor brought on his heart attack.
A tumor?!
Look at this.
But it's not malignant. I've never seen anything like it.
A tumor like that on a blood vessel causing myocardial infarction?
Leave it to Takayama to get something weird like this.
What about the ulcer?
I couldn't find anything like that, either.
I asked around. A retired professor from Bunka University said...
- ...it looked like a smallpox lesion. - That can't be right.
That virus has been eradicated.
Did his girlfriend give you any ideas about why he died?
Her idea's even crazier than the virus theory.
What did she say?
Are you ready for this? She says a video killed him.
- A video? - Yeah.
What do you mean?
She says there's a video tape that kills you if you see it.
So Reiko Asakawa took that tape and disappeared?
Pathology...
Yes, he's here now.
Me?
It's the police. They've found Reiko Asakawa and her son.
She hit another car.
The other car's been towed away.
Fortunately, the driver wasn't badly hurt.
Doctor!
What a mess! They're taking the bodies away right now.
- The boy too? - Yes.
She was headed for her parents'. They say they don't know anything.
It's strange, though.
It looks like the boy was dead when it happened.
What?
Hey, you! Get away from there!
I'm sorry. I'm a journalist. Reiko Asakawa worked for me.
Worked for you?
Detective, that's a video deck in there, isn't it?
A video deck?
Hi!
Why are you standing there?
- You're late. - Yeah.
How's Takanori?
He was waiting up for you, but he fell asleep.
I see...
I'll look in on him.
- Don't wake him up. - I know.
Sorry. Did I wake you?
What?
The boy died too?
Yes.
But he didn't die from the accident.
He was already dead. Of a heart attack.
The police think Reiko Asakawa
noticed him dead in the back seat
and swerved into the other car.
So now Takayama, Reiko Asakawa, and their child
are all dead.
I guess the boy saw the video then.
There's no connection.
We know why he died.
You can't link a video that kills
to a tumor on a blood vessel.
Professor Takayama once talked to me about his son.
What did he say?
That he was sorry he'd passed on his genes in this world.
He was sorry he'd passed on his genes in this world?
Yes.
No parent in this world wants his own child dead.
- Dr. Ando... - Yes?
Professor Takayama didn't want his son to die.
He was trying to find a way to save the boy, for Reiko's sake.
But when Professor Takayama died, something changed.
He'd seen something.
What it was...
...I still don't know.
Could you glance through this?
Your rats are glowing.
We put fluorescent jellyfish protein genes into rat ova.
It's for a class.
Engineering DNA...
Amazing how far we've come, isn't it.
Do you do people too?
Sorry...
Do you remember me? Yoshino, NNB News.
What can I do for you?
There's something I'd like you to see.
What is it?
Reiko Asakawa's journal.
- Her journal? - Yes. She describes a video tape.
A tape that kills.
Four people died of heart attacks at exactly the same time.
She learned they'd all watched a video a week before at a lodge in Izu.
So she went down there and found the tape.
She watched it
and thought she had a week to live.
She and Ryuji Takayama tried desperately
to learn its secret.
But somehow...
...her son seems to have seen the video as well.
It says the tape was spirit photography
of a woman named Sadako Yamamura.
Her mother Shizuko's psychic powers made her a media scandal.
She was denounced as a fake and killed herself.
But her daughter Sadako had even greater powers.
Hers was a tragic life. She was treated as a monster.
She was murdered by her father,
her biological father.
She had the power to curse people and kill them. The power of hatred.
Do you really believe all that?
Asakawa seems to have thought the only way to save someone
was to dub the video and show it to someone else within a week.
To save her son, she took it to show her father
with another deck to dub it from.
But a week later, her son died of a heart attack.
A week later...
And her father?
He killed himself.
He left a note that said:
"Don't worry. I've taken it on myself to destroy the tape."
This is Sadako Yamamura,
taken when she was acting with a small troupe in Tokyo.
One more thing...
I found it at Asakawa's place. It's a dub of the video.
A present.
Watch it if you like.
What's wrong?
Did you watch it?
No.
I don't believe the story, but it still gives me the creeps.
But you're a doctor.
I want to know the science behind all this. Help me out.
If you find anything, could you call me, please?
"Present"?
Present...
Is this your present to me?
Sada
Sadako!
Forgive me, Sadako!
You should never have been born!
Sadako!
Don't tell me that! This is a newsroom!
If we broadcast that, we'll sound like some tabloid.
I told you, you can't publicize this.
Don't be stupid!
We went to a lot of trouble over Sadako Yamamura.
It's true about the video. It carries Sadako's curse.
Whoever sees it dies.
You're crazy. Do you know what you're saying?
Watch it yourself and see if I'm right.
I don't need to hear this. Goodbye.
- Wait! - What?
- Give me the video. - I did.
The copy you have. I want to destroy them all before I die.
Die? So you...
- Give it to me! - No! Get lost!
- Give me that video! - End of conversation.
- Let go! - You don't understand!
- What are you doing? - Give me the video, I said!
Give me the video!
I said give it to me!
Give it to me!
What were you thinking?
Say something.
You look even gloomier than usual. Like you could die any minute.
Maybe so.
Take some of that jellyfish DNA and brighten up.
Smile!
The four students who died had the same symptoms.
They were autopsied in Yokohama.
All myocardial infarction, with tumors on the blood vessels.
Yeah?
It might be a virus.
A virus...
But if so, it's odd that Reiko Asakawa didn't catch it.
- Because it's not a virus. - Then what is it?
A curse.
You're crazy.
Ryuji Takayama
I owe you an apology.
There was a video.
I know what Takayama wanted too.
What he wanted?
What he wanted me to do.
What?
Eliminate that video from this world.
When he died, he saw it would turn out like this.
He realized he could use me to stop Yamamura Sadako.
By giving me what I wanted, he could have the video destroyed.
What was it that you wanted?
What?
He sent me the video as a present.
You watched it?
Why?
You're wrong.
How am I wrong?
That's not what he wanted.
It's the video.
What else could it be?
He wanted me to destroy it. That's the only explanation.
Dr. Ando!
Mr. Yoshino's on the phone.
There's my next message.
It's open.
I have a question.
- You do? - Yes.
What is it?
Was the well Sadako fell into
broken in one place?
- Did you watch the video? - Of course not!
How did you know? The journal didn't say anything about that.
I'm sorry I ever got involved with this.
Take the video and the journal and get the hell out of here!
- You watched it! - I told you I didn't, damn it!
I see Sadako in my dreams.
I can't sleep with those things around.
I want to forget this! Go away!
Mr. Yoshino!
Hey!
Mr. Yoshino!
What's wrong?
Dr. Ando...
Don't look. Come on.
It's over.
That's the end.
I'm a pathologist.
All I've ever done is cut open the dead.
But now... I've saved a few lives.
Maybe dozens.
Maybe even hundreds.
I've ended Sadako's curse.
The video's last victim...
...will be me.
You poor man.
You lost the most precious thing in your life, didn't you.
You've wanted to end it all.
You've always felt guilty about letting your son die.
But...
...there's no shame in being afraid of dying...
...or being sorry you watched the video.
How did you know I let my son die?
When I touch a person...
...I know what they're thinking.
More or less.
Do you have the same power as Takayama?
He was the only one who could stand being with me.
The only one who understood me...
...was Professor Takayama.
So there's no point in lying to you.
I'm an idiot.
You're right.
I don't get it till it slaps me in the face.
I'm...
...afraid to die.
Help me.
I don't want to die!
Why did I watch that video?
Why did Takayama do this to me?
Doesn't it hurt when you feel my pain?
Sometimes I thought it was just an excuse...
...his saying he was sorry he'd left a child in this world.
But he was serious.
He could see into the future.
Why did that happen to him?
You can't see your own future.
He couldn't. I can't.
No one knows that.
Will you do me a favor?
Will you be there when I die?
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
I finally found it!
It's not like smallpox. You've never seen anything like that before.
So there was a virus?
That's crazy!
That reporter Yoshino didn't die of a heart attack.
What?
He suffocated. I've asked for tissue samples.
I think we'll find this virus there too.
A different cause of death?
What's going on?
- What's wrong? - I want to show you something.
You watch a video and you get a virus?
Interesting! Like optical data exchange on a computer.
The retina takes in DNA data from the video
and reconstructs the virus in the body.
Optics... that might be it.
That's impossible, Ando! Use your head!
Then why didn't Reiko have the virus? She saw the video!
It doesn't make sense.
Would a woman whose curse could kill get pushed into a well and die?
The cause of death is a very low-infection virus, not a curse.
I thought that too.
Till I saw the video.
Till you saw the video?
Run the tests on me.
This is crazy!
- I remembered what Sadako saw! - Oh, come on!
I saw a clinic in a forest in Izu! Where she was killed!
About 30 years ago.
What kind of clinics were there in Izu then?
TB?
And one more...
TB and...
Smallpox.
It's smallpox.
Mai!
Shit!
Where did she go?!
Mai!
Mai! Mai!
Mai?
So you're still here?
Good news. There was no virus in your sample.
So the video's got nothing to do with the virus.
This is the virus we got from Yoshino's throat.
There's another virus mixed in there. It's mutating.
That explains the cause of death.
Luckily it's not very infectious. We'll have to analyze how it works.
This might be a discovery.
Did something happen with you and Takano Mai?
What?
Don't worry. She'll turn up.
The family wants to talk to you about the death certificate.
- For the insurance? - Probably.
- Doctor? - You go on ahead.
You smell like a corpse!
Okay, bring it up!
Slowly!
Hold it!
A little more!
Detective!
It's a curse.
I've never seen the like of it.
Wait...
No!
She'd just given birth.
- Given birth? - Yes.
Take her away.
But there was no sign of a baby.
The building's air inlet looks just like a well.
Miyashita?
Ando...
...did Sadako Yamamura's well
have a piece missing out of it?
Miyashita!
Yoshino didn't see the video.
But he was infected.
Why would that be?
Reiko Asakawa's notebook.
That's all it could be.
I saw it.
The well's shape, color... I dreamed it just like I was there.
I only read the notebook, but I saw it clear as day.
So it's not just the video? Writing spreads it too?
But not everyone has to die. There's a way to be saved.
How?
Reiko Asakawa left a journal. Whoever reads it gets the virus.
She was helping to spread it!
Spread the virus?
She was Sadako's accomplice!
What did you do to save yourself?
- Me? - You're the only one still alive!
What did you do? How did you save yourself?!
- I'm not Sadako's accomplice! - Liar!
- I'm not spreading any virus! - Tell me!
I didn't do anything!
Give that back.
It's mine.
Give it back!
I know why I was reborn.
I put my DNA on that video. And it went from you into Mai.
Into her womb.
By making love to her, you made it possible
- for me to be reborn. - Damn you!
Why did you have to kill her?
Mai's not dead. She's alive. In me.
All her memory remains in me.
You're Sadako...
...not Mai!
- I'm Mai. - Liar!
You didn't have sex with me out of love.
You only did it because you were afraid of dying.
I wanted to help you.
But you didn't love me.
What do you know?
You were happy to feel superior to Professor Takayama.
No.
You used Mai and me to come back to this world.
You killed Mai!
That was your fault.
You made love to me.
Forgive me, Mai!
I forgive you, Mr. Ando.
I forgive you.
What do you want?
Takayama, Reiko Asakawa and Mai are all dead.
What is it you want, anyway?
No one knows their own future.
I just wanted everyone to know...
Know what?
The fear I've felt.
Fear?
Yes.
Fear.
Sadako, stop it!
I still have something for you to do. After all, you're my accomplice.
No, I'm not!
I did what Takayama wanted. I destroyed the video.
I told you, that's not what Professor Takayama wanted.
It's because of him I was able to come back.
That's how I was reborn.
That's crazy!
He wanted to stop you!
Didn't he?
- This time I want to help him. - What?
You still have his cells.
We can use my uterus!
I'm not doing that!
Oh?
I'd never do that.
Look...
Your wish will come true too.
Ando...
Takayama...
Takayama!
You take an ovum from me and put the DNA data into it.
Then return it to my uterus.
The life-memory stays in the DNA.
Within two or three weeks,
an ovum from me, with hormones to speed up cell division,
will grow to a person the age they were when they died.
Implant this in her, and the procedures are done.
You look awful.
So do you.
We're traitors.
Who are we betraying? The world?
Or God?
Daddy!
Takanori.
I missed you!
Daddy...
Well? Like my present?
Good thing you had the hair. Take better care of him this time.
He's my brother.
My wish and Mai's have been granted.
Reiko Asakawa's journal is being published... as a novel.
What?
People will read it
and the fear Sadako felt...
...will spread.
And the virus will be born in its readers...
How will the world change then?
Sadako will be born.
More people like her.
It'll spread not just as a virus, but as living people.
After that, I don't know.
- Probably... - Probably?
Humanity will evolve because of this virus.
Minute organisms became complex and evolved into humans.
Now a new stage of evolution will begin.
The world will change.
We're all in that spiral.
Me and you.
What have you seen?
Tell me what the future will be like.
Daddy! Come on!
Stay away from Takanori.
But I gave birth to him.
- Stay away. - Ando...
You've sold out this world to get your boy back.
Let go.
Goodbye.
What kind of a life will he have?
Takayama...
What about your boy? We still have his cells.
You know we could do it.
I couldn't be so cruel.
I couldn't bring a child back into this world.
You're wrong.
Ando...
...it'll be a long time yet before you can rest assured.
So long.
Mitsuo Ando Koichi Sato
Mai Takano Miki Nakatani
Sadako Hinako Saeki Miyashita Shingo Tsurumi
Ryuji Takayama Hiroyuki Sanada
Executive Producer Masato Hara
Producers Shinya Kawai Taka lchise & Takenori Sento
Associate Producer Makoto lshihara
Original Story Koji Suzuki (Kadokawa Shoten)
Photography Makoto Watanabe Production Design lwao Saito
Lighting Masaji Hozawa Music LA FINCA
Mixer Masaji Hosoi Editor Hirohide Abe
An "Omega Project" Production
In Association With Ace Pictures
lnternational Distribution Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.
Written and Directed by George lida
Subtitles lan MacDougall
Mitsuo Ando Koichi Sato
Mai Takano Miki Nakatani
Sadako Hinako Saeki Miyashita Shingo Tsurumi
Ryuji Takayama Hiroyuki Sanada
Executive Producer Masato Hara
Producers Shinya Kawai Taka lchise & Takenori Sento
Associate Producer Makoto lshihara
Original Story Koji Suzuki (Kadokawa Shoten)
Photography Makoto Watanabe Production Design lwao Saito
Lighting Masaji Hozawa Music LA FINCA
Mixer Masaji Hosoi Editor Hirohide Abe
An "Omega Project" Production
In Association With Ace Pictures
lnternational Distribution Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.
Written and Directed by George lida
Subtitles lan MacDougall