Having signed up for a mysterious psychological experiment with the promise of a lucrative paycheck, ten individuals find themselves locked in an underground facility in which they are slowly killed off in this Japanese thriller from the director of 'Ringu', Hideo Nakata. The movie is clearly influenced by Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians' with creepy Indian statuettes to match, however, this is very much a story of its own with a contemporary culture twist to come that is best left unspoiled; suffice it to say, the mysterious numbers that keep rapidly ticking over beneath the time and date on the wall serve a definite purpose. There is also an unsettling newfangled robot in this tale and as each of the ten participants are given their own weapon, the film often feels like it owes more to the Cluedo board game than Christie's iconic murder mystery. Whatever the influence, Nakata creates a gripping ride in which we are forced to not only question who the murderer is but who is behind the facility and what the aim of their experiment actually is. The film benefits from imaginative sets too and some really good performances - in particular, Kin'ya Kitaôji as the oldest among the ten, a recovering alcoholic who recently lost his son. Less effective is Tatsuya Fujiwara as the protagonist, but that is mostly due to way his character is written: though a confessed coward, he frequently comes off as self-righteous and preachy. The film also concludes with a host of unanswered questions in terms of the way the facility is run and is allowed to operate, but the solution to the first murder is admittedly nifty and the film offers plenty of food for thought in terms of how much we tend to assume things in life and tend to consider the possible negative in others.
