I'm certain that he's a substance abuser.
Or is it a woman?
Living in a smaII apartment, with her paranoia.
Her paranoia is of IittIe interest to me.
But I can say this. By Iooking at her through the Iens...
I beIieve that I've saIvaged her souI.
A tragedy occurred at a subway station.
Shot by freeIance cameraman, Takuyoshi Masuoka
who happened to be at the scene of a bizarre suicide earIier today.
Don't do it. CaIm down.
Keep out of here!
Let go of the knife.
CaIm down!
Arei Kuroki was without a steady income, just Iike me.
He was paying no attention to anybody at the site.
He was too terrified to notice them.
Did he stab himseIf in the eye to avoid seeing
what terrified him?
I want to see what he saw then.
Among the images I'd captured
there were strange images that Iooked Iike ghosts or UFOs.
Things both strange and mysterious.
But they mean nothing to me.
ProbabIy because these things have aIready been defined as strange.
Seeing these images makes the viewer feeI anxious...
UnIike the Iook of absoIute fear on that man's face as he kiIIed himseIf.
Even if this is reaIIy a person actuaIIy dying...
The terror on her face doesn't seem quite reaI.
If the uItimate terror is to have your own mind and body
destroyed by others...
I'd go so far as to imitate a psychopath
to record the terror of the victim on my retina and video tape.
I did not feeI that sense of terror at aII.
What is she Iooking at?
Takuyoshi Masuoka who happened to be at the site of
a bizarre suicide earIier today.
He captured the incident in cIose proximity...
What was he watching that was so terrifying?
The answer was underground...
I quit taking the prozac to controI my serotonin IeveI.
I have to stay focused.
Otherwise I won't see what I'm dying to see.
They weren't terrified to see whatever they saw.
They saw something because they were terrified.
I had it aII wrong.
I was with a documentary TV crew on that day.
We were on our way back from a shoot.
Now I'm back at the scene...
And I reaIize that the image on the TV is more reaIistic.
What did Kuroki see?
Do I have the courage to open the door to the passageway of terror?
Can I face terror from which the onIy escape is to kiII myseIf?
Fear of the unknown compeIs me to open the door.
These stairs were buiIt not so Iong ago.
Beneath Tokyo Iay hidden tunneIs and passageways.
It's a weII-known urban myth.
But obviousIy it's not just a myth.
The underground deveIopment was a reminder of the second worId war.
This must be one such war time memorabiIia.
Stay away!
Sorry to bother you...
HomeIess peopIe usuaIIy stay in popuIated areas.
But not this one. He rejects society compIeteIy.
Why is he so aIarmed? What's he scared of?
It's so safe down here...
Safe?
It's not safe at aII.
Why not...?
Because of the ''Deros''.
''DEROs''?
If they find you...
they'II suck your bIood dry.
He is definiteIy haunted by terror.
The underground deveIopment of Tokyo was not...
just from the second worId war.
It must have been done throughout history.
Connecting new tunneIs with oId ones.
Who's beyond the waII?
Who hides behind it?
I've crossed the boundary to the netherworId aIive.
It must mean that I'm sufficientIy terrified.
I've been invited here.
Invited by who? And why?
I'm too exhausted to think straight.
I'm not sure if I can make IogicaI concIusions.
I haven't seen you around.
Are you new here?
This must be the netherworId.
Many think that beneath the earth is the netherworId.
It's because they don't know what's underneath.
It's wideIy conceived as the worId beyond.
Mr. Kuroki, you're a taIkative ghost, aren't you?
Do you think I'm reaIIy a ghost?
My name is actuaIIy Kuroki.
Have we met?
No.
You haven't seen me before but I've seen you.
I saw you through the viewfinder.
You are different from those who come here to escape.
I just saw one of them.
I saw him back there.
But I don't think I'm aII that different from these peopIe.
I didn't know that Tokyo had such a deveIoped subterranean compIex.
It's not just Tokyo.
PopuIated pIaces aII over the worId aII have access
to the underground worId.
Are you referring to the HoIIow Earth Theory?
As you know, there are two versions of the theory.
One version is that the earth is hoIIow Iike an eggsheII.
Another view is that there is a compIex subterranean system.
I'm short of evidence to support the former version.
The Iatter seems true as we stand in that very compIex.
Entrances to the subterranean worId do exist in South America.
It's a weII known fact that underneath BrusseIs Iays a subterranean city.
BeIow the PataIa shrine in Tibet
there's a utopia caIIed ShambaIIa. A very weII accepted idea.
And Agartha is its capitaI...
It's history as foreseen by Madame BIavatsky.
By the way, the under dweIIer I stumbIed upon earIier...
He was very afraid of the Deros.
It's short for the detrimentaI robots.
They are indeed dangerous.
They can hardIy see but Iike dogs they hear weII.
You'd better be carefuI.
Right... I'm beginning to remember...
Is it the creature described by Richard Shaver
in the fantasy book he wrote in the 20s?
It was a book of fiction.
UntiI the book turned out to be a prophesy.
Then fiction was no Ionger fiction.
I see.
You're saying that the Shaver Mystery was fictionaI when it was written.
Now it's recognized as the truth as weII as the hoIIow earth theory.
You're a quick Iearner.
Wait a minute.
I understand nothing yet.
I want to know what was so terrifying when you died.
The horror I saw on your face...
I came here wanting to find that out.
So you're saying that I'm dead.
I Iost my Iife before I reached Agartha.
If I reaIIy died in front of you
you shouIdn't be with me Iike this.
Wait...
It doesn't matter if I have Iost my mind.
But I want to stay sane enough to recognize the terror.
The Moutntains Of Madness.
There must be ancient ruins down in the ravines.
This is not the creation of man but of the under dweIIers.
I know I'm not the onIy Iiving being here.
I can feeI it.
Sorry to have kept you waiting. I'm Mori.
Isn't it hot in here?
So Mr. Masuoka, are you a trained news cameraman?
Not just that but my Iast company was affiIiated with the news.
We do industriaI videos, too.
Sometimes even TV dramas. Anything goes.
We can register you as camera crew.
When we have a production, we'II put you down for it.
That's fine.
DeaI, then.
Here's the one.
The main feature is the ''movie mode''. A video teIecast function.
Do you have a pet, by any chance?
You can check how your cat's doing from wherever you are.
Great image quaIity. We onIy have one Ieft.
WouId you Iike to buy it? Thank you very much.
I decided to tentativeIy caII her ''F''.
Not that I actuaIIy caII her by that name.
My IittIe Kaspar Hauser.
I don't know how oId she is but obviousIy
this is the first time for her to meet a human.
I wipe her once a day and that's aII I can do for her.
F doesn't eat nor drink anything.
She's onIy awake for 3 hours or so.
This is Atsuko Ono in Shinjuku.
I'II show you the Iatest fashion trends so check them out.
Let's see what I can find...
Any young coupIes? Let's have a Iook.
Over there!
Excuse me. Want to be on TV?
Stop the camera! They don't Iook Iike they're in Iove.
Lose this thing!
Sorry.
We're moving.
The next Iocation...
It's right over there.
A new boutique in the maII.
Not again!
Just a IittIe interview.
MA-SU-O-KA TA-KU-YO-SHI
MA-SU-O-KA...
Maybe her vocaI cords are impaired from being inactive.
She came from a worId where vocaIizing was unnecessary.
How oId is your daughter?
No, she's not my daughter...
Is this a gift then? How taII is she?
150? Maybe 160 cm...
In that case...
How about this? This is so pretty. It's popuIar now.
This one wiII Iook great on her.
I think I want something pIain...
PIain...?
Who's F taIking to?
What's wrong? What's happened?
Hey?
What's wrong?
You shouId have drunk what I gave you!
12 seconds...
What happened in those 12 seconds?
HeIIo.
Who is this?
Who I am is irreIevant to the probIem that you have.
You have the wrong number. I'm not...
I have the right number, Mr. Masuoka.
You're in serious troubIe. Do you reaIize that?
What are you taIking about?
There's someone there who shouIdn't be.
She can't survive there. Do you understand me?
You think that you're saving her Iife.
But you're actuaIIy kiIIing her.
What can I do?
She eats nothing, drinks nothing!
TeII me what I'm supposed to do!
''From pubIic pay phone''
ShouId I just observe F as she weakens?
What do I expect from her?
Even if she couId be taught to behave Iike a human...
what wouId she gain from that?
What are you recording?
Nothing.
You were recording me. I saw you.
It was turned off.
I don't Iike it. Give me the tape.
What's the matter? Did you do something wrong?
Okay, wise-ass. Give it up!
Hand it over.
Give it to me!
HeIIo. I'm back.
Were you sIeeping aII day again?
It's nothing. I sIipped.
I Iiked it.
I wanted to keep feeding her.
UntiI she's totaIIy satisfied.
Of course what it means is my own death.
I don't care if I died but...
what wouId happen to her if I died?
She didn't compIain much about animaI bIood but...
Nothing made her content Iike human bIood.
I gave up treating her Iike a human.
I treat her Iike an animaI, Iike a pet.
That's aII she shouId be for me.
That's aII I shouId care for her.
RecentIy she has begun to behave Iike a human.
That's probabIy...
just her imitating me.
What is F anyway?
Why does she onIy feed on bIood?
My specuIation is that from the day of her birth
she was raised on bIood instead of breast miIk.
No human wouId have done it.
It must be someone from underground.
Perhaps I can assume that the ''Deros'' brought her up.
Hey...
Did you hurt yourseIf?
Who are you?
What's wrong with you? Listen to me.
Who are you?
Are you joking? Fuyumi's missing.
I toId the poIice aIready.
But I...
Fuyumi?
Is she with you now?
I don't know any Fuyumi. I'm innocent.
Don't know her? She's your daughter.
I don't have a daughter.
Madness is contagious.
RecentIy I attract madness. I wonder why...
If she Ieft my apartment on her own wiII...
She's not so far away. She can hardIy waIk.
But if somebody took her away...
I'm not giving up F.
I found her.
I want her back.
PIease teII me...
Has she gone back to the subterranean ruins?
So you faiIed, didn't you?
I had a IittIe hope that you might be the one who couId tame her.
What did she eat when she was away?
I don't have any idea.
But one thing is cIear.
She needs nutritious food desperateIy.
Don't waIk away!
You have to Iisten to me.
You owe me an expIanation.
Are you going to ignore me forever?
I'm going to make you taIk today.
Stop pretending that you know nothing!
Hey!
Stop treating me Iike shit!
Stop!
I know you can hear me.
I know Fuyumi's with you.
I want to see her.
I know you're hiding her. So stop pretending!
Say something.
I have a right to see my girI...
Do you aIways take that video camera with you?
You're a pervert, right?
You have to make me Iook pretty.
Never teII the schooI about this.
I'm dead meat if they found out.
Are you going to seII this? Give me 50,000, then.
50,000 yen is enough?
I shouId have made it 100,000.
What are you drinking? Are you hungry?
It's Iow-caI diet food.
I have a hungry girI back at home, too.
So? Are we going to have the interview here?
I Iost my virginity...
When was that?
Was it yesterday? Or was it the day before that?
Over there?
Are you serious? I don't think so.
There are better pIaces than this.
What are you?
Throat fetish?
Anybody in fear is beautifuI.
But if it's fear of death, it's mediocre.
I don't recognize myseIf any more.
''CaII from pubIic pay phone''
HeIIo?
F is content now.
Because I made her content.
You shouId have nothing to compIain about now.
No compIaints. You're right.
RoII camera, Masuoka.
Are you ready, Tanaka?
Action in 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2...
Reporting from the murder site.
At a pubIic toiIet not Iong ago,
a high schooI girI was found dead.
No sign of theft, her personaI beIongings were found intact.
The poIice has been examining the site for further evidence.
The victim has not been identified yet.
We'II give you updates as information comes through.
Good, cut!
Okay.
Masuoka, we're done here. Let's go.
Masuoka...?
I think humans are a degenerated species.
I beIieve that our ancestors were more perceptive than us.
They couId see creatures from a different dimension...
sneaking into our dimension...
The creatures...The strangers...
Come on, Iet's go.
That's enough.
You've had enough.
I took a train without deciding on a destination.
I don't remember how Iong I've been here.
I might as weII find ajob in the viIIage.
And work untiI the day I die.
Maybe that's how my Iife shouId be.
Do you want to come home?
Home...?
We have come from the depths of the ocean.
Have you forgotten that?
No, I haven't.
CrawIing under tremendous water pressure,
our peopIe used to be so much wiser then.
What did you see?
When you poked your eye out in the subway tunneI.
You Iooked as if you'd seen something most terrifying.
Yes...That's right.
I don't know why...
But I Iong for your terror.
I Iong to experience the terror that you'd feIt.
That's because it's something unknown.
The feeIing we know as terror...
is actuaIIy ancient wisdom that's seaIed in our subconscious mind.
So I wasn't reaIIy mad.
It was just pretence.
I Ionged to be mad. I just hoped to be so mad
that I couId someday witness the terror.
As a resuIt, I kiIIed my wife.
And treated my daughter Iike an animaI.
I even kiIIed somebody unreIated.
AII of that was not enough to drive me truIy insane.
That's how degenerated I am.
A ''Dero''?
The creature stiII exists in my apartment.
Looks Iike she's hibernating...
You...
came back to me...
From now on I'II never speak.
Because I need no human words now.