Via Wiley Wiggins' blog:
The small working-class town of Kurozu-cho, much like that of Lumberton in David Lynch's Blue Velvet , appears normal on the surface: School children cause trouble in class, young lovers complain about their problems, the police chase after rule-breaking teenagers. However, things are clearly not what they seem. Long time friends and potential elopers Kirie and Suichi begin to notice odd happenings around their school and town. Shuichi's father develops an unhealthy and contagious obsession with spiral shaped objects. He collects shells and pottery, steals swirling street signs and spends hours absorbed in the act of videotaping a snail's shell. One of Kirie's schoolmates, yearning to be noticed, comes into school with her hair weaved into an ever expanding lattice of spiral locks. Male schoolmates begin to transform into slow-moving, slime-covered snail-people. Kirie and Shuichi watch as the town's spiral posession and obsession leads to a series of mysterious suicides. With a local investigative reporter, Kirie and Shuichi work to solve the dangerous mystery of Kurozu-cho, the Dragon-Fly Pond and its Uzumaki. However, as the three of them search for an answer, they draw closer and closer to these mysterious disasters until the spiral threatens to swallow them whole.
The film was released in 2000 and doesn't appear to be in theatrical release anymore. If anyone knows more about theatrical, video or DVD release, post it in the discuss forum!
Update: You can buy the VCD here or here, DVD (for Region 3) here, and if you don't have a region-free DVD player go here.
And Lia says, "I first saw Uzumaki on the Sundance Channel in October of last year. They call it "Spiral" and it's on the schedule for Wednesday, April 24 at 12:40 a.m. EST."
(thanks, druidbros!)
