Renowned for his horror films, Japanese writer-director Kurosawa Kiyoshi made his international breakthrough in 1997 with the psychological thriller CURE. Detective Takabe (Koji Yakusho) is assigned to investigate a series of murders in which the victims are killed by knife and left with an X-shaped wound carved across the throat and chest. All of these murders, however, have been committed by different people who are apprehended shortly afterward. With the help of psychologist Sakuma, Takebe traces the case to a young mysterious man with no memories of his past and strong hypnotism abilities. Pulled into a dangerous mind game, Takebe finds that the man is starting to have an unsettling effect on him as well.