Part of a wave of sophisticated, stylish, and very gory horror films that have emerged from Japan since the late-'90s, Suicide Club attempts to merge the ultra-violence of Takashi Miike (Dead or Alive, Audition) with the David Lynch-esque psychological terror of Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Cure, Pulse). It succeeds best on the first count. The gore, of which the graphic splattering of 54 schoolgirls across a train station is just the beginning, is positively stomach-churning, and director Shion Sono effectively conveys a spooky, film noir mood throughout. He stumbles however, by trying to turn his film into a statement about pop culture, social conformity, and the media's fixation with violence. He also tries to inject some half-hearted attempts at humor that miss the mark amid the film's relentless gloom and gore. As a result, it's difficult to tell if Sono is actually trying to make a serious point or cynically exploiting social issues to add an unnecessary element of sensationalism to an otherwise well-made, if sickeningly violent, horror movie.