An amnesiac (Masato Hagiwara) uses a cigarette lighter to hypnotise people in this Japanese thriller they should have called Silence of the Lambert & Butler.

The 1997 neo-noir has shades of Se7en and Silence of the Lambs in its psychological tale of cops being manipulated by their opponent, but Kiyoshi Kurosawa takes the procedural in bold new directions. He weaves hypnosis, amnesia and schizophrenia into its straightforward storyline without resorting to the supernatural, and introduces metaphysical elements that would later materialise in True Detective.

Kurosawa explores themes of societal repression, urban isolation and viral horror he would revisit in Pulse, but with a pace and directness that deliberately elude the 2001 chiller. The diegetic sound and matter-of-fact violence make Cure frighteningly lifelike, without so much as a score to detract from the film’s reality. With a tough atmosphere and cool cinematography, this understated approach brings chilling subtlety to key moments that Western directors signpost with music and fireworks.

A favourite of Bong Joon-ho (its DNA is all over Memories of Murder), this gripping, chilling movie ranks among the best of the detective genre. In a sea of Se7en imitators and Longlegs-type embarrassments, Cure is the perfect antidote.