After the success of RING and RING 2, director Hideo Nakata decided to take a break from the horror genre to make this thriller. CHAOS begins as a couple--Takayuki (Ken Mitsuishi) and Satomi (Miki Nakatani)--go out for lunch. Afterwards, Satomi disappears, and it is not long before Takayuki, a businessman, begins receiving strange ransom demands. As the relationship between Satomi and her captor, Goro (Masato Hagiwara), is revealed, the film begins to unfold a labyrinthine plot where nothing is as it appears.

Although CHAOS opens with what seems to be a standard thriller plot, Nakata and screenwriter Hisashi Saito have created a unique movie that blends genres while invoking a number of classic films, including Akira Kurosawa's HIGH & LOW and Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO. Placed out of sequence, the pieces of Nakata's puzzle are arranged so that the audience is consistently off balance. In the process, the director creates a thoroughly engaging neo-noir suspense film that's sure to keep viewers guessing up until the very end.