Masters of Horror: Takashi Miike – Imprint – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews


(Credit: Amazon.com)

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Cast:
Billy Drago …. Christopher
Youki Kudoh …. Woman
Michie Itô …. Komomo
Toshie Negishi …. Maid
Shimako Iwai


The Episode:

While it’s not hard to argue that the series concept is a great one, it’s more difficult to say that Masters of Horror has been the epitome of great execution. While some directors seemed to have been liberated by the smaller budgets given to them on this series, others may have been stifled a bit. Directors that have worked wonders in the past have made less than stellar efforts due to the limited budgets and time constraints handed to them. This is, without a doubt not the case with Takashi Miike and his episode, Imprint. Some of you may wonder why you never saw this episode on Showtime when it was supposed to air. After watching it, you’ll wonder no more.

Without a doubt this episode is the fiercest and most disturbing of the entire series. Those worried that the director of Audition and Ichi the Killers would seem watered down in this story, should put their fears to rest. This is full on Miike, with the director pulling not a single punch. In fact, if there has ever been a show that featured a more harrowing hour of TV, I’ve never seen it.

The episode concerns Christopher (Billy Drago), an American journalist traveling to a remote Japanese island to find the love of his life, a prostitute by the name of Komomo (Michie Itô). When he gets to the island he cannot find his girl, but does meet a scarred, nameless prostitute (Youki Kudoh) and regales her with the tale of his love. Those that are easily grossed out will want to check out of the episode at this point.

From this point on in Imprint Miike completely lets loose with his insanity. In Rashomon style flashbacks, the disfigured woman informs Christopher of his love’s horrible demise. The segments feature a torture scene so intense that the executives at Showtime must have pulled out their hair and reached for their vomit bags when they saw it. Featuring burning incense, needles through fingernails, and other horrifying moments, the sequence is extremely hard to watch. Then Miike goes after you psychologically.

Imprint goes to show full on abortions, discarded fetuses, incest, marital cruelty, and a twist that has to be seen to be believed. When other Masters of Horror episodes simply wanted to creep you out, Imprint is an experience that is so disturbing that it may be impossible to completely shake. Then again, Miike gives it to you in a package that is so beautiful; it’s hard to look away.

While other film makers seemed to have been relegated to Canada, Imprint is shot on location in Japan and the episode benefits greatly for it. The episode is completely gorgeous from beginning to end, with staggering cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita. Whoever gave Miike the green light to do whatever he wanted got a double edged sword, with Imprint being the most beautiful episode of the series so far, but also the most disgusting.

Not helping the episode is that all the actors have to speak English. While most are able to jump this hurdle, some are not as adept. Unfortunately, the actor that may be the hardest to understand may be Billy “mumbles” Drago, who is able to bring his signature creepy screen presence, but forgot to discard his overacting on the way to Japan. Youki Kudoh is amazing here, with just the right tone throughout this piece to make her sympathetic and then completely make a natural turn into the bizarre.

The real star of this episode though, is Miike himself. From beginning to end, Imprint is a Miike work all the way, churning your stomach while completely wrapping you up in fascination. You may actually say your thanks at the end of this piece that Miike only had an hour to horrify you as any more time would have allowed him to go even further into disgusting outlandish territory with this episode.

Score:9/10


The DVD:

The Video
The print on this disc is absolutely beautiful, perfectly complimenting this episode. There’s not even a trace of anything to take away from this film’s visuals. The film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.77:1

The Audio
Thank goodness the disc also has a great Dolby Digital 5.1 track. You get to hear all the disgusting sound effects and broken English you want without any trouble.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Commentaries, Featurettes, Still Gallery, Bio, Trailers.

Commentary by Critic and American Cinmatheque Film Programmer Chris D. and Writer Wyatt Doyle – One thing is clear while listening to this commentary; these don’t know what’s going on any more than we do. To tell you the truth it’s refreshing to hear that type of honesty, and something makes me like the fact that only Miike knows for sure what’s going on onscreen.

Imprinting – This is a terrific Featurette and covers the genesis of asking Miike to be a part of the episode as well as the origins of the original novel. Shimako Iwai, the author of the original story actually states on here that she prefers miike’s version of the story, as he added a supernatural element that wasn’t present in the novel.

I Am the Film Director of Love: An Interview with Takashi Miike – This goes about 41 minutes and is packed with Miike’s philosophy on film making. It’s nice to get some insight into this film makers mind, as he comes off completely normal here, which is the complete opposite of the personality that shows up onscreen.

Imperfect Beauty: The Make-up and Special Effects of Imprint – This runs about 15 minutes and looks at the different effects used in the episode. I’ve got to say that the company used in this episode is the equal of K&B who did most of the effects on this series. One prop used is completely awesome, but I can’t go into detail because it would give away too much.

Trailers – You get a ton of trailers here, most for other Masters of Horror entries, as well as other Anchor Bay releases.

Takashi Miike Bio

Still Gallery

Score: 9/10

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Masters of Horror: Takashi Miike – Imprint
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE EPISODE

9
THE VIDEO

9
THE AUDIO

9
THE EXTRAS

9
REPLAY VALUE

9
OVERALL
9
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
Again, for those that wondered if Imprint would be the real deal when it comes to Miike, put your fears to rest. Then pull up some new fears, as Takashi Miike gives you the most disturbing episode of Masters of Horror yet. The disc is also packed with extras, as you get hours of Special Features.

Robert Sutton feels the most at home when he's watching some movie scumbag getting blown up, punched in the face, or kung fu'd to death, especially in that order. He's a founding writer for the movies section of Insidepulse.com, featured in his weekly column R0BTRAIN's Badass Cinema as well as a frequent reviewer of DVDs and Blu-rays. Also, he's a proud Sony fanboy, loves everything Star Wars and Superman related and hopes to someday be taken seriously by his friends and family.