Imprint (2006)

Takashi Miike's first American gig was to direct a 60 minute episode for Showtime's "Masters Of Horror" series. Famously, the end result was deemed 'too extreme' for fragile American cable audiences, but not for those with DVD players apparently, so a release from Anchor Bay allows us to see what the fuss was all about.

There's no question that IMPRINT is unpleasant, with aborted fetuses casually cast into rivers, some familial violence and a prolonged torture scene being the most obvious reasons why it was never broadcast. Or perhaps it was just because it's not very good? The main problem is the acting, with many of the Japanese cast members speaking very artificial English, even when alone together (presumably a condition of the producers), but even worse acting from US native Billy Drago, who has no such excuse. The other major problem is that the unpleasantness lacks any real purpose except to be shocking. It doesn't have the wit or intelligence that make films like Audition, Ichi The Killer and Visitor Q great - which justify and necessitate the use of extreme violence or perversion.

Or, since I'm not a fan of horror movies, perhaps I'm just not equipped to appreciate the point of the film. Some people like it, I guess...