Carved - The Slit Mouthed Woman

Thought this movie was alright in my opinion, the plot is very well coordinated and despite the films obviously low budget it does well with what it's has! I would love to see this film as a bigger more money invested in project it could really develop into something more. Ending was a shocker by the way !

Kuchisake Onna is a solid horror film, which tries to impress with its creepy atmosphere, and interesting storyline.

The acting is ok, there are some good scares, and its quite bloody.

Unfortunately, a lot of potential has been wasted, otherwise this would have been a great horror film.

Total score: 6/10.

Children tell the story of the slit-mouthed woman, a killer with a deformed face, surgical mask and very long scissors ready to slice up the kids while asking "Am I pretty?". As rumors of the woman spread, the panic in town grows and the rumors become true -- remarkably so, as they seem to come from nowhere. What is the origin of this killer?

Something about Asian horror is both appealing and distressing. I can't pinpoint it. The films are different enough from American films to give a special feel to the viewer for when we've had enough of the classic slasher. Yet, no matter how different one Asian film is from another, they seem to all co-exist in the same universe. This film is no exception: while not relying on the same techniques as "Pulse" or "The Grudge" or even "The Ring", there's a sense that we haven't left those worlds too far behind.

Like many Asian horror films, there is a sense of the supernatural here. American horror often tries to explain its stories in a reasonable way (even when the villains are of an other-worldly nature). Asian horror is less likely to do so. Here is another example of that. As the film progresses, we learn more about the slit-mouthed woman, but we never really understand how or why she does what she does.

I enjoyed the rumors element. I think this was very clever and if the film were longer, I wish they'd have gone into this more and made the plot and background deeper. At one point, a child is asked where the slit-mouthed woman lives and she responds in a house with a red roof on the hill. Despite having no reason to know this (she never saw the house or even the woman), the rumor invariably turn out to be true. I found this very interesting.

I also liked the makeup. Having recently seen "Pan's Labyrinth" I saw how cool it was to have a person with a mouth slit open to their ear (and, by the way, if you haven't seen this film you really must). This film makes it the selling point of the movie, not just a brief scene -- the way the woman is shown with the mouth and dead eyes is pretty cool. I didn't find her particularly scary or creepy, but an interesting villain just the same.

Perhaps some of the film is lost in translation. A key aspect of the film is that the kids think the woman says "Am I pretty?" and later we are told she says "Aim my neck." I am under the impression that whatever the original wording was, these two phrases are even more similar to create a parallel. Here, the words "pretty" and "neck" are a bit of a stretch. But it slid.

If you like Asian horror, I suggest checking this one out. The copy I watched was pre-release, so the picture wasn't fully touched up and there were numbers counting across the top. Once the official DVD is out, I suspect this will be a bit crisper and the sounds even creepier (maybe like the comb noise from "The Grudge"). Either way, I liked it, and it was a good vacation from the same old teenagers in the woods movie.

CARVED: A SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN is another grisly creeper from Japan.

As ghostly killers go, this scissor-wielding ghoul certainly delivers! She attacks ruthlessly. Even outdoors in broad daylight! Children are especially targeted, and even they're not sacred! We have no idea who will survive, regardless of age, gender, or seeming heroic status!

If you're searching for a disturbing, unpredictable twist on urban legends / folklore, then you've just found horror heaven!...

Pretty average Asian Horror film that still seems to linger in the "long hair creepy woman" category but, the storyline is promising and the creep factor is there, (in small doses,thanks to makeup) but if you are not a fan of plot holes or unexplained elements, (which sometimes work in horror, IMO) then you will not enjoy this film. There is very little gore and what is there is usually in a "cut-away" scene (this is a film that would probably just get a pg-13 by American standards)-Overall the film just doesn't satisfy, absolutely no character development and not enough "suspense" to really make it an enjoyable film.