Kuchisake-onna

A town is haunted by the myth of a woman whose face has been mutilated in a very awesome looking fashion. She wears a mask over her mouth and shows up to people asking "Am I pretty?" Their answer almost always leads to their death.

I loved this movie. The story was different. I haven't seen anything too similar to it before. The story was interesting, even a bit touching at points. It never got laughable to me. The whole thing stayed pretty dark and serious. (I'm sure the horrific involvement of children in the story helped that...) The camera work was really slick. I loved the lighting and the atmosphere towards the end. It had a great pace. It moved fast, even by American standards. (This is surprising for an Asian flick.) The ghost was unique by Asian standards. (She didn't have the hair over her face, nor did her hair seem to be alive.) The woman with the sliced mouth was a very cool visual.

This has been one of my favorite Japanese horror films yet. Another big difference from most Asian films I've seen is that IT ACTUALLY MADE SENSE. Many Asian flicks like to have ambiguous endings that don't seem to have a definite meaning, so the audience can discuss their take on it. That, or the films are just made very bizarre, outlandish, and hard to follow. But this one actually made sense to me all the way through.

Most of what I've read say it's "average"... I'm sorry, but all of the really famous Asian horror flicks I've seen seemed to be very similar to each other... I'd call those "average". In my eyes, this shied away from Asian routines, (which are sadly becoming American ones now...).

I highly recommend this to any supernatural horror fan. I thought it was a great little ghost flick with a good story and some awesome eye-candy.

This movie mixes elements from the Western tradition of Slasher movies along with a peculiar kind of creepiness so typical to Asian horror. An interesting combination that should have been much more successful. Unfortunately 'Kuchisake-onna' is overall mediocre and downward pedestrian at times. It fails whenever it adheres to clichés such as making sure that everyone confronting the villain in the grand finale is without weapons of any kind but there are a few redeeming points. The positive parts include the child abuse angle that pervades and drives the plot, the fact that the villain does not only lurk in dark shadowy places but actually acts in broad daylight and a possession story that is original.

With so much going on for it, it is a true shame that the movie manages to fall into tired recipes that do away with so much potential. After all, in a story in which the villain targets children is open to horror as perceived from their point of view. That approach would have elevated it from the usual supernatural thriller to something more unique. And the movie itself seems to be aware of this on occasion.

With some psychological bits and a decent slasher angle this is a movie that fans of the genre will probably find worth watching but it does have a limited appeal without being part of the elite in the competitive world of J-horror.

"The Slithmouthed Woman" was a nice new approach to Asian horror. It stands out from the endless sea of Asian horror movies that have ghost women in white dresses with black hair covering their eyes, and 90% of the movie shot in near complete darkness. "The Slithmouthed Woman" was quite the opposite, and that was a nice change of pace.

The story in "The Slithmouthed Woman" is about a woman with a mangled face (her mouth is slashed open) going around abducting and killing people. Just before she appears and drags you off, people will hear her saying "Am I pretty?" Now, being shot almost in nothing but daylight, "The Slithmouthed Woman" was really a nice change, because you got to see everything that was going on, and not kept in the dark by the lack of lighting. Plus, the movie here was more of a psychological horror movie, than it was a visual horror movie. Sure, the make-up and effects on the woman was really great, I just personally would have liked to see more of that mangled face. But still, done with moderation, it worked out well enough.

The acting in the movie was alright as well, I don't recall having seen the people here in other movies before, and still the people put on great enough performances.

However, "The Slithmouthed Woman" is a very predictable movie and you know how it will end early on in the movie. And also the story takes forever to go anywhere, and that was a notch down in the entertainment value. Had they opted to go with a more adrenaline-filled approach and more action, the movie had worked out all the better.

The idea and concept behind the story was really unique and well thought through, it just could have used another set of eyes on it to offer a different approach to the direction in which the movie went. But still, it wasn't a bad movie, not at all. If you like Asian horror movies and want to see something that isn't a mainstream ghost horror movie, like most of the Asian horror movies have a tendency to be, then "The Slithmouthed Woman" is well worth checking out.

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.

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.