Jigoku

Words can't aptly describe the assault on the senses that is JIGOKU but I'll try anyway: over-used phrases like fascinating, surreal, disturbing and unique instantly come to mind - but the film is all of these and more. By now, I have a fair number of strange Japanese films under my belt - but this one's something else entirely!

From the stylized approach (shooting from odd angles and the occasional adoption of a greenish hue) to its plethora of arresting imagery (especially the gruesome body piercing - sword through neck, eye-gouging, feet stamping on huge needles, torso sawed in half, etc.), director/co-writer Nakagawa's vision of Hell is surely among the most visceral ever depicted on the screen. While its concept of establishing sections (or circles) of punishment for specific crimes goes all the way back to Dante Alighieri - though, as mentioned in the film itself, Buddhism has its own take on the subject - cinematically it anticipates the one seen in the Coffin Joe outing THIS NIGHT I'LL POSSESS YOUR CORPSE (1966). Still, with respect to both the microcosmic viewpoint of the plot and the film's vivid color scheme, it also reminded me of GOKE - BODY SNATCHER FROM HELL (1968), while its essential nihilism (I literally lost count of the number of people killed off during the first hour!) looks forward to BLIND BEAST (1969).

The doppelganger element - in the DVD's main supplement, a 39-minute featurette, it's mentioned that the script was partly inspired by the Faust legend - heightens the film's already disquieting aura: Yoichi Numata as an emissary of Hell in human form (though he's not spared the painful retribution for his sins once the scene shifts to the netherworld) is especially effective; interestingly, the actor was disappointed by his own performance and admits now that he couldn't understand the role! However, I need to point out that - much like I had written of Ingmar Bergman's THE RITE (1969) - the plot reaches a level of implausible melodrama as to feel almost like a parody (even more so when considering the various characters' penchant for bursting into sentimental songs a' la the work of John Ford!).

Anyway, while I found the DVD transfer somewhat dark, I'm glad to say that the copy I own is the 'Second Pressing' - this means that the problem concerning a 2-minute sequence, which previously got skipped when watching the disc on a DVD player, has now been fixed. Originally intended for Eclipse, Criterion's sub-label - back when it was supposed to release little-known genre/exploitation titles - I feel that the film is important enough to warrant its place in the official Collection.

The bits from GHOST STORY OF YOTSUYA (1959) shown in the featurette were very intriguing and, hopefully, won't be too long in coming; still, I was equally itching to learn more about the various 'B' horror films by Nakagawa and production company Shintoho (which had actually started out by making such masterworks of World Cinema as Akira Kurosawa's STRAY DOG [1949] and Kenji Mizoguchi's THE LIFE OF OHARU [1952]!) whose posters form the extensive still gallery...

Although I have to admit that I'd never heard of the film prior to Criterion's DVD announcement, Chuck Stephens - in his rather pretentious essay in the accompanying booklet (though he perceptively suggests that the pairing of the dead yakuza's mother and girlfriend may well have anticipated the deadly female relatives of ONIBABA [1964]) - believes that JIGOKU ought to be thought of in the same terms as such horror landmarks as EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959), BLACK Sunday (1960), PEEPING TOM (1960) and PSYCHO (1960), films which collectively brought an unprecedented maturity to the genre. Needless to say, the film's greatest influence can be seen in the gore-drenched Asian exploitation cinema which survives to this day (interestingly enough, JIGOKU was itself remade twice over the years - in 1979 and 1999!).

I picked this one up on a lark and I was pretty underwhelmed. The opening is both stylish and genuinely creepy with its laments, wrapped corpses, and surreal hellscapes, and it segués cleverly into a college lecture hall where our protagonist, a young theology student it seems, is listening to a lecture on concepts of hell. It's by no means fair to say that it's all down hill from there, but the movie only intermittently reaches the same heights. There are deeply unsettling and scary moments, but they're balanced by lot of ho hum bits and few others that almost set one to giggling. The plot is a complete mess it pulls credulity to bits and keeps on ripping and its all so rushed that there's neither time to build any real suspense or develop the characters. This is another problem: The female lead is a stereotypical picture of what I take to be a traditional Japanese idea of womanly virtue and the protagonist is just kind of wishy washy and uninteresting. His demonic friend and tormentor Tamura steals every scene he's in; the actor was clearly having a blast chewing up the scenery. And he succeeds wonderfully in what (I presume) he's supposed to do, which is making evil look a lot more fun than our hero's imperfect handwringing sort of virtue. But of course all the plot and real world stuff is just to set up hell right? Well the hell doesn't redeem it. It's often beautiful in a sick sort of way (Brueghel has a run for his money here) and viscerally repulsive, but while it might shock and perhaps even awe the viewer at points it's more gory and repulsive than unsettling. I suppose my reaction might be culturally conditioned, perhaps it would get under the skin of a Buddhist much more than it did a (somewhat lapsed) Christian like myself, but this brings me to another point: The theology is harsh as well you know. Almost everyone's evil and even the people who've committed fairly understandable and, I'd think, forgivable sins end up in hell. I grew up in an avowedly evangelical church and their theology was much more forgiving and understanding of human weakness. Sometimes we seem to have landed in the world of those terror tracts some churches in my home town used to pass out; there's a definite air of grim disapproval (whether affected or genuine I can't tell) for the sinful modern world hanging over the thing that's so stodgy it's more than a little funny. I'll give it high marks for the visual style and for the cool jazz that floats through and most of the actors acquit themselves quite well (though some don't have too much to work with). But to say that makes a complete mess of plot, pacing, and characterization is, if anything, kind.

This movie spends half of its time in the real world and half in the afterlife. During the first half you ask "where the hell is hell anyway?". After it goes to the "real" hell, you realize that hell is all the things that went undone in the mortal coil.

You realize that if you don't want to live in hell later, don't live in "hell" now.

A great psychedelic trip without psychedelic trappings.

The kind of film that sounds really exciting, and is interesting, but you wish it were a bit better than it is. Its reputation is based mostly on the final 40 minutes, where all the characters take a vacation to the bowels of Buddhist Hell (pretty much like Christian Hell, but with more lotus flowers). The first hour or so isn't much less hellish. A college student and his wicked friend mow down a drunk gangster in their car. The student, burdened with guilt (somewhat nonsensical guilt seeing as it wasn't his fault), starts seeing tragedy occur all around him. In just the next several days, all kinds of people with whom he associates die. It's never his fault, per se, but for some reason he always blames himself. That first hour is a little boring and a little confusing – I was wondering if the guy was supposed to already be in hell. The hell part is pretty cool, but also fairly silly. What always works in Jigoku is the cinematography and art direction. This is a damn cool looking movie. I wouldn't particularly recommend it, but it's worth seeing just for the cool parts.

I had read about and seen stills from this movie for years. I had heard how freaky and bloody and scary this movie's vision of hell was, but I never got a chance to actually see it. Finally I was able to secure a copy and I sat down to watch the horror.

For the first hour of this film we watch as our hero lives a life that is more or less a living hell. More horrible, terrible things befall him and those around him than anyone outside of a soap opera has a right to expect. Very act is bound to damn someone to hell and it isn't long before our guilt ridden hero crosses over and experiences what true torment is. Its enough to make you want to laugh were it not played so painfully straight.

What we see once we get to Hell itself looks great. Even some 40 years after it first marched across theater some of the shots of flayed flesh and disemboweled intestines are still shocking. The cramped and dark vistas are something out of a nightmare. Many tormented images you'd almost be proud to have on your walls.

Is it scary a bit but its not the be all and end all that some had made it out to be. Then again the films images have been raided by others so it less shocking. I also find that some of the pacing is off and what may have once worked now borders on tedious.

The film seems to be saying that all life, here or in the next world is miserable hellish and that no matter what we do we're doomed simply to suffer. A happy little film if there ever was one.

I like the film but far from love it. The first part is very soapy and over blown, while the second is almost a catalog of horrors. I give it points for trying but I don't think it completely works.

Should you see it?

A coin toss. It really depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking, for gore and guts, its here but not enough to make you walk away happy. Are you looking for a meditation on sin, guilt and existence, you may like it, especially if you can get past the soap. If you want to see a technically well made film that doesn't quite work but influenced later films and which will provide some discussion over dinner, then try it.

I give it 7 out of 10 for the parts more than the whole.