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Jigoku (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]
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Genre | Horror |
Format | NTSC, Color, Multiple Formats, Subtitled |
Contributor | Jun tomo, Akiko Yamashita, Kimie Tokudaiji, Fumiko Miyata, Yichi Numata, Kiyoko Tsuji, Nobuo Nakagawa, Torahiko Nakamura, Utako Mitsuya, Shigeru Amachi, Tomohiko Ohtani, Hiroshi Hayashi, Akiko Ono, Ichir Miyagawa See more |
Language | Japanese |
Runtime | 1 hour and 41 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
Shocking, outrageous, and poetic, Jigoku (Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelganger. But all possible escape routes lead to Hell - literally. In the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour-de-force of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories thanks to its truly eye-popping (and gouging) imagery, Jigoku created aftershocks that are still reverberating in cinema around the world today.
Amazon.com
As long as human beings have conceived of an underworld, they have sought to represent it in art. Nobuo Nakagawa's 1960 film Jigoku joins this artistic niche alongside Dante's Inferno and Monkeybone starring the great Brendan Fraser. The story, meant primarily to provide a frame from which to hang a series of creepy set designs, concerns a college student, Shiro Shimizu (Shigeru Amachi) who flees a hit-and-run accident. Even though he wasn't the one driving, Shiro is plagued with guilt, which begins to interfere with his courtship of Yukiko (Utako Mitsuya), whose father just happens to be a theology professor who lectures on Buddhist concepts of Hell. The first half of the film sets the stage for the cast's decent into Hell, where things start to get really freaky. Lit with sickly blue and red light, Nakagawa's vision of the afterworld is bleak and expressionistic. In one scene, lovers struggle to come together across a field of jagged glass shards. In another, the damned run across fields of wriggling hands and feet. Perhaps most disturbing, many of those condemned to an eternity of suffering find their heads and wrists shackled in what appear to be boards in the shape of coffin lids. It's no wonder audiences of the time were scared witless. For a contemporary viewer, however, it's easier to observe the film as an exercise in creative cinematography and a precursor to the J-horror genre. More than the imagery, its this subgenre's roots in spirituality that give it the power to chill, with the implication that we bring torture upon ourselves with our own moral violations.
The Criterion Collection does its usual fine job presenting the disc with plenty of extras. The "Building the Inferno" featurette is an amusing glimpse into the working methods of the enigmatic--and hard-drinking--Nakagawa, considered by many in Japan a third-tier director. It's hard to tell whether the transfer itself or the original film is too dark--one is inclined to believe the latter; many of the pre-Hell scenes are blackened to the point of making it hard to see who's doing what. But no one should expect anything light and sunny from this DVD. --Ryan Boudinot
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.72 ounces
- Item model number : CRRN1651DVD
- Director : Nobuo Nakagawa
- Media Format : NTSC, Color, Multiple Formats, Subtitled
- Run time : 1 hour and 41 minutes
- Release date : June 1, 2010
- Actors : Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun tomo
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : Japanese (Dolby Digital 1.0)
- Studio : Criterion Collection
- ASIN : B000G8NY1I
- Writers : Ichir Miyagawa, Nobuo Nakagawa
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #22,203 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #123 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #650 in Horror (Movies & TV)
- #3,621 in Drama DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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Top reviews from the United States
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The beginning of the movie shows the downfall of a young man who becomes trapped by his own guilt. The last part of Jigoku depicts the torment and suffering of the damned, literally in hell. The overall look is remarkably shot and completely haunting. It's incredibly violent, filled with eerie and desperate images of the lost souls. You've got bodies being sawed in half or being flayed alive down to the bone. It's a smorgasboard of brutality. I WAS BLOWN AWAY!!
The only other movie I've seen similar to this is What Dreams May Come. It's fairly obvious that movie borrowed some hellish ideas from Jigoku.
This film has reached cult status, a true masterpiece of horror.
The horror effects may have been good in their day but they are very dated now and look decidedly amateurish. Most of the tortures depicted, are traditional tortures featured in Eastern mythological portraits of Hell and you can see them depicted in texts, temples and theme parks across East Asia. If you are seeing it mainly for the shock or horror effects, don't bother. But it is a fascinating look at a wholly different worldview from what most westerners would be exposed to. It remains a fascinating work in its own right and deserves recognition for that alone, rather than for simply being another "J-horror" movie.
Criterion's DVD is as usual very professionally produced. The print looks its age. But it is clean, undamaged, and aside from a jumping frame here and there, is very good. It is presented in its OAR of 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Colours are very sombre, drab and dark for the most part, occasionally punctuated by hellish crimsons which look impressive when they appear. Sound is in the original Japanese 1.0 Mono and is perfectly serviceable. Optional English subtitltes are provided.
Do not waste your money Please
Top reviews from other countries
One of the most interesting things about this movie is I found that I was actually relieved once the characters where in hell because the build up was so tense, the decent into to hell is almost peaceful.
I think it is safe to say that this movie is more about creating atmosphere and bringing life to Nightmarish visions of Hell, than proving or pushing some sort of Moralistic point, the overall feel of the film is fairly Nihilistic (every character in the movie ends up in Hell) and though the movie surely gives the viewer a lot to ponder over, it is the imagery that will really stay with you.
The special effects are absolutely superb, extremely inventive, evocative and beautiful. The lighting and cinematography in the early scenes is dark and spooky, y'know.... it's a perfect movie for me, one of my favorites.
勿論恐ろしいのだが、どこか「ホラー」というよりも「見世物小屋」「お化け屋敷」的な、まさしく日本人にしか描けないのではないかという世界が展開する。後、これは個人的な趣味も入りますが、渡辺宙明の音楽が実にいい。後に「マジンガーZ」の音楽などでも活躍しましたが、シンセサイザーを導入して効果音をうまく使うようになる前の、まだアナログ時代だけど、ジャズやクラシックを学んだ成果がよく出ているような気がする。もしこの時代にシンセがもっと使えたら、きっと地獄の効果音などもさらにいろいろ加えたかもしれないなあと思った。
なお、私の持っている日本DVDでは再生できず、以上はパソコンで見た上での感想です