I don't really know what kind of devil possessed me this weekend, but apparantly I was fated to write about yet another movie that really, really, belongs in the freaky files. The name of the movie is Imprint, and is Takashi Miikes contribution to the Masters of Horror TV series.
If you've seen any other of Miikes works, you might know that he's not one to pull the punches. Imprint is a flat out torturefest, complete with needles, nails 'n lips and cojoined semi-demonic twins. Yup, you heard me. Of course, the torture scenes are the most insanely uncomfortable ones, but the scenes leading up to said scenes is almost more uncomfortable. The haunting atmosphere of a seriously messed up brothel does really manage to creep under your skin, before the sound of needles pushing through flesh takes the hold and rips said skin straight off.
As a traditional horror film, Imprint might not be as effective as it could be. Sure, it has gorn a-plenty, but that's not what I'd call scary, except that someone actually thought up and went through with the idea. Miike does that to you. At any rate, Imprint does have some scary scenes, the first narration scene, prior to the torture, is very creepy with slightly odd camera angles and vauge shapes in the background that are never identified. Actually, it bothers me how nobody seems to know or care what those things were.
When it comes to Masters of Horror, my favorite episode is Cigaret Burns. To me, a film student, this movie provides both a lot of nods to the classics in the genre and a few interesting observations around the power of the moviemaker, especially the director. I can't say I believe there's a movie so gruesomely cruel it can make people murderously insane, my watching of The Sinful Dwarf notwithstanding, but it's a cool idea, and the search for the maddest of mad geniuses is exciting. The other Masters episodes are definitely not without merit. Mentionable ones include Incidents on and off a mountain road, with one of the better twist endings I've seen and The Fair-haired child, with good ole' nightmare fuel a'plenty.
Halloween countdown: 18 days
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