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With this little charmer, Miike was fully poised to ram his angry pecker up the poopchute of stateside broadcast. It wasn't to be, sadly. Sadly, but understandably, what with whores, disfigurement, bouncing abortions and copious torture all making an appearance. We can only look forward to the day when this kind of aesthetically pleasing depravity is synonymous with primetime tv. Until then my idiot box remains unplugged but for DVD-viewing.

Content-wise, Miike doesn't hold anything back, and the plot has elements of those Buddhist Japanese scare-the-shit-out-of-you cautionary fables, which I like. Miike is certainly a master of torture-porn. The fact that this was too disturbing for air, while also being the most gripping AND horrible AND morally resonant AND gory of the series, is like a giant Fuck You to the other "Masters of Horror" and modern American "horror" cinema, no?

Silly story, poorly acted but worth a watch for the level of insanity this film is.

Wow I can see why this wasn't aired, that and it kinda makes the other "Masters of Horror" seem like amateurs. Drago's not at his best here, but I do think Miike is.

Besides Billy Drago's incredibly awful performance, this was great.

Certainly the most original and different of the whole series, with some very disturbing moments and some taste of Rashomon structure. Somehow I think that it shouldn't be fully English speaking is far too much (it feels a bit weird sometimes) and the ending was a bit dissapointing for me.

Damn this nasty

NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED DURING THE FILMING, but other things, yes.

Only Takashi Miike would ever make a horror film like this. Most of the actors don't speak the language the movie is in, but everything has an otherworldly, unreal style that makes the strange acting somehow appropriate. It makes you feel uneasy from the style alone, but when you add the really creepy story and the gruesome visuals, this ends up being a truly unsettling film.

One of the best Mike films I've seen. By turns brutal and sickening, with a distinct bizzaro aftertaste.