Item #: 13249 Category: JAPANESE Format: VHS MPAA Rating: R

Woolly Rating: 6/10 (155 votes)

MEMBER COMMENTS ON THIS VIDEO

Kevin Rayburn

Feb 17, 2002 @ 17:42:37

Outlandishly Beautiful
This is 1960, the year when "Psycho" and "Peeping Tom" were supposed to define the cutting edge of the lurid and violent, yet they have nothing on this unjustly obscure gothic Japanese melodrama/horror fantasy. At the outset of "Jigoku" (Hell), a professor explains that Hell is a concept found in both western and eastern religions. Underlying such medievel metaphysics is that the way one chooses to live one's life determines destination in the afterlife as well as the severity of the eternal punishment. Jigoku, follows the descent of a promising student, Shiro, toward the abyss. At first, all is well. Shiro is doing well in his studies and is about to be wed to the lovely young Yukiko. Yukiko's parents adore Shiro. But then there enters a Mr. Scratch-like character named Tamura, whose role is clearly meant to spur the bad side of Shiro's conscience. Tamura is a fellow student whose face has an odd green-like glow. On a drive one night through the city, Tamura and Shiro accidentally run over a drunken Yakuza. Shiro wants to report it, but Tamura persuades him not to. After all, it was just a drunken mafioso scum. But the Yakuza's wife saw the whole thing and vows revenge. I won't relate the entire plot of Jigoku, other than to say it becomes increasingly outlandish and unlikely. People start dying with regularity anywhere that Shiro (and Tamura) show up. Later, Shiro even meets a girl named Shachiko who looks exactly like Yukiko. But here I have to avoid plot spoilers. As the tragedies pile up, Tamura's spectre "outs" all the dirty little secrets deeply hidden by everyone in the drama, and society in general. Those dark secrets are the things that will cast all to Hell, and so the last third of "Jigoku" is an eye-popping, theatrical, colorful and lurid depiction of the torments of Hell, including flayed skin, impalings and so on. As usual with Japanese films of this period, the lighting and the composition are artful and carefully rendered. Jigoku was shot in color for the widescreen (the video is letterboxed but the VHS dupe is a bit fuzzy, as though it was copied from another tape source). As points of reference to other classic Japanese films, "Jigoku" resembles the fantasy of "Kwaidan," the overheated melodrama of "An Actor's Revenge," and the cool lounge aesthetic and angst of films like "When a Woman Ascends the Stairs" or Oshima's "Cruel Story of Youth." The opening credits have a James Bond-ish tone, with bits of reclining female flesh displayed in geometic ways to the tune of cool jazz. "Jigoku" is not a great film, but its rarity and occasional brilliance make it very much worth seeing--especially too as it follows the long line of gothic horror tales that include "Dante's Inferno," "Faust," "The Devil and Daniel Webster," and "The Student of Prague." All of which, Wild and Woolly has. ***JIGOKU (HELL) c. 2002 Kevin Rayburn earthgroove1@yahoo.com

<[:-} damned good!
i had put off renting this, being under the impression it was a traditional costume drama. it is actually a sly, pitch black condemnation of the loss of traditional values in 1950s jazz age japan. its a little dated in some scenes: its hard to relate to an unassuming milquetoast damned for all eternity because he had premarital sex and was an unwilling passenger in a fatal hit and run. as the film progresses, it improves in look and mood, with a creepy jazz score, as it slips away from reality. the finale in hell is a skin crawling freak out.

• GOODBYE UNCLE TOM
Snuff Film... (Tim)

• TAMPOPO
Awesome... (CMH)

• ROMERO
... (Sue)

• VAMPIRES VS ZOMBIES
horrible... (beachmonkey)

• PULP FICTION (COL ED)
a thrill ride... (Alan Hall)

• PERFUME
KINKY, DISTURBING... (DKB)

• BLACK MASK 2: CITY IF MASKS
not bad... (Dedeals)

• ELVIS ON TOUR
Elvis in Concert. ... (elvisandmeatloaf@aol.com)

• BORN YESTERDAY
A great performance... (micca)

• WONDERWALL
Why this film dserves more than a one star rating.... (Eric)

• PIT STOP (LTBX)
... (pike)

• BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE
... (pike)

• BIG BAD MAMA
... ()

• GOODBYE UNCLE TOM
MISUNDERSTOOD... (Caribba)

• MONKEY KUNG FU
the best... (melo70)

• PANTERA 3 WATCH IT GO
WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... (leo)

• HOUSE OF STRANGERS
FINE 1949 NOIR/DRAMA... (DKB)

• KEEP YOUR DISTANCE
LOCALLY SHOT DRAMA... (DKB)

• GOODBYE UNCLE TOM
a genius reality check 4 our race we may live in the white mans land & call it hme bt in doing that we deny the truth of our being. All brown skin people nomatta hw light r african rayalty ... (lady swirl)