I FINALLY have gotten a copy of the last episode of the first season of Masters of Horror.
Imprint is directed by Takashi Miike, who has an extensive catalog of films, however, I've only seen Audition. I was fairly engrossed by it, although it seemed to move too far in the wrong direction near the end. The change in direction made the ending entirely uninteresting to me.
Imprint has been raised to an almost mythic stature with horror fans watching the MOH series. It was "banned" in the US. I don't think this is true. I suspect that very few things are actually banned in the US (at least in a horror movie way) but they are simply not picked up for distribution. This mostly just means that Showtime doesn't feel it is worth the risk to put it on TV.
An American is working his way through Japan, looking for Komomo, a prostitute he had met a long time ago. He made a promise to this lady that he would bring her back to America when he returned. He meets another prostitute, a deformed lady, who explains how she knew Komono. She tells a few variations of both her background and Komomo's story, blurring the distinction of what is true and false regarding both stories.
The gore is.... interesting. It is very high quality, but during certain passages, it seems almost comical. The abortion scenes are hardly the most difficult to take. There are a number of aborted babies, and they look much more formed than I would expect. It is the sort of gore that doesn't reach TV in general, though, and it would probably disturb younger viewers (who shouldn't be watching Masters of Horror to begin with). The sequence that is far, far stronger, and far more difficult to watch is a torture sequence, which has large pins inserted under nails and into the gums.
In truth, the episode feels sub-par. While the direction is interesting, and the story has the potential to be excellent, it suffers from two problems. First, even though the story is generally moving forward, I still didn't end feeling like anything had been explained. Second, the audio/acting is having serious problems. There are far too many lines that are said either way too quiet or way too loud, and the fact that the actors/actresses are dealing with a script in English make this very difficult to understand. I had to constantly rewind to understand lines, and sometimes that still didn't help. Subtitles would have really helped. I don't feel like I need this episode. When it comes along on DVD, I actually don't think I'll buy it.
**** Addendum: After reading up on it, I'm next to positive that this has NOT been banned in the US. It just hasn't been picked up for distribution here.
Imprint is directed by Takashi Miike, who has an extensive catalog of films, however, I've only seen Audition. I was fairly engrossed by it, although it seemed to move too far in the wrong direction near the end. The change in direction made the ending entirely uninteresting to me.
Imprint has been raised to an almost mythic stature with horror fans watching the MOH series. It was "banned" in the US. I don't think this is true. I suspect that very few things are actually banned in the US (at least in a horror movie way) but they are simply not picked up for distribution. This mostly just means that Showtime doesn't feel it is worth the risk to put it on TV.
An American is working his way through Japan, looking for Komomo, a prostitute he had met a long time ago. He made a promise to this lady that he would bring her back to America when he returned. He meets another prostitute, a deformed lady, who explains how she knew Komono. She tells a few variations of both her background and Komomo's story, blurring the distinction of what is true and false regarding both stories.
The gore is.... interesting. It is very high quality, but during certain passages, it seems almost comical. The abortion scenes are hardly the most difficult to take. There are a number of aborted babies, and they look much more formed than I would expect. It is the sort of gore that doesn't reach TV in general, though, and it would probably disturb younger viewers (who shouldn't be watching Masters of Horror to begin with). The sequence that is far, far stronger, and far more difficult to watch is a torture sequence, which has large pins inserted under nails and into the gums.
In truth, the episode feels sub-par. While the direction is interesting, and the story has the potential to be excellent, it suffers from two problems. First, even though the story is generally moving forward, I still didn't end feeling like anything had been explained. Second, the audio/acting is having serious problems. There are far too many lines that are said either way too quiet or way too loud, and the fact that the actors/actresses are dealing with a script in English make this very difficult to understand. I had to constantly rewind to understand lines, and sometimes that still didn't help. Subtitles would have really helped. I don't feel like I need this episode. When it comes along on DVD, I actually don't think I'll buy it.
**** Addendum: After reading up on it, I'm next to positive that this has NOT been banned in the US. It just hasn't been picked up for distribution here.