Imprint

The story itself is about an American returning to an island in Japan to rescue his true love from a life of prostitution only to find out she's dead. He listens to the story from another prostitute to find out what happened.

I myself can't go into too much detail because the story is all over the place. I think it would have been better if for one thing if with the exception of the prostitute telling the story to Billy Drago it should have been in Japanese with subtitles. You can tell the rest of the cast didn't have a good grasp of English. Billy Drago is a much better actor than he is here because he really over acts. And there are too many images that are a little too disturbing for me, oddly it is not the famous torture scene. But I can see it as true horror is not monsters in the dark, but what people really do to each other. One more thing, the reveal at the end was really cheesy! So to some it up I gave it a 6 because there is a good story here somewhere. And I have to give a shout out to the actress who was being tortured because she really sold me on that! On the DVD extras she said she really enjoyed filming that and the only injury that she got was a headache from being hung upside down. So that took some of the edge off of this to remind this is a movie. The Godzilla movies aside, this is my first taste of J-horror and I think I'll be back for more.

I'm surprised at how bizarre this is. However, this is a Takashi Mike film, and this is the 4th movie I have seen from this man, the three others being Visitor Q, Ichi the Killer, and Audition. I am completely lost to what happened in the ending, however, the movie sure is well made. The torture scenes are extremely unique, there's nearly no gore, but the movie still manages to make it work. The acting is pretty good, what kinda made this movie go lower, was the hand thing, that puppet or effect looked weird, and out of place. We had this serious plot, and then the hand comes out and it completely pulls you and drags you out of the movie. I can't tell if was Komomo killed by the American or by the other Asian chick. Does the Asian chick even exist in the first place? The movie sure brings tantrums and makes you feel upset, confused, weirded out, and kinda shocked at angles. I also have to applaud them for not making this a short flick, and not dragging it out.

Has nothing to do with the movie: But I was engaged in this movie, and then I had to pause for reasons... I think that kinda broke the movie for me.

If you are a fan of Japanese Shock Horror stuff like Naked Blood, Mai-chan's Daily Life, Guinea Pig films... You'll enjoy this. Personally, it was kinda likable and confusing, but it was a fun watch.

In Director Takashi Miike's IMPRINT, Christopher (Billy Drago) returns to a remote island brothel in search of a woman whom he believes is the love of his life. Instead of his dream girl, he meets a seemingly shy prostitute with an incredibly disturbing story to tell.

Simply put, this is a movie about agony. The agony of loss, torture, and death. There is no hope in this film, so, if you're looking for something uplifting with a happy ending, you're doomed.

Miike has created a gruesome, demented abomination that shows us things we were probably not meant to see. He's so damned good at this sort of material that we watch it in spite of ourselves.

Highly recommended, but certainly NOT for the queasy or easily offended. This one leaves a mark...

OK just a quick little comment from me. This short film, imprint is based on a Japanese book. I haven't read the book but it seems like a good thing for Miike to direct as it includes familiar Miike themes such as prostitution, hints of pedophilia and torture. The story is quite good, told in flashbacks mainly it is about a beautiful prostitute who died. The story is revealed nicely and keeps you guessing and misleads you to maintain the intrigue.

Their are some very disturbing scenes such as some torture and abortion bits. Its shot quite nicely with some nice lighting and camera movement. The story ends up surprising you and disgusting you at the same time.

This is the best Miike film for a while, graphic, intense, shocking, true horror.

Its easy to see why it didn't play on showtime.

Takashi Miike of "Audition" and "Ichi the Killer" fame directed this 13th episode of the Showtime series "Masters of Horror" - apparently it was never aired in the USA because the Showtime people were horrified at the episode, and probably with good reason. I like to think that Miike intentionally parodies "Memoirs of a Geisha", and "the last samurai" with this one. He combines the two in the story of a broken down American man who goes back to Japan to find the whore he fell in love with years before - the parallels with the serious movie "The Last Samurai" are unmistakable. The outlandish and over the top crazy costumes mimic the audacity of the costuming in "Memoirs of a Geisha", and the fact that this was done in English rather than Japanese only strengthens the parallels between "Imprint" and MoaG - and yet again Youki Kudoh (who was in Moag) makes an appearance, this time as a deformed prostitute. There are great lines such as "There is nothing on this island but demons and whores", and others less fit for print, but instant classics nonetheless. There are the classic Miike elements - violence, rogue abortions, murder, and incest, and a torture scene only outdone by Audtion. I couldn't give it a full 10 because Miike doesn't seem to work well with just a 1 hour window, and the plot doesn't make for a solid and clean short story, but fans of Miike should try to get their hands on this one, it is worth a look.