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.

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.

In the Nineteenth Century, in Japan, the American journalist Christopher (Billy Drago) is traveling through the country searching Komomo (Michie), the missing love of his life that he had abandoned years ago promising to come back to her later. He arrives in a shadowy island inhabited by whores and caftans, where he has an encounter with a deformed prostitute that tells that his beloved Komomo had passed away. He drinks sake with her and later he asks the woman to tell the story of her life. The prostitute discloses a dark and cruel story about her life and the sad fate of Komomo.

The macabre "Imprint" is another disturbing and brutal movie of Takashi Miike. Using magnificent camera-work and impressive make-up in an awesome atmosphere, "Imprint" approaches gruesome and gore theme like abortion, fetus, incest, torture, perversions and abuse along 63 minutes running time of pure and sick horror with many twists. I confess that I felt uncomfortable and disturbed with the sadistic sequence of the torture of Komomo. Takashi Miike really honors the title of this series, being a Master of Horror. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Marcas do Terror" ("Marks of the Terror")

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...

Wow! If you're about to watch "Imprint", you should prepare for sixty of the most intense and horrific minutes of your life, as Takashi Miike's contribution to the "Masters of Horror"-franchise is, in one word, perplexing! I have yet to see the director's acclaimed masterpiece "Audition" but, until then, this is definitely my most favorite piece of his work! The themes and style here are totally different to, say, "Itchi the Killer" or "Fudoh", but it's disturbing and terrifying on entirely different levels. The story is macabre and definitely has an Asian folklore feel to it, but the torture sequences and perverted sub themes are typically Takashi Miike; meaning very explicit, shocking and on the verge of sickening. It's also a real pleasure to see the hugely underrated actor Billy Drago star in a glorious horror project again! He also appeared in the recent (and surprisingly great "The Hills Have Eyes"-remake), so here's to hoping that this charismatic actor is in the middle of making a successful comeback! Drago plays a mysterious American who travels through Japan all by himself to find the lost love of his life. He arrives on a crazy island where only prostitutes and their pimps live and discovers that the woman he loved passed away. Her sad story is told to him by a deformed whore who also has a lot of other peculiar revelations to share, each one more morbid and repellent than the other. "Imprint" was banned in the States for some obvious reasons, notably the incredibly unsettling torture scene in which a poor girl's fingers and gums are used as a pin-cushion! I'm used to a lot, but this particular part was really hard to watch. Other deeply shocking moments of the story include a brutal and detailed abortion sequence and the overall nihilistic attitude towards unborn humans. This short movie is beautifully made, with sublime camera-work and masterful make-up effects. Miike's directing is solid as a rock and proves that he truly deserves to be called a "Master of Horror". "Imprint" is often hard to watch but impossible to forget. Highly recommended!