VividSimon Simply Perfect

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

b_imdb-97-807596 Unique violence,disturbing,uncomfortable to watch at times--definetly horror---dont like the male lead--unconvincing--overacts--some Japanese overacting but that might be nitpicking----

sorinapha After starting my out-of-sequence watch through of the Masters of Horror series with Jenifer (which was a bit of a disappointment), I decided to go all out and watch Imprint next. Having just seen Audition (1999) last night, I guess you could say I was feeling ambitious.And just...wow.Wow.I would be lying if I didn't admit that I had to pause this a few times and come back to it. It was visceral and uncomfortable and wild, with a torture scene that, in my opinion, was a little harsher than the notorious acupuncture scene in Audition. The plot was surprisingly solid for an hour-long television episode (would-be television episode, I guess I should say), but then I think a great deal of that has to do with the fact that this was based on a preexisting written work; I would be interested in reading the source material sometime.Billy Drago's performance was a bit lackluster, and it seemed clear that he was cast because of his looks and reputation rather than talent. That did take away from the outermost part of the frame tale, but all of the flashbacks were sound, and I was especially intrigued by Miike's use of colors. It was admittedly a bit ham-handed at times, but an interesting choice nonetheless.I would rate this higher, but it does lack the cinematic finery of Miike's previous work, Audition, but scaled up on the shock value, which did feel out of balance and a little forced. However, despite its flaws, I liked it, and between this and Audition (1999), I nervously await the opportunity to see more of Miike's work.

trashgang To end season one they have waited in my belief for the best. This is a pure masterpiece that is gruesome and even gory at some points. The easily offended will surely turn it off because the scene's with the baby's will go too far for them.But let me say this, I have seen it in 2006 and immediately adored it but the problem in Europe was the fact that all episodes were cut somehow. I had to wait until they came out on zone 1 Blu Ray to find it uncut and even then you only can find it in Germany. So I picked the full uncut edition which clocks in at 63 minutes in stead of 56 minutes. This is as I said earlier one of Takashi Miiki's better work. Not only that, the acting of Billy Drago as Christopher is sublime. But it's really the beauty of the camera shots that delivers. It's also a slow builder but it stays that way even when the torturing of one of the girls comes in. And it's that part that so much people are talking about. It isn't gory and there's not that much of blood but it's the way they all looked and the kind of torturing that makes it uneasy to watch. There's even nudity involved but you are focused on the needles slowly going in the flesh. And the way she's tied up isn't comfortable too.But not only that. The abortion seen here is also gruesome. And the way they get rid of the cadavers will surely offend some. Imprint is the most spoken episode of the two seasons and is still considered as a masterpiece. I still love it after all those years and was glad finally have seen the full uncut version. It should have been a full feature. For people who liked Audition (1999) this is a must see. And okay, some won't understand the little sister coming out of a head, a bit like Basket Case (1982) but that is also so typical Japanese. You love or hate it.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 4/5 Story 4/5 Comedy 0/5

Jacques98 It's saddening to me, really, that I would ever have to give anything Takashi Miike has so much as touched a score this low. Like Quentin Tarantino before him, Takashi Miike understands that originality is what is lacking from the entertainment industry, and he understands and has the capability to fix that. While Imprint expresses some of Miike's talent and understanding, it's no where close to what he has done in full-length films in the past. At all. Period. Imprint seems a lot like a single scene, drawn-out to an hour long, from one of his full-length movies.The story itself is only slightly above average. Man is trying to find his lost wife. While this is certainly nothing new, the subplots spoken by the whore he is entangled with are certainly, at very least, highly creative. The ending plot reveal (calling it a plot twist would be misleading) is nothing short of disturbing, and isn't something even the hardened horror fan is going to forget a few hours later. So, in a sense, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the underline story. While not totally mind-blowing, it works for the time space Imprint was given.With that said, the main reason for my low score isn't because of the story. It's because of how ineffectively the story is told. The first major problems started with the English-spoken dialogue. Simply put, it's atrocious. I never again want to see an obviously Japanise movie spoken in complete English. It takes away a lot of immersion right there. After that, the poor special effects in the ending and sometimes in the middle really became distracting. In opposite, however, I have to commend Miike's aesthetic choices. His use of white on the corpse in the opening was amazing, and likewise well as his color choices. The use of color isn't as over-the-top and ridicules as Suspiria, and that made the blunt colors work very, very nicely.As for the torture and gore, both were more well-done—and thankfully on screen this time—than typical Miike, showing he is improving. Some of the torture scenes were relatively brutal, using needles, which have become a Miike signature. Though I wouldn't call the disturbing element much better than average, Imprint is a lot less easy to watch than I expected it to be. The repeated use of bloody, dead fetuses was also something much more ballsy than your standard American R-rated film and your standard Japanese horror movie alike. So, in a way, I was both impressed and unimpressed with the gore scenes here. But, as I said, nothing is too far above average, like most other Miike films I've seen. Compared to American torture films, like the Saw series, Imprint and his movies in general, just look weak on the gore front. He only points the camera at the wall while something gory happens three feet out of view once, thank God. Miike has done that repeatedly in his other films, and it has to be the most annoying and least brutal film making method in regards to gore ever.Characters themselves, however, are more disturbing to look at than the violence. You'll see everything from a whore with an open cut running across half her face to a midget who appears to have a live bird growing out of her head. What more is there to ask for when designing truly original disturbing characters? In the end, Imprint was very much worth watching. It is a great place for someone who's never seen a Miike film to start, being it's one of his most disappointing and strait-forward. If you have seen Miike, it's a necessary view, but don't go in with high standards. At all.4/10