Runtime: 101 minutes
Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa
Starring: Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yoichi Numata, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun Otomo
From: Shintoho
Pretty much what you'd expect from a movie whose title translates as “Hell”.
Even the Criterion Channel has some horror efforts and I may see another one on that platform this season. Jigoku is a famous Japanese film which may have been the first-ever “gory” feature anywhere in the filmmaking world-there's only a few graphic shots but they are pretty potent even in 2021.
This is most famous for its wild and striking depiction of Hell; the sometimes dated effects only add charm to this view of the underworld. But even before that things were pretty hellish for lead character Shiro. He is passenger in a vehicle that commits a hit & run manslaughter; his decision to not turn himself and his A-hole pal who drove the car... that results in many bad things happening to him, including an onslaught of deaths, some of which weren't deserved but many happened to miserable characters; talk about “collateral damage.”
The story has some flaws & a lull or two; for me, the final act set in Hell helps ease the sting of those sins—so does an appropriate musical score and nice, dramatic cinematography in the first two acts. It's a wild ride before the journey to Hades-after that, the movie be wildin' out. To merely state that this is grim and nihilistic is downplaying the tone of this motion picture. Yet it was done in a way where it wasn't a wretched slog or a punishing experience. To close this on a cliché, Jigoku is better seen than described.
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