Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007) is quite good.

This Japanese urban legend is very interesting especially since there isn't one standard explanation for why the Slit-Mouthed Woman's face is messed up so every movie can have its own interpretation. I just wish the other Japanese films could get released in the West with English subtitles. I've found a couple others that did get put out on US DVDs but there are so many more that were made in Japan. Carved is probably the best though by the same director as Grotesque, NoroiSadako vs. Kayako, and many other films. This movie manages to be a bit creepy at times and the idea of an unstable woman kidnapping children is pretty disturbing. This legend obviously has a lot of potential even if the films tend to struggle with it like I'm not sure what to make of the body-hopping. That is different but it's maybe too much. It is fascinating though the way the legend can be traced back to the Edo period and a samurai supposedly mutilating his unfaithful partner.