I had the misfortune of seeing this one at a Japanese film festival. The movie comes off as a pretentious sexual fantasy of a person who gets off on rape and sexual violence. Not exactly entertainment. The movie is completely hollow, what it has to say sounds very poetic but lacks substance, and all four stories are devoid of a compelling storyline. As a result, it feels as if you are watching pornography, very well shot yet very twisted and very very boring pornography ( unless you are seriously poorly adjusted, in which case you may get off on it, and should seek professional help). I don't want to enter into the what is art and what is pornography debate, i think sexual violence has its place in cinema, i thought Once Were Warriors, Irreversible and even The Hills have Eyes ( the original one) were excellent movies that to different extents contained sexual violence, in different contexts. The difference is those movies (well they are excellent and this is pathetic that is one difference) deplored sexual violence this seems to applaud it, and even enjoy it. The film gets nastier and more twisted as it goes along. The second story about mirrors and a string of mysterious murders is like an extremely substandard X files episode. The third story about a man with no arms, legs, or ability to speak being tortured but his wife wearing bondage gear, isn't my idea of a good time. Extremely stupid, really long ( 2 hours and fifteen minutes) and extremely boring. This a complete waste of time. Don't bother.
Review of Ranpo jigoku
