MOVIE REVIEWS
Imprint
Chris Evangelista
Showtime’s Masters of Horror is a bit of a mixed bag. The horror lover in me loves the idea of a series of horror shorts directed by some of the patron saints of horror. However, the nitpicking bastard in me can’t let a lot of the flaws slide. But I can commend Mr. Mick Garris, the nicest fellow around, for wanting to give it a try.
Imprint is the most controversial of all of the MOH episodes, mainly due to the fact that Showtime refused to air it. This seems like sort of a contradiction. Why set out to make a horror series, and then ban something for being overly horrific? Well, despite all that, Imprint is finally available on DVD.
Imprint’s director is Takashi Miike, who has made a name for himself with a series of overly graphic films, including Ichi The Killer and Audition. Again, one wonders, given Miike’s track record for the overly disturbing, why hire him and expect something less?
So does Imprint live up to its infamous hype? It features two primarily disturbing items. One is a lengthy torture sequence using some long, sharp needles. The other is dead babies. In my opinion, this is probably what got the episode banned. I mean, we Americans can handle all the gore and graphic torture that is splattered at us, but don’t you even think about showing us dead babies, even if they are rubbery, clearly fake dead babies. Why, that’s just too much.
Imprint tells the story of an American journalist (Billy Drago) who travels to Japan to find his lost love, a prostitute. He goes to an island chock full of prostitutes, but sadly can’t seem to find his missing sweetie. He shacks up with one of the girls there, a girl who has a slightly deformed face, but is still easy on the eyes. Drago asks the deformed girl if she knows just what happened to gal-pal. She weaves a series of tales for him that lead to the disturbing answer to his questions. I don’t want to give away too much, as the episode really relies on its twists, which come in abundance towards the end of the tale.
Imprint is one of the best looking MOH episodes. Miike is a talented and confident director, and the cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita (thanks IMDB!) is breathtaking at times. There are also several really creepy scenes in the episode that catch you off guard.
Sadly, that’s where most of my praise ends.
The acting in the episode is a mix of mediocre and friggin’ awful. Billy Drago in particular is terrible as the journalist. When he learns the fate of his beloved, his reaction is bizarre and unrealistic. He delivers the rest of his lines in a strange, moaning voice. Everyone else comes across as confused or flat.
Imprint does not really live up to the hype, sadly. Everything that was meant to be horrific or disturbing just made me slightly uncomfortable, and struck me as a little too fake. I wanted more. I wanted to pop Imprint into my DVD player and be reduced to tears. Maybe I’m too desensitized. Maybe I just want too much.
