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Carved
Carved
Actors: Eriko Sato, Haruhiko Katô, Miki Mizuno, Yûrei Yanagi
Genres: Indie & Art House, Horror
UR     2007     1hr 30min

Legend holds that 30 years ago, a suburban town was terrorized by the spirit of a woman whose beautiful face had been grotesquely disfigured by a jealous husband. Roaming the streets wearing a long coat and surgical mask, ...  more »

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Eriko Sato, Haruhiko Katô, Miki Mizuno, Yûrei Yanagi
Genres: Indie & Art House, Horror
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Horror
Studio: Tartan Video
Format: DVD - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 08/14/2007
Original Release Date: 01/01/2007
Theatrical Release Date: 01/01/2007
Release Year: 2007
Run Time: 1hr 30min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 4
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Movie Reviews

Urban legend comes to life
Zack Davisson | Seattle, WA, USA | 12/04/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Kuchisake-onna, known in English as the Slit-mouthed woman, is a popular bogeyman and urban legend in Japan. Although an ancient legend, she still holds a powerful sway on the Japanese psyche, and as recent as 2004 there have been sightings reported in newspapers, and a mild panic back in 1980's had people running scared from a Kuchisake-onna who had been supposedly hunting down children. "Carved" (Japanese title "Kuchisake-onna") is the latest film to play on the fears of Japan, and manifest this folkloric monster onto the screen.

Almost a straight-forward monster/slasher movie, "Carved" does a good job updating the kuchisake-onna, making the most of her frightening appearance and equipping her with a signature weapon, a giant pair of scissors that make her even more fearsome. The plot holds along with the established legend, with the whisper of the appearance of a Kuchisake-onna spreading fear amongst the school children yet being dismissed by unbelieving adults. Some of the braver children try to catch a glimpse of her, with deadly results, and the plot thickens and the bodies pile up. Some of the story is unexplained, because every Japanese person would be aware of the legend and not need it pointed out to them, and this might be a little confusing, but these instances are rare.

Director Kôji Shiraishi has put out a number of B-ranked horror flicks, like "Ju-rei" and "Noroi", without ever scoring a really big hit. His films do the job on a dark cold night of sending some chills up your spine, but no one should expect any sort of masterpiece. With that in mind, I really enjoyed "Carved", more than I thought I was going to, and feel that he upped the ante over his previous films. The Kuchisake-onna has never looked better, and he managed to make a scary folklore figure even scarier. Most of the real horror of "Carved" comes from the cruel slaughter of children, something rarely seen in US horror flicks. You see a couple of scrappy kids get cornered by the beast, and wonder "How are they gonna get out of this one?" Well, they aren't. They are going to get a big ol' pair of scissors stabbed into their eyes."
Suffer the little children
Daitokuji31 | Black Glass | 06/10/2008
(3 out of 5 stars)

"If one tales the time to pick up any good book on Japanese folklore, one would quickly learn that Japan is a country that possesses some of the most inventive and spooky stories concerning ghosts and monsters. One such creature is the Slit-Mouth Woman. Supposedly way back during the Heian era, 794-1185 A.D., there was a woman who was married to a warrior who was well known for her beauty. Haughty and brash, the woman cheated on her husband who then proceeded to split her mouth open from ear to ear. Deeply entrenched in the Japanese psyche, In 1979, tales spread of a woman who came out of foggy days sporting a surgical mask, which are common for Japanese to wear when they catch colds, and in a hoarse voice she would ask "Watashi kirei?" and if answered "yes" she would remove her mask revealing her horribly disfigured face and ask "and now?" Such a scene often ended with the slit-mouth woman killing her victims, mainly children, with a large, razor-sharp pair of sisters.

With his film Carved: A Slit-Mouth Woman, horror film director Shiraishi Koji revives the legend of the Slit-Mouth Woman in the figure of Matsuzaki Taeko, a sickly, horribly abusive mother who disappeared many years ago. With her long hair, trench coat, deathly pale skin, and deadpan eyes, Taeko's first victim is a young boy. Children are abuzz with info and rumors about the Slit-Mouth Woman, but are ignored by adults. At least they are ignored until one day the young teacher Yamashita Kyoko witnesses one of her students, a girl named Miki who suffers abuse inflicted upon her by her mother, being caught by the horrible apparition of Taeko.

Carved: A Slit-Mouth Woman is a disturbing film. The violence and gore are pretty tame because, like a good number of Japanese horror films, the violence takes place off screen, and the figure of Taeko is not as creepy as some other baddies in Japanese horror films. What makes Carved a disturbing film is that the victims are children and Taeko truly makes them suffer with the blades of her scissors and the repeated beatings she gives them. However, Taeko is not the only monster in the film. A few mothers, while not slicing and dicing their children, abuse them when their anger hits the apex and it is their negativity and hatred that summons Taeko, the epitome of hate and abuse into their town which although nice on the outside is rotten to the core with dark secrets within."
The slit-mouthed woman
Spider Labyrinth | TX USA | 11/06/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)

"At first, i was not sure what to think about Koji Shiraishi's film, Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman. If you are a fan of Asian horror (and I know the craze is long gone for this genre), this is a film to see. I own tons of Asian horror films, and while most seem formula, this was not one of those. There was more dept to the storyline and history of the "long haired ghost woman". If you're not a fan/or unfamiliar with Asian horror, then this might not be the introduction or the film for you.

I hope Koji Shiraishi gets more attention for his films. I find them better than most other Asian horror films. "Noroi" and "Ju-Rei" are his best works.

"