Carved – The Slit Mouthed Woman (Tartan/DTS/2006)
Picture:
C Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C-
In one of
the poorest Japanese supernatural Horror works I have ever seen, Shiraishi
Koji’s Carved – The Slit Mouthed Woman
(2006) eventually goes form being a formula film that could have worked, to
another snuff-like film, with pre-teen children as the victims. It is bad enough to have a child in jeopardy
film, which is a cheap thing to do, but this is so dumb that as the story
quickly disintegrates, the abducting, stabbing and killing of these children is
the ultimate desperate act.
The only
reason it does not get a lower rating is because it does not start out that
way. The ghost of a woman who was the
victim of mutilation in a domestic incident with her husband is back on the
prowl, so she is going to kill children?
It is posed as a ghost story and maybe sincerely, but it is a wreck.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 image lacks color and definition, as well as displaying depth
problems. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1
tracks show the limits of the original recording, with the DTS barely the best
option. Extras include a cast interview
piece, TV Spots, making of featurette and original theatrical trailer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
