Watch Japanese Hell For Free

Powerful

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Not quite as good tale of a girl granted visions of hell in the hopes that she will warn people into being good. Similar to the 1960 film Jigoku (Hell) this film shows us what happens to various bad people once they get to hell. Watch a cult leader kill hundreds, watch a child molester kill young girls then watch them tortured in hell, on and on with little variation.One of the problems with the film is its so matter of fact. It starts, we are put into the basic situation which is just repeated over and over again. Its so matter of fact that there is no emotional involvement, there is no connection. The effects are just middling with any effect in the viewer borders on laughter since they often are more silly rather than horrifying. If you compare this film to the original you see the opposite. You get an emotional involvement and a sense of horror, despite the quaint effects, because of it. For all its flaws the original is far superior to this film.Rental the original and skip this remake.

I like amateurish, crowd-pleasing weirdness, so take that into consideration when contemplating the 7 "stars" I'm granting.Contrary to what other reviewers have stated, none of the three "Jigoku" films in IMDb have anything to do with the others. None are remakes, they just all happen to be called Jigoku, or "Hell." I'm also taken aback by someone else's description of this film as "pornographic." Okay, so the gate to hell looks like a vagina, but it's hardly prurient; otherwise, a few bared breasts linger before the cameras at regular intervals. Not what I'd call porn, though the lengthy view of a very young girl's underpants is in highly questionable taste, especially since the girl is a child molester's target.(Those familiar with Japanese comics, cartoons and movies will know that underage pantie shots are a staple in Japanese exploitation; some strange schizophrenia allows the Japanese to both exploit and condemn child sexuality. Here, the molester is punished with an eternity of repeated dismemberment. But I guess there's nothing wrong with the camera lingering on an 8-year-old's white cotton briefs.) The "old lady" other reviewers refer to is Enma, the Queen of Hell (King Enma is, in Buddhist tradition, the judge who determines where the wheel of karma will take your soul). Enma's decision to grant young Rika a glimpse of hell is reminiscent of the Roman Catholic myth of the young girls who were granted a vision of hell by "Our Lady of Fatima," and certainly Dante's Inferno has had an influence here (sinners sinking into their own excrement is a direct lift).Hell is quite the fun place; Enma's bestial minions (actors wearing bizarre masks, fright wigs and boar-tusk dental appliances) detest the sins of their charges, and take great delight in executing divine justice.The movie shifts gears considerably when, about a third of the way through, it becomes a soap-operatic docudrama about life within the Aum Shinriku cult, the religious conspiracy responsible for the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995. It helps here to know that Jigoku is the combination of two films that were begun before financing collapsed, combined through a bit of extra filming and a lot of creative editing. The tone here is much like the exploitation gem "The Ebola Syndrome," exaggerating a true-life evil to play upon the fears of the audience. This is nowhere near the gross-out fest that "Ebola" is, but is similarly preposterous in the extremes of demonization it uses to amuse.For the third act we return to hell, and Enma helps young Rika realize that to pray to an eternal being with a pure mind will bring about her salvation. She and a bunch of other girls then have a naked prayer session.I think both of these movies would be quite enjoyable had they been finished. 80 year old director Teruo Ishii has been amusing international audiences for half a century; his best known film in the states is probably "Attack of the Flying Saucers" in 1964. The old guy probably doesn't have a lot of films left in him, but I do hope his next backers let him finish one.

This is a rare low budget gem that fans of Asian splatter will likely get a kick out of. Gory eye candy is on display for much of the running time, and includes some great graphic dismemberment as well as other forms of mutilation. Like another reviewer pointed out, the middle portion of the film goes on too long and could have been shortened to make for a better paced and more enjoyable watch. The whole cult angle is a bit over played but the movie pretty much redeems itself.Bottom line: If you like stuff such as the guinea pig movies or Story of Ricky then this will be an entertaining flick. There is tons of weird imagery, extreme gore, and the monsters are cool to watch. You may have a hard time finding it, but there's usually one or two available on ebay.

First up, I haven't yet got round to seeing the original 1960 Jigoku, but I imagine it's something like The Holy Mountain crossed with Kaidan, which sounds great to me, and I'll be picking it up as soon as I can. What I did get was this freakish thing, the 1999 remake, which you will adore if a lightly pornographic old-testament remix of Monkey Magic sounds in any way appealing. I don't think there is a plot spoiler in this, as there isn't a great deal of plot to spoil, but just in case i do, I excuse myself here. It loosely follows what I understand to be the story of the first Jigoku : sinners go to hell and are tormented and tortured for their crimes on earth. In this version, the sinners are based on real-life criminals from Japan's recent past, most prominently the cult behind the Tokyo subway gas attack in 1995. Also, the woman who poisoned her family with curry !However, in this dayglo remix, the hell they go to is, frankly, hilarious and looks like a hugely endearing place to be. Populated by naked interpretive dance girls (!?), puppets of dragons, living He-man figures, a likable matriarch representing Satan and a cute winking guide in a shimmering dress. The backdrop looks like something you might see at a local drama group version of the Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe, which this also somehow reminds me of. Having spent all the minuscule budget on the costumes, the gore in the punishments are highly amusing in a DIY "Story Of Ricky" kind of way rather than at all disturbing. This is no Itchi The Killer, so if you're looking for something extreme this isn't your chap, but it is great fun (main criticism is that the Cult's story goes on way too long), silly, inventive, sexy and completely bargain basement. The more I think about it, them more I love it to bits !