Masters of Horror: Imprint
"Have I got your attention, mister?" By the time you reach this line in Takashi Miike'sImprint, the answer will be a resounding, horrified "Yes!" This much-rumored-about episode of Showtime'sMasters of Horrorseries became notorious as the first installment to be denied an airing. Now that the hour-long episode is out on DVD, it's not difficult to see why the network balked (although on the other hand, if you have a series calledMasters of Horrorand you hire the outrageous Takashi Miike to helm a show, nobody should really be surprised). The story follows an American (Billy Drago) on a journey to a ghostly island bordello in Japan; he's searching for a girl he lost years before. The prostitute he meets has stories to tell--and they abound in incest, abortion, murder, and one of the grisliest torture scenes ever produced for a mainstream outlet.Anybody familiar with Miike's films (Audition,Visitor Q) knows a couple of things about him:  (1) there is no affront against civilized behavior he won't put on film, and (2) he's a heckuva filmmaker.Imprintconfirms this, on both counts. The only weak spot is the English dialogue reading by the Japanese cast--and by Billy Drago, for that matter, although he does look very cool. The story may or may not make sense, but what stays with you are the pregnant, eye-filling images (cinematography by Toyomichi Kurita) and the truly shocking violence. It is really what theMasters of Horrorseries seems designed to do:  give a director complete freedom to merge style with story. Take this to heart, oh ye of low nausea thresholds:Imprintwill seriously mess you up.--Robert Horton