huh?


is this any good?

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[deleted]

its fairly decent with some okay scares and some decent make-up, check it out.

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This movie is terrible. I was duped by the title and my love of Asian horror movies. The biggest problem I had with the movie was that they didn't explain anything AT ALL about the origins of the slit-mouthed woman. Now, in most Asian horror movies, they don't explain everything but they do explain enough to be intrigued like in Ju-On with the whole background of the murder in the house. This movie gives nothing and suffers terribly for it. The scenes with the slit-mouthed woman are laughable and people should not accept every asian horror movie just because it's different than any American horror movie they have seen. There are bad movies in every country and this is just one example. Do not waste your money on the dvd. Also do not waste your money on The Locker.

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It was okay...it was pretty funny in certain moments but it wasn't tooo bad. Definitely not one of the better horror movie's I've seen though. In comparison with American slasher flicks, it maybe ranks with the likes of "Freddy vs. Jason"

Myspace = <33

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I have to wonder what was funny about this movie? I caught it during the Spooky Movie Film Festival and a few people in the theater were laughing at the abusive scenes. I imagined it was just idiots who can't understand the consequences of violence and abuses.

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hi folks...benzaemon here from Japan to chip in my unasked for two cents.
This movie is based on an urban legend from Japan, `Kuchisake Onna` or `split mouth lady`. The rumour about her existance started in the late eighties and spread like wildfire - kids of the time refused to leave their houses on an evening or walk home from school alone. A high school in a small countryside town called Kushiro actually closed because of children begging their parents to move away. crazy huh?
Therefore I agree with a previous poster who said that this movie had her needing to achieve critical mass of belief to exist, like candyman.
I also think this helps explain the part where the small girl says `she lives in a building with a red roof on a mountain` withut having any reason to know this. Because at the time everyone knew this, and other things about her without knowing why.
some common `facts` about her that where not used in the film -

she can run at 100 KM an hour (both hilarious and terrifying at the same time)

She is scared of Japanese punks, who use a special brand of hair gel called pomante. If you shout `POMANTE` five times shell run away

She loves a special kind of Japanese candy, if shes running after you and you throw them in another direction shell run after them and eat them first. but after shes finished shel be coming back at you and shes faster than an enraged cheetah, so have a few ready...

to be honest tho i didnt think much of this movie. slow, not much in the way of scares and a lack of coherence to the plot. it went straight to video here in japan and has sunk without trace, only to be dredged up by maniacs such as myself...
hope that helps someone somewhere...

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[deleted]

Hi Banzaemon

Craig from "Small town USA" here. Thank you very much for sharing. I just discovered this on youtube and then I did a search to find out more and wound up here. I find Japanese legends fascinating. This is a great story. I recall seeing an anime' version of this some time ago. Now if I can only find it again.

I wonder how this legend started?

Craig R.

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Hi Craig!
America huh? have never been but would love to one day. a possible origin of the story is that there was once a mentally ill lady who used to chase kids in a small town in honshu. she was chasing a little boy across a road when she was hit by a car and killed. in the process her bottom jaw was ripped off. bit grisly but the rumors started a few months later, same year, same area.
hope that helps!

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Hi Banzemon

That is a great story thanks. Urban Legends are so much fun. It reminds me of an old Sailor's tale. A junior officer on a freighter was hit in the face by a cable and it tore his jaw off. He died days later in agony. Now his jawless ghost haunts the ship !

Craig R.

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In terms of the story I thought the origin of the woman was similar to Candyman. She came to exist because a critical mass of believers was achieved. I'm not sure the slit-mouth appearance had any significance. I think it was just a frightening image the children conceived. I suspect the possessed women were single mothers who abused their children mostly off camera. It seemed to me to be much a story about the senselessness of child-abuse. The woman who was slit-mouthed during the majority of the film fit the abuser profile, but she could have been any of the other mothers at any other time. "Am I pretty?" strikes me as suggesting the abuses are the result of insecurities of the mother. That the mother could fight the urges to harm her children suggests the women either are insane or choose to mistreat the children.


I really liked this film. If I remember correctly, there were no crescendos leading up to her appearance, no tension building scenes before her abductions, she just appeared out of nowhere with no real pattern for abducting children. Normally I don't find movies frightening but for her unpredictability I found myself waiting for her to appear behind me even days after the film.

I loved the slit-mouth appearance. I agree with another poster that would make an awesome costume.

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"they didn't explain anything AT ALL about the origins of the slit-mouthed woman" ??????????

You must have fast-forwarded through it because they totally explained everything.

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Um, did you pay attention at all during Mr. Matsuzaki's flashbacks? He tells how he killed his mother in self-defense leaving her face cut open. Then he covers her with the trench coat she wears and put a mask over the wound because it was horrible. So, a violent unbalanced woman dies and her cruel vengeful spirit is then released by a convenient earth quake that opens her "tomb".and she sets about possessing mothers and then kidnapping children to kill.

I will say that I was kind of "Huh?" when the end came around. I don't like stories without closure or at least containment. The movie would have been am 8/10 for me had they left the coda off after slit-mouth fades into the black of the basement.

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Same here.

I was led by one description of the movie that it was about a Husband who mutilates his wife's face and somehow the town's dark secrets are revealed. (Don't ask)

I was excited to see this movie and I didn't see that. What kind of *beep* is this?

While we're on the subject of bad movies, do not see Tomie. I saw the first 3 movies and it turned out to be utter crap.

Some people count sheep. Doesn't work with AlwaysCool, just gets him excited.

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I watched it just the other day and I am so glad that I bought the dvd. Sure it isn't one of the best but it was still good. I thought the makeup was good and they explain the legend very well i believe. I enjoyed it.

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Average for a Japanese horror, so if you like Japanese horrors it should be fine!

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