Review – Jigoku

The last 30 minutes of this movie take place in Hell, and the 60 minutes preceding them only seem like they do. For the first hour the characters engage in no end of evil deeds ranging from the hit-and-run death of a drunk to cheating on a dying spouse to feeding tainted fish to old folks in a rest home. Though faithful film students will sit through the extended set-up, I promise not to rat you out if you skip to the good part. Even Hell – or the Eight Hells or the 16 Hells or however many it is – is more strange than scary. For example, the hero’s girlfriend (who turns out to also be his sister) is pregnant when she dies, sending him on a quest through the nether regions for a crying baby floating on a lotus down a river of blood (a blend of Anne Geddes and H. G. Lewis that’ll linger with you for awhile). Director Nobuo Nakagawa has a reputation as one of Japan’s finest horror directors, but this picture didn’t exactly send me out in search of his other work. The movie has also been released in the United States as The Sinners of Hell. Mildly amusing