#352: NAKAGAWA, Nobuo: Jigoku (1960)

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NAKAGAWA, Nobuo (Japan)
Jigoku [1960]
Spine #352
DVD


Shocking, outrageous, and poetic, Jigoku (Hell, a.k.a. The Sinners of Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both his own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelgänger. But all possible escape routes lead straight to hell -- literally. In the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour de force of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories, Jigoku, with its truly eye-popping, and -gouging, imagery, created aftershocks that are still reverberating in contemporary world cinema.

101 minutes
Color
Monaural
in Japanese
2:35:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2006
Director/Writers


Screenplay by Nobuo Nakagawa and Ichirô Miyagawa.
Nakagawa was 55 when he directed Jigoku.

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Sixteen-page booklet featuring an essay by Chuck Stephens.

Commentary

None.

Building the Inferno

Documentary on director Nakagawa and the making of the film, featuring exclusive interviews with actor Numata, screenwriter Miyagawa, Nakagawa collaborators Chiho Katsura and Kensuke Suzuki, and Cure and Doppelganger director Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
Galleries of posters

From selected Nakagawa and Shintoho Studios films.
Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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