, also titled ''The Sinners of Hell'', is a 1960
Japanese horror
Japanese horror is horror fiction derived from popular culture in Japan, generally noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre differing from the traditional Western representation of horror. Japanese horror tends ...
film directed by
Nobuo Nakagawa
was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s.
Career
Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews to th ...
and produced by
Shintoho
was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big six film studios (which also included Daiei, Nikkatsu, Shochiku, Toei Company, and Toho) during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Toho company fol ...
. The film stars
Utako Mitsuya and
Shigeru Amachi
was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 120 films from 1953 to 1984.
Career
Amachi joined the Shintoho studio as one of its "New Face" actors of 1951 and established himself in action and jidaigeki films. He gained fame for the nihilist ...
, and is notable for separating itself from other Japanese horror films of the era such as ''
Kwaidan
is a Japanese word consisting of two kanji: 怪 (''kai'') meaning "strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition" and 談 (''dan'') meaning "talk" or "recited narrative".
Overall meaning and usage
In its broadest sense, ''kaidan'' refers ...
'' or ''
Onibaba'' due to its graphic imagery of torment in Hell. It has gained a
cult film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
status. Shintoho declared bankruptcy in 1961, its last production being ''Jigoku''.
Plot
A student, Shirō, is set to marry his girlfriend, Yukiko, the daughter of his professor, Mr. Yajima. After announcing the engagement, Shirō's colleague Tamura drives Shirō home. Taking a side street at Shirō's request, Tamura hits and kills
yakuza
, also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
gang leader, Kyōichi. Though Shirō wants to stop, Tamura
keeps driving, feels no guilt and says that it is Shirō's fault for asking him to drive down that street. Kyōichi's mother, who witnessed the incident, resolves to find and kill them.
Though Tamura feels no guilt for the murder, Shirō does and attempts to go to the police. After telling Yukiko of what happened, Shirō insists that they take a taxi cab to the police station, despite Yukiko's pleas to walk instead. The vehicle crashes, killing Yukiko. After Yukiko's funeral, Shirō meets strip bar worker and Kyōichi's grieving girlfriend Yoko, who discovers Shirō's culpability for the hit-and-run after sleeping with him and, with Kyōichi's mother, plots revenge.
Shirō learns that his mother, Ito, who lives in a retirement community run by his father, Gōzō, is dying. Shirō arrives there and meets the other residents of the community, including a painter, Ensai, who is wanted for a crime in another city and is painting a portrait of Hell; a former reporter, Akagawa; a corrupt detective, Hariya; the community doctor, Dr. Kasuma; and Sachiko, a nurse and Ensai's daughter, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Yukiko. While Ito lies dying, Gōzō carries on an open affair with a
mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...
. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Yajima arrive by train. Ito dies, and Ensai (who was Ito's lover years prior to Ito and Gōzō's marriage) lambasts Gōzō for his activities with his mistress. Tamura appears and reveals that each resident has some complicity in a murder: Mr. Yajima caused the death of a fellow soldier during a war; both Hariya and Akagawa framed or slandered innocent men who then both died by suicide; and Dr. Kasuma knowingly misdiagnosed Ito's condition.
Yoko tracks Shirō down and meets with him on a rope bridge. She reveals her identity and attempts to shoot him, but trips and falls to her death. Tamura appears, and after a struggle, Tamura also falls into the gorge. Shirō returns in time for the community's tenth anniversary party, where Gōzō has allowed cheap, rancid fish to be served to the residents. As the partiers descend into insobriety, Mr. and Mrs. Yajima kill themselves by leaping in front of a train, and Gōzō's mistress falls to her death after an altercation. The residents die from consuming the
tainted fish, and Kyōichi's mother poisons the remaining residents' wine, killing them. Tamura, near death, stumbles into the party and shoots Sachiko. Enraged, Shiro strangles Tamura to death while Kyoichi's mother does the same to him.
In
Limbo
In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin '' limbus'', edge or boundary, referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of Western Euro ...
, Shirō encounters Yukiko, who reveals that she was pregnant with their child when she died. Having sent the baby girl, whom she names Harumi, floating away on the
Sanzu River
The is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition similar to the Hindu concept of the Vaitarna and Greek concept of the Styx.
Before reaching the afterlife, the souls of the deceased must cross the river by one of three crossing poin ...
, Yukiko begs Shirō to save the child. Shirō enters
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
and is sentenced to punishment by Lord
Enma
In East Asian and Buddhist mythology, Yama () or King Yan-lo/Yan-lo Wang (), also known as King Yan/Yan Wang (), Grandfatherly King Yan (), Lord Yan (), and Yan-lo, Son of Heaven (), is the King of Hell and a dharmapala (wrathful god) sa ...
for his sins. While searching for his daughter in Hell, Shirō witnesses those from his life suffering for their wrongdoings—being boiled and burned, flayed, or dismembered and beaten by ''
oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
'', only to be revived to suffer anew. Tamura taunts Shirō, saying there is no escape from Hell, before Tamura himself is tortured for his misdeeds. Shirō finds Sachiko, but their reunion is interrupted by Ito, who reveals that Sachiko is his sister: Shirō is actually Ensai's son, and Sachiko is actually Ito's daughter. While caught in a vortex of damned souls, Shirō finds his baby daughter helplessly rotating on a large wheel. Lord Enma gives Shirō one chance to save his daughter, otherwise she too will suffer eternally. As Yukiko, Sachiko, and his mother call to him, Shirō leaps onto the wheel, but cannot reach his daughter.
In the realm of the living, everyone at the party is dead, including Ensai, who has hanged himself after completing his portrait of Hell and setting it on fire. Elsewhere, both Sachiko and Yukiko are seen standing and smiling, calling to Shirō as sister and lover, respectively, with lotus petals falling around them, implying that Shirō has success in saving his daughter, enabling the souls Sachiko, Yukiko and Shirō to be purified to go to Heaven.
Cast
*
Shigeru Amachi
was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 120 films from 1953 to 1984.
Career
Amachi joined the Shintoho studio as one of its "New Face" actors of 1951 and established himself in action and jidaigeki films. He gained fame for the nihilist ...
as Shirō Shimizu, a young student who suffers guilt from his involvement in a hit-and-run on the night of his engagement to his girlfriend.
*
Yōichi Numata
(19 July 1924 – 29 April 2006) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 27 films between 1949 and 2001.
Selected filmography
* ''Man in the Storm'' (1950)
* ''Yellow Crow'' (1957)
* '' Jigoku'' (1960)
* ''The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond'' ( ...
as Tamura, Shirō's classmate, who inexplicably knows everyone's sinful past, and was driving the car during the hit and run.
*
Utako Mitsuya in a dual role as:
** Yukiko Yajima, Shirō's loving girlfriend.
** Sachiko Taniguchi, a young nurse who looks uncannily like Yukiko, and the daughter of a disgraced painter at a retirement community.
* Hiroshi Izumida as Kyōichi "Tiger" Shiga, a drunken gangster hit and left for dead by Tamura and Shirō.
*
Kiyoko Tsuji
is a feminine Japanese given name.
Possible writings
Kiyoko can be written many ways using different kanji characters. Some versions of the name are:
* , meaning "pure child"
* , meaning "rejoice-child"
* , meaning "rejoice, gift child"
* , mean ...
as Kyōichi's mother, who witnesses the accident and vows revenge.
*
Akiko Ono Akiko can refer to:
* Akiko (comic book), ''Akiko'' (comic book), an American comic book
* Akiko (film), ''Akiko'' (film), a 1961 Italian comedy film
* Amiga custom chips#Akiko, Akiko (Amiga), a custom chip used in the Amiga CD32 games console
* Ak ...
as Yoko, Kyōichi's girlfriend who swears revenge on Shirō with Kyōichi's Mother.
* Hiroshi Hayashi as Gōzō Shimizu, Shirō's lecherous and greedy father who runs a dilapidated retirement center.
* Kimie Tokudaij as Ito Shimizu, Shirō's sickly mother.
*
Jun Ōtomo as Ensai Taniguchi, an alcoholic painter, who is father to Sachiko. He is commissioned to paint a depiction of Hell.
* Akiko Yamashita as Kinuko, Gōzō's shameless mistress.
* Torahiko Nakamura as Professor Yajima, Shirō's teacher and father to Yukiko.
* Fumiko Miyata as Mrs. Yajima, Yukiko's fragile mother.
* Tomohiko Ōtani as Dr. Kusama, a negligent doctor of the retirement community.
* Kōichi Miya as Journalist Akagawa, a resident of the community with a soiled past.
* Hiroshi Shinguji (as Hiroshi Shingûji) as Detective Hariya, a corrupt detective who threatens to turn Ensai in unless he gives Sachiko to him for marriage.
* Sakutarō Yamakawa as the Fisherman
*
Kanjūrō Arashi
was a Japanese film actor. His nickname was "Arakan." He is famous for playing the role of '' Kurama Tengu'' sereies. He entered the film industry in 1927 and came to fame playing Kurama Tengu, a character in the Bakumatsu era created by Jirō ...
(uncredited) as
Lord Enma, the King of Hell
Production
Nobuo Nakagawa
was a Japanese film director, most famous for the stylized, folk tale-influenced horror films he made in the 1950s and 1960s.
Career
Born in Kyoto, Nakagawa was early on influenced by proletarian literature and wrote amateur film reviews to th ...
asked
Ichirō Miyagawa to write the script, which was originally supposed to be called ''Heaven and Hell'', under order of
producer Mitsugu Okura
Mitsugu (written: , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*, Japanese sumo wrestler
*, Japanese World War II flying ace
*, Japanese footballer
*, Japanese photographer
*, pen-name of Kanegai Hi ...
.
Mitsugu Okura read the
script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
and angrily said to Miyagawa that "Heaven is nowhere to be seen in this script!", to which Miyagawa jokingly replied that he would write about Heaven in the sequel.
Actor
Yoichi Numata
(19 July 1924 – 29 April 2006) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 27 films between 1949 and 2001.
Selected filmography
* ''Man in the Storm'' (1950)
* ''Yellow Crow'' (1957)
* '' Jigoku'' (1960)
* ''The Ghost Cat of Otama Pond'' ( ...
played Tamura in the film, and expressed that he had tried to analyze the role, but couldn't find the best way to play it.
The film was not expected to be well received, as
Shintoho
was a Japanese movie studio. It was one of the big six film studios (which also included Daiei, Nikkatsu, Shochiku, Toei Company, and Toho) during the Golden Age of Japanese cinema. It was founded by defectors from the original Toho company fol ...
studio
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
was considered to be a maker of low-budget, gory films. ''Jigoku'' was made in a hurry, and was the last Shintoho production. For the scenes which take place in
hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
, the cast and crew used Shintoho's largest soundstage and put dirt over it.
In a recent documentary, a crew member said that normally it would be just the crew helping to build the sets, but because it was Shintoho's last production, all the
extra
Extra or Xtra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper
* ''Extra!'', an American me ...
s were helping.
Mamoru Morita said that Nobuo Nakagawa tried in many ways to make ''Jigoku'' different from other
horror films from the time.
Release
''Jigoku'' was theatrically released in Japan on July 30, 1960.
Home media
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
in North America from the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
on September 19, 2006.
Reception
Retrospective reception
Retrospective reviews of the film have been more positive, with many critics now recognizing it as a cornerstone for Nakagawa’s career.
Dennis Schwartz from ''Ozus' World Movie Reviews'' awarded the film a grade "A", calling it "
disquieting morality tale based upon the
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
concept of an afterlife". Schwartz praised the film's performances, and visuals which he felt 'acted as a lurid study of sin without salvation'.
In an essay for
the Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
, Chuck Stephens wrote, "Overflowing with brackish ponds of bubbling pus, brain-rattling disjunctions of sound and image, and at times almost dauntingly incomprehensible plot twists and eye-assaulting bouts of brutish montage, ''Jigoku'' is more than merely a boundary-pummeling classic of the horror genre—it’s as lurid a study of sin without salvation as the silver screen has ever seen."
Brett Gallman from ''Oh, the Horror!'' praised the film, calling it "a masterpiece in visual and abstract horror". Gallman praised the film's performances, eerie score, Nakagawa’s direction, and "vivid color palette".
''HorrorNews.net'' stated in their review of the film that, "Although this film contains effects that are outdated by modern standards, it is a very powerful story that is based upon the Buddhist belief that sins are atoned for in the afterlife."
''Jigoku'' has developed a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
over the years and is now considered a cult classic.
Legacy
In 1979, the acclaimed
Nikkatsu
is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...
Roman Porno director
Tatsumi Kumashiro
was a Japanese film director known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning ''Roman Porno'' films, such as ''Ichijo's Wet Lust'' (1972) and ''The Woman with Red Hair'' (1979). He was the most highly acclaimed director of the early Nikkatsu Ro ...
remade ''Jigoku'' for
Toei.
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
*
Jigoku' at the Japanese Movie Database
*
* {{tcmdb title, 557528
''Jigoku: Hell on Earth''an essay by Chuck Stephens at the
Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
1960 horror films
Japanese fantasy films
Films directed by Nobuo Nakagawa
Films set in hell
Japanese horror films
Shintoho films
Japanese splatter films
1960 films
Japanese ghost films
Films about death
1960s Japanese films