Prolific Japanese director Takashi Miike is so well-known for violent movies that guests at the 2001 premiere of his film Ichi the Killer (2001) at the Toronto International Film Festival received branded barf bags in case the film’s gory scenes made them sick. Some of his films have also been banned in England, Norway, Germany and Malaysia.
Past censorship may have made the opportunity to create an entry into Showtime’s Masters of Horror series more desirable for Miike, along with the show’s alumni of iconic horror directors such as John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and Dario Argento. Masters of Horror was an anthology series that showcased a one-hour standalone horror movie by a different director for each episode. Directors were promised creative freedom over their episode.
Miike agreed to participate, and his entry, Imprint, was scheduled to premiere on January 27, 2006. It was supposed to be the final episode of the show’s first season. However, after viewing the episode, Showtime pulled it, and it never aired.
Imprint is based on the story “Bokkee Kyotee” by Shimako Iwai. It follows an American journalist, Christopher, in Japan searching for his girlfriend, Komomo, whom he believes has been trafficked. His investigation leads him to a woman of the night who tells him the story of how she was sold into slavery. The tale is so horrifying it was deemed too offensive to air.
Everyone kept telling me that America’s a free country and that I could really do whatever I wanted. It’s cable TV, so don’t hold back at all and make it as scary as possible. So I did that and then when I showed it to the producers in Japan, they were like, ‘I know we told you that you can do anything, but this is going too far. This is way too far.’
Takashi Miike, Takashi Miike Looks Back on His Controversial “Masters of Horror” Episode, “Imprint”
Executive producer Mick Garris requested a series of edits which Miike agreed to, but even the edited version was not accepted by Showtime. It was the only Master of Horror episode that was cut from the show for being too disturbing. Miike maintains that Imprint is the scariest project he has ever worked on.
Horror fans can find the episode on YouTube and via DVD and decide for themselves.
