Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Even if the story doesn't take place in Japan, it is clear at first glance that this is a Japanese director. Takashi Miike did an excellent job. The film is slow and gradually brings you into the story, building an extremely strong atmosphere. On the visual side it is perhaps the best episode so far, and the scenes of violence will freeze the blood in your veins. But it seems to me that the scriptwriters did not devise the whole story in time, and the end gives the impression of over-the-top improvisation, which brings this horror drama to the edge of absurd comedy, similar to Henenlotter's B horrors. That's why I can not go over7/10

How far can you go before a film is deemed inappropriate? fans of Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer) know he will push as far as he can. It was too much for Showtime, so you have to look elsewhere for this one.the film's torture sequence is just about as bad as it gets. Aborted fetuses are not the usual fare of horror films. Incest, spouse abuse, molestation - they are all here in one hour. This may be way too much for causal horror fans, and certainly beyond the pale for those who don't enjoy the genre.The Japanese setting and costumes were gorgeous.

This episode of the "Masters of Horror" series is quite nice.The story is good and compelling, and you will never feel bored at any point. The entire story have an underlying tone of dread and suspense to it, which works so well.There is some really gruesome torture scenes in this episode, which may not be suitable for all people, but as a fan of horror and Asian horror, I found this to be great. Very detailed, very disturbing and very believable.However, not all about this episode was great. Billy Drago's acting was laughable. This guy was really wrongly chosen for that part, and his performance drags the value down a notch. I didn't believe his heart and soul was in the acting in this particular episode of the "Masters of Horror" series. However, I looked beyond his lack of skill and enjoyed "Imprint" in all its gory glory.The settings and the scenery of "Imprint" were amazing. Very well constructed and very gloomy.How this episode could be banned is beyond my comprehension. It is not that much of a deviant from many other episodes. Perhaps the torture was too much for TV? I highly recommend "Imprint" if you like scenes that make you curl your toes in sympathetic pain. Trust me, the scenes here are wicked!

It's saddening to me, really, that I would ever have to give anything Takashi Miike has so much as touched a score this low. Like Quentin Tarantino before him, Takashi Miike understands that originality is what is lacking from the entertainment industry, and he understands and has the capability to fix that. While Imprint expresses some of Miike's talent and understanding, it's no where close to what he has done in full-length films in the past. At all. Period. Imprint seems a lot like a single scene, drawn-out to an hour long, from one of his full-length movies.The story itself is only slightly above average. Man is trying to find his lost wife. While this is certainly nothing new, the subplots spoken by the whore he is entangled with are certainly, at very least, highly creative. The ending plot reveal (calling it a plot twist would be misleading) is nothing short of disturbing, and isn't something even the hardened horror fan is going to forget a few hours later. So, in a sense, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the underline story. While not totally mind-blowing, it works for the time space Imprint was given.With that said, the main reason for my low score isn't because of the story. It's because of how ineffectively the story is told. The first major problems started with the English-spoken dialogue. Simply put, it's atrocious. I never again want to see an obviously Japanise movie spoken in complete English. It takes away a lot of immersion right there. After that, the poor special effects in the ending and sometimes in the middle really became distracting. In opposite, however, I have to commend Miike's aesthetic choices. His use of white on the corpse in the opening was amazing, and likewise well as his color choices. The use of color isn't as over-the-top and ridicules as Suspiria, and that made the blunt colors work very, very nicely.As for the torture and gore, both were more well-done—and thankfully on screen this time—than typical Miike, showing he is improving. Some of the torture scenes were relatively brutal, using needles, which have become a Miike signature. Though I wouldn't call the disturbing element much better than average, Imprint is a lot less easy to watch than I expected it to be. The repeated use of bloody, dead fetuses was also something much more ballsy than your standard American R-rated film and your standard Japanese horror movie alike. So, in a way, I was both impressed and unimpressed with the gore scenes here. But, as I said, nothing is too far above average, like most other Miike films I've seen. Compared to American torture films, like the Saw series, Imprint and his movies in general, just look weak on the gore front. He only points the camera at the wall while something gory happens three feet out of view once, thank God. Miike has done that repeatedly in his other films, and it has to be the most annoying and least brutal film making method in regards to gore ever.Characters themselves, however, are more disturbing to look at than the violence. You'll see everything from a whore with an open cut running across half her face to a midget who appears to have a live bird growing out of her head. What more is there to ask for when designing truly original disturbing characters? In the end, Imprint was very much worth watching. It is a great place for someone who's never seen a Miike film to start, being it's one of his most disappointing and strait-forward. If you have seen Miike, it's a necessary view, but don't go in with high standards. At all.4/10