Jigoku (1960)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Nobuo Nakagawa

Writers:

Nobuo Nakagawa (written by) &
Ichirô Miyagawa (written by)

Release Date:

30 July 1960 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

A graduate-school student has a friend who is pure evil. His friend and he are out driving one night...

Plot Keywords:

Hell | Ghost | Adultery | Hit And Run | Devil

Cast

Shigeru Amachi	...	Shirô Shimizu
Utako Mitsuya	...	Yukiko / Sachiko
Yoichi Numata	...	Tamura (as Yôichi Numata)
Hiroshi Hayashi	...	Gôzô Shimizu
Jun Otomo	...	Ensai Taniguchi (as Jun Ôtomo)
Akiko Yamashita	...	Kinuko
Kiyoko Tsuji	...	Kyôichi's Mother
Fumiko Miyata	...	Mrs. Yajima
Torahiko Nakamura	...	Professor Yajima
Kimie Tokudaiji	...	Ito Shimizu
Akiko Ono	...	Yoko
Tomohiko Ohtani	...	Dr. Kusama (as Tomohiko Ôtani)
Koichi Miya	...	Journalist Akagawa (as Kôichi Miya)
Sakutaro Yamakawa	...	Fisherman (as Sakutarô Yamakawa)
Rei Ishikawa	...	Old Man with Tatoo

Also Known As:

Hell (USA) (original subtitled version)
Jigoku (USA) (DVD title)
Story of the Great 8-Tombed Hell
The Sinners of Hell (International: English title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Company:

Shintoho Company

Trivia:

The first movie which used elements of 'gore' as FX.

Quotes:

Tamura: So you want to turn me in for manslaughter?
Shiro Shimizu: We're the ones who killed him. We caused it. Let's go together. Please.
Tamura: That might ease your conscience, but I'm not interested. It'd be stupid. He was drunk. He ran into the road. It was basically suicide. Besides, he was just some yakuza scum. He's not worth the best years of our lives.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Building the Inferno: Nobuo Nakagawa and the Making of 'Jigoku' (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Comin' through the Rye

series of hellish landscapes

I guess this doesn't really belong with my more extreme reviews but for all it's stunningly beautiful scenes, it's heavily symbolic imagery and symbolism this still, even over 40 years, has a punch or two to unleash. It is for the most part a tragic tale that involves an almost laughable number of deaths and other misfortunes but hell always beckons. The last half hour or so is a considerably finely worked series of hellish landscapes with not a little graphic violence that could certainly not have been shown in the UK in 1960. Along the way there are many delights and a cool jazzy score. Fascinating, groundbreaking and most enjoyable.