The Sinners of Hell (1960)
"Jigoku" (original title)

A group of sinners involved in interconnected tales of murder, revenge, deceit and adultery all meet at the of Gates of Hell.

Director:

Nobuo Nakagawa

Writers:

Nobuo Nakagawa, Ichirô Miyagawa

Stars:

Shigeru Amachi, Utako Mitsuya, Yôichi Numata

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shigeru Amachi	...	Shirô Shimizu
Utako Mitsuya	...	Yukiko / Sachiko
Yôichi Numata	...	Tamura
Hiroshi Hayashi	...	Gôzô Shimizu
Jun Ôtomo	...	Ensai Taniguchi
Akiko Yamashita	...	Kinuko
Kiyoko Tsuji	...	Kyôichi's Mother
Fumiko Miyata	...	Mrs. Yajima
Torahiko Nakamura	...	Professor Yajima
Kimie Tokudaiji	...	Ito Shimizu
Akiko Ono	...	Yoko
Tomohiko Ôtani	...	Dr. Kusama
Kôichi Miya	...	Journalist Akagawa
Sakutarô Yamakawa	...	Fisherman
Rei Ishikawa	...	Old Man with Tatoo

Storyline

A graduate-school student has a friend who is pure evil. His friend and he are out driving one night when they hit a drunkard and the friend leaves the accident victim to die. The student's life then goes downhill from there.

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Plot Keywords:

hell | demon | torture | baby | devil | 

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Genres:

Drama | Horror

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

30 July 1960 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Hell

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shintoho Film Distribution Committee

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first movie which used elements of 'gore' as FX to a significant degree.

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Goofs

While Shiro is on the rope bridge, we see him at various times hanging on to the side handrails. Between shots, without him having changed position, these handrails quite noticeably change in diameter from thin cables to a much thicker cable, indicating that some shots were filmed on a real bridge, others were filmed on a studio mock-up.

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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.

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Connections

Remade as Hell (1979)

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Soundtracks

"Comin' through the Rye"
(uncredited)
Music: traditional
Japanese lyrics: unknown

User Reviews

Jigoku

Alright, I think I know what you're here for: the Buddhist Hell scene at the end, that, without spoiling anything, offers some really oldschool splatter. Well, you should probably forget it. That scene wasn't made to shock you; it was made to shock 1950s and 60s audiences who were used to stately, formal, nearly stage-playish cinematic conventions--conventions that Jigoku follows to potentially alienating effect, despite its then unprecedented violence. There are gems of stylistic genius here and there, but this is of greatest interest to anyone into Asian mythology or the history of Japanese horror.

The first half of the film is a thinly-veiled morality play crossed with a ghost story that, despite some heavy contrivances plot-wise, works fairly well dramatically as it slow-burns into inevitable purgatory. For all its syrupy melodrama, editing hiccups and various other low budget blemishes, Jigoku is a very poetic visual experience with many otherworldly images that will linger in your head long after you forget the film's flaws.