Kuchisake-onna (2007)

"Kuchisake-onna" aka "Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman" is a Japanese horror film based on the urban legend from the 1970's about a disfigured woman who kills children after asking them if she is pretty. The film is able to incorporate the urban legend and gives it an origin and expands on it in modern day Japan. The film also deals with the theme of child abuse by having the two of the main characters being victims and another being an abuser. This adds an interesting and deeper element that often isn't seen in horror movies but at the same time doesn't look in to the issue as deeply as it might have been if it was an American film.


Kyoko Yamashita is a teacher who becomes involved with the Slit-Mouthed Woman after the Kuchisake-onna kidnaps one of her students. The matter is extremely personal because Kyoko is trying to make amends for abusing her own daughter by trying to save her student, Mika, from a similar situation with her mother. Kyoko teams up with another teacher from her school, Noboru Matsuzaki, when she learns that he hears the faint words "Do you think I'm pretty" right before a child is kidnapped. The two manage to rescue a boy from the Kuchisake-onna just in time, killing her in the process. But when the corpse of the murderer suddenly turns into a local housewife, they realize that the ghost possesses people and that the terror is only beginning....

Mika and her teacher Kyoko

The Kuchisake-onna kidnapping Mika

Kyoko and Noboru fight with the Kuchisake-onna

The Kuchisake-onna makes an example of her victim

The Kuchisake-onna unmasked