Imprint (2006) #373

If anyone was going to create an episode that was going to be considered too outrageous and inappropriate for a Showtime Channel original series, it would be the famed Japanese director Takashi Miike. His entry in the "Masters of Horror" series proved to be too much for Showtime executives to air as planned, so instead this episode is only found on DVD. The content within is a bit graphic at times and the torture scene is overly gratuitous to the point that I feel that this particular production could be as offensive as the material seen in "A Serbian Film". Some people may disagree with that conclusion but I would say that "Imprint" is at least darker and more horrific than his well known film "Audition".

An American is travelling across Japan in the 1800's looking for a woman who he promised to come back to an marry someday. His journey takes him to an island populated with whores and their masters. The American is forced to stay the night on the island so he agrees to the company of a whore, choosing one that stays in the shadows while the others clamour for attention. The whore begins to tell the American that she knew his bride to be, Komono, and that Komono had recently killed herself. He refuses to believe the story, so the whore tells him more about her own history and the reasons that led to Komono's suicide. The whore repeats the story several times, adding new details and truths with each telling until the American can't take anymore and acts upon his grief, a grief that haunts him for the rest of his life.