Hell is other people. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Go to Hell. Raise some Hell. Your own personal Hell. Hell is for children. Life is Hell. Hell yeah. Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket?

Ichi the Killer (titled Koroshiya 1 in Japan) is one of the most brutal and intense films to come out this decade. Based on a manga by Hideo Yamamoto and directed by the prolific director of Audition, Takashi Miike, Ichi the Killer is a dark, disturbed, and often very humorous tale of sadism and violence. With no holds barred, Ichi presents extremely graphic scenes of gore that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Although you wouldn’t know it from the American release title, the reproachable Attack of the Mushroom People, Ishiro Honda’s 1963 Matango is a creepy little conglomeration of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and human drama. Awash in dream-like imagery and grim atmosphere, this Japanese flick is an underrated gem with a few minor, easily overlooked flaws. 

Credits above are only for personnel unique to this episode. For credits relating to "Masters of Horror" as a whole, see the Masters of Horror review gateway.

Our scene opens with two samurai, running through the tall, oppressive reeds. One is wounded, and the other is helping him along. Suddenly, their flight is interrupted, their lives coming to a sudden and grisly end at the points of vicious spears. Their desperation permeates the very opening frames of Onibaba and sets the tone for the entire film. Onibaba is a tale of deceit, murder, sexual frustration, and the monstrosity that lies in the hearts of ordinary people.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the 1994 companion piece to Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), is directed by star Kenneth Branagh, and co-produced by Francis Ford Coppola and James V.

This is a review of the International version of Three... Extremes. The segments are reviewed in the order of appearance for that version. The US version is ordered differently, with Miike's "Box" being shown last instead of first. - ed.

Based on an incident in 1972, a clash between a radical left wing student group and the police known as the Asama-Sanso incident, Kichiku Dai Enkai is one of the most notorious Japanese horror movies to have seen the light of day over the past years. It’s a brutal, bloody portrayal of gang politics gone wrong. This powerful movie was shot while director Kumakiri was studying during his final year at the university and the whole thing was put together on a shoestring.

Directors who churn out a movie a year are considered prodigiously prolific. Henceforth, Japanese director Takashi Miike, averaging a production of six movies a year, ranks entirely off the normal scale.

Considerate horror films have always reflected contemporary attitudes. As yet though, there have been surprisingly few horror movies about the Internet. It's this generation's wheel or fire, but it hasn't really been explored yet within the horror genre. Enter Kiyoshi Kurosawa's seven-year movie project Pulse (original Japanese title Kairo). It's pretty obvious that the success of Ringu made it possible for him to realize this.