Jigoku: The Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection, A Continuing Series of Important Classic and Contemporary Films

Shocking, outrageous and poetic, Jigoku (Hell, a.k.a. The Sinners Of Hell) is the most innovative creation from Nobuo Nakagawa, the father of the Japanese horror film. After a young theology student flees a hit-and-run accident, he is plagued by both is own guilt-ridden conscience and a mysterious, diabolical doppelganger. But all possible escape routs lead straight to hell - literally. IN the gloriously gory final third of the film, Nakagawa offers up his vision of the underworld in a tour de of torture and degradation. A striking departure from traditional Japanese ghost stories, Jigoku, with its truly eye-popping, and -gouging imagery, created aftershocks that are still reverberating in contemporary world horror cinema.