The press release is really not very clear on why but apparently Takashi Miike’s entry into the Masters of Horror arena will not be airing on the Showtime series. Not sure why they just don’t hold it over for their much hyped 2nd season but instead the decision has been made to just release the the episode directly to video. Read below for the entire press release:
IDT Entertainment’s Anchor Bay Entertainment proudly announces the upcoming exclusive DVD release of Takashi Miike’s controversial film “Imprint” from the critically acclaimed MASTERS OF HORROR anthology series.
Premiering on the Showtime cable network in October 2005 to critical and public acclaim, each MASTERS OF HORROR film stands alone as an exercise in terror, written and directed with complete artistic freedom by the genre’s leading practitioners.
MASTERS OF HORROR is the ultimate director-driven project. “Imprint” is the only one from the thirteen episodes produced that will not air. “Like all the films in this groundbreaking series,” says executive producer John W. Hyde, ‘Imprint’ was made with no restrictions whatsoever on the filmmaker and we are honored to be able to bring Miike’s unadulterated vision to the fans.”
Miike observed: “To tell you the truth, I was not surprised to hear that ‘Imprint’ would not air. Through the experience of directing this episode, I have discovered that while humor can have its limits, fear has no limits. I could not suppress the volume of terror that this film conveys.”
Based on the terrifying novel “Bokkee Kyoutee” (Kadokawa Shoten Publishing Co., LTD) by Shimako Iwai, Takashi Miike’s “Imprint,” produced by Kadokawa Pictures USA and filmed at Kadokawa Pictures in Tokyo, Japan, is set amid the corpse-strewn riverbanks of 19th century Japan in this tale of an American journalist (Billy Drago, “The Untouchables” and “Demon Hunter”), hoping to find a love he left behind. The journalist’s hunt leads to a dark island where the only refuge is a brothel. Spending the night with a unique woman (Youki Kudoh, “Memoirs of a Geisha”), he learns the danger of dredging up old ghosts.
In the 10 years since his first feature film, the prolific Takashi Miike has earned worldwide acclaim, and with such box office hits as “The Great Yokai War” and “One Missed Call”, has become one of the few directors who can lure international audiences to Japanese films. In 2000, his “Audition” won the critics’ prize at the 29th Rotterdam International Film Festival and he received the “Movie Making Best of the ‘90s” title from the 10Th Japan Movie Professional Awards. In 2003, his “Gozu” was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. “Imprint” is Miike’s first English-language film.
Anchor Bay Entertainment will release “Imprint” on DVD in fall 2006. Anticipated bonus features include exclusive behind the scenes footage, trailers, stills and more. Kadokawa Herald Pictures in Tokyo, Japan is planning its world premiere and release soon thereafter.
