The Criterion Collection Releases Early Japanese Horror Film Jigoku on DVD

Jigoku is very much like Hell of different religions. I understand the intent behind it, but it crumbles under the weight of any critical thought except to devout followers. The film tries to be more than a mere horror film by dealing with higher ideas, but it fails to properly execute them. Although paved with good intentions, the filmmakers stumble on their path.

The opening is slightly bafflingly as the title credits appear with scantily clad women and a soundtrack of chaos. The film opens with the main character Shiro in Hell along the River Sanzu. He then falls into a fiery pit. The film cuts to a classroom as Shiro is listening to lecture about Hell in a comparative religion class taught by Prof. Yajima, the father of his fiancée, Yukiko. Tamura appears next to him and tells Shiro that the guy they ran over last night died.

The film cuts back to the previous night. Shiro is visiting with the Yajimas, and Tamura suddenly appears inside the house. He returns the professor’s book along with an old photo taken back during the War. In it, the professor fought a fellow soldier over the water in a canteen, yet no one was there to take the photo. For some reason Tamura drives Shiro’s car to take them both home. They turn down a road and run over a drunk in the street, who turns out to be Kyoichi, a yakuza gang leader. Tamura keeps going, unaware that Kyoichi’s mother spotted them.

Shiro is racked with guilt and wants to turn himself in. Tamura says to forget it. Shiro confides in Yukiko. She agrees with him and accompanies him to the police station. She is rewarded with death as the taxicab gets into a fatal car accident that is completely unbelievable because of how poorly the scene was shot and edited.

Shiro is consumed with even more guilt and grief. He drowns his sorrows at a club where he meets Yoko, who soon suggests they leave. He takes her to a hotel, and after sleeping together, she discovers that Shiro is the man who ran her brother Kyoichi over. Yoko and her mother plan their revenge, but before they can hatch their plans, Shiro is called out to the country to visit his gravely ill mother.