Imprint – Whole Damn Thing
Okay, so am I copping out by having TWO Takashi Miike entries on the list? Well, no. Truth is, Audition is a fucking afternoon in the park next to Imprint. Also, Imprint was simply an episode of Masters of Horror (an amazing old Showtime series) rather than a movie, and it was SO disturbing that even Showtime (who gave the directors a “do anything you want” approach up to this point) wouldn’t allow it to air.
You can now find it online and on DVD if you try, but be forewarned, this is torture porn at its most unsettling. A woman doing it to a woman. That is something you rarely find in the genre. But what the young prostitute endures in this movie is, from beginning to end, hard to watch. And you know that is a serious statement since it’s coming from me.
I know you kids must want some examples, so here it goes. How about needles slowly driven under the fingernails? Or those same needles very slowly pushed into your gums? Have you ever imagined what it would be like to have your armpits burnt? Well, this movie will answer those mental queries. The craziest part is, underneath it all, there is a tragic love story about a man who could not save the woman he loves. I could say spoiler alert, but no one watches Imprint for the story. They watch it for the terrifying old lady torturing the younger one.
Brutal stuff, to say the least.