Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman/Kuchisake-onna (2007)

Summary: Yamashita and Matsuzaki are elementary school teachers who are trying to fight the urban myth of the “slit-mouthed woman” which is terrorizing the town, while dealing with actual child disappearances. The closer Yamashita gets the more she realizes that kids are being abused and missing than she could ever imagine. And her own past will make an impact too!           Overall: I liked the ideas of the film but the execution just missed the mark completely. I can’t get into the film’s failings without addressing the spoilers, so warning to ya’ll.           So now that you know the lady is Matsuzaki’s mom and she did all this because she was abusing him and his family, which resulted in him killing his own mom...how does the phrase “Am I pretty?” relate to anything? Plus what about the jealous husband? Whatever happened to him? And how come no one ever found mom’s body? And frankly, what is the connection between the ghost kidnapper and the kids, with Matsuzaki? Frankly, the film never connected anything, to anything. It just was a way to include a catch-phrase, some missing kids, some child abuse stories with a possession and scary lady at the end. No true connections, just horror clichés built in. And it doesn’t work!           Comparison: The Ring meets The Sixth Sense

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