Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)

Review by Sean Patterson



"Am I pretty?"

When I sat down to watch Carved, I was hoping for an atmospheric Japanese horror flick in the vein of Ringu or Ju-on. I had been watching campy horror for a few weeks and needed a real scare to trouble my sleep. What I got was something close to that, but the movie fell short of my, admittedly high, expectations. I would stop short of calling it boring but Carved does suffer, like it's title monster, from a bit of malaise.
The slit-mouthed woman is tall, with long black hair and piercing blue-green eyes. She wears a surgical mask and asks you,"Am I...pretty?" She then takes off the mask, revealing a scar from ear to ear. And guts you with her scissors. That's the story that Japanese children tell each other anyway.
The story centers on a young, pretty teacher, Mrs. Yamashita (Eriko Sato), who is starting her job at a new school in Midoriyama. I assume this is the same Midoriyama famous for the Ninja Warrior competition but there are, disappointingly, no freakishly fit gymnasts or cross-dressing comedians in the movie. There is a young girl named Mika (Rie Kuwana) in Yamashita's class who is being picked on for wearing a surgical mask. Yamashita takes her aside and finds out that her mother has been beating her, leaving many bruises across her entire body. Obviously not a good listener.
My dark sense of humor aside, the movie does seem to want to be a parable about child abuse. The slit-mouthed woman is able to "haunt," or take the place of any abusive mother. When killed she reverts back and the body turns into that of the mother. I can't be sure that there isn't a cultural miscommunication here, but the moral part of the story never seems to come around. No mothers are punished and even Yamashita, who is revealed to be an abusive mother herself, doesn't seem to learn not to strike her daughter in anger.
Mika goes running off and the slit-mouthed woman kidnaps her. The woman's scar isn't quite as impressive as in the children's stories, but The Joker would be proud. In fact, the scar is all the more scary for looking realistic. The scissors are impressive, too. They're huge and sharp-looking: a wonderful weapon for a horror villain. Unfortunately, her looks are the only scary thing about her. She's the more plodding type of serial killer, and doesn't demonstrate any particularly impressive strength or speed. She's so slow and confused-looking it's as if she enjoys snorting oxycontin as much as killing.
Yamashita then teams up with another teacher at the school, Matsuzaki (Haruhiko Kato), who can, from any distance, hear the slit-mouthed woman's pleading question when she's about to attack. They attempt to solve the mystery of the ghost woman themselves and I won't spoil the rest. I'm sure you can make a pretty good guess as to Matsuzaki's history with the woman.
The music in the movie is bare and sparse. Lots of whole notes and piano riffs create the appropriate forboding atmosphere.
The acting is surprisingly good considering that most of the actors are children. I can't say the same for the dialogue, though I can't fault the movie for this since that might just be bad, simplistic subtitle translation.
The movie saunters along at its listful pace. In a better mood, I would probably have enjoyed it more, but as tired as was it almost put me to sleep. Luckily the ending ramps up the tension and blood, culminating in a series of enjoyable she's-dead-or-is-she moments. And just when you think the curse is broken...
I do recommend this flick to Japanese horror fans but it won't stand out from other movies in that crowded genre. I'll leave you with what appears to be the real moral of the story: while you should certainly be afraid of your injurious mother, you should also be afraid that she will turn into a ghost and stab you with scissors.