One Less Master

It sounded like a good idea. A bunch of really talented horror writers and directors got the good idea to create their own weekly series devoted to short, but completely unfettered, uncensored horror stories. The names alone (Landis, Carpenter, Joe Dante) would bring the audiences. The fact that it was uncensored and on Showtime would bring the talent.

Today, the term uncensored might not be so apt a description.

In a short, sweet, and shockingly swift move, Showtime has decided not to air an episode of the series by one of the world's most (in)famous horror directors, Takashi Miike.

The episode, entitled "Imprint" was set to air on January 27th. It is the story of a journalist in 19th Century Japan (played by Billy Drago) who returns to the country searching for the prostitute he fell in love with, but finds a second brothel girl who not only tells the journalist the tale of what happened to his lover, but her own horrific tale which has left her hideously deformed.

Of course, the first reaction by fans is to blame the show's creator and producer, Mick Garris. After all, the graphic film isn't entirely unexpected considering the rest of Miike's filmography, and inviting a director like Miike to do his worst and then telling him he's gone too far seems to go against everything the show was made to represent. The truth, however, is that Garris did what he could:

"I think it's amazing, but it's even hard for me to watch. It's definitely the most disturbing film I've ever seen. Definitely, at the script stage we made comments about [the film], and we made it clear that we were going on American pay cable television, and even though there wasn't as much control over content, there still were concerns. And then when we got the first cut, it was very, very strong stuff, and we made some suggestions on what might help before we showed it to Showtime. The Japanese made the changes they were comfortable with, and eventually we arrived at a film that he was happy with and we're all happy with. But Showtime felt it was not something they were comfortable putting out on the airwaves."

Though seeing the film on pay cable will probably never happen, it is certainly not the last fans will see of the film. Anchor Bay quickly released a press release stating that they will be releasing Imprint as a standalone DVD along with the other 12 episodes of the series. In the press release, Miike states that he's taking the cancellation in stride.

"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."

Sources: Anchor Bay Entertainment, New York Times