Well, that was disturbing! Didn't expect this to mess me up as much as it did but here we are. So ahead of its time visually, too. It's times like this where I just hate ratings bc while it's very flawed, I can't deny how into it I was and how much it, again, disturbed me. Sheesh!

One of the greatest depictions of Hell I've ever seen on the big screen!

The first 2/3 of the film are slow and methodical depicting how one sin begets yet another sin! Pretty much resembling a spiders web, and when you succumb to your sinning nature others in your life are affected and soon find themselves caught in the web right along with you!

The last act was chock full of surreal imagery of throngs of sinners suffering from one of the many sadistic and diabolical torments meted out by the demons of hell!

By 1960's standards this was an extraordinarily violent and gory film! It was a real thrill for me to discover this gruesome entry into early splatter films!

The visuals in this movie are fantastic, and very ahead of its time. While watching this I thought it was probably from the late 70’s, but it turns out it was made in 1960. Jigoku is full of iconic shots particularly the ones on the train tracks. Many horror movies were very obviously inspired by this. It’s only coincidence that I watched this right after Jacob’s Ladder, as they are very similar movies, and Jacobs ladder is very obviously inspired by Jigoku. So it makes sense that they both have very similar flaws. Both have great concepts and visuals, but lack in the pacing department. This films second act dragged on for far to long, and 20 minutes could have definitely been cut. At some points it felt like a chore to watch, but at the end it is all very satisfying.

Wait, are there only Japanese people in Hell? That's not very fair.

67

My first film from Nobuo Nakagawa, and certainly not the last. The evocative, audacious imagery is honestly lower on my list of elements to discuss, because as great as Jigoku looks, it's the harrowing sound-design and depiction of sin in all its complexity that lingers. This is very much an abstraction in its colorful hues and jarring disconnect of form, but the pain is vivid and similar to other horror films of the same year, Peeping Tom and Psycho, each being works that dealt with sinners, and the lack of salvation, or interest in it, when their reckoning arrived. In particular, I was struck by Hell not just seen as a concept in Jigoku, but a space that is limitless and yet filled with the past of the individual. There is no escape from the past in this film, the flames rising over the barriers of saving grace and engulfing it all.

Chilling cautionary tale of what happens when you get into two separate car accidents that aren’t your fault and your friend is an evil cool guy.

”This is the path to hell…”

In this disturbingly bizarre movie even the opening credits are the ultimate in WTF did I just sign up for!?!? The story is really confusing, but by the time the wheels come off the cart in the 3rd act it’s visual representation of hell is jaw dropping. It almost feels like you’re taking a guided tour through one of the best Halloween haunted houses ever.

And If nothing else, this film taught me that the Eight Realms of Hell aren’t a very nice place to visit and you certainly wouldn’t want to live there.

”You will dwell with me in this dark hell forever…”
“No! I want to live!”

Cinematic Time Capsule - 1960 Ranked

When life is this chaotic, the transition to hell comes as a brief moment of tranquility. We call it the vaitarna river, it serves as a litmus test for new members signing up for the infernal experience. The water appears pure white for the righteous, and is filled with blood, pus, bones, mud, hair, crocodiles, leeches and flesh eating birds for the sinful. Beyond it lies moaning and burning, then comes the great moaning and the great burning. Pots of flame are for thieves, knives are for murderers, nails are for liars, stones are for the oppressors, and then we arrive at the deepest, coldest, darkest layer of hell, the layer of indescribable pain, uninterrupted suffering for those who betrayed every single buddhist precept. It's reserved for cops and snitches.

Festiwal tandety - pierwsza połowa zabawnie niezgrabna, druga żałosna. Dla mnie to też rodzaj kuriozum i chyba dlatego dodałem pół gwiazdki.

Weirdly enough it's the stuff outside of hell that got to me the most- the last 40 minutes were visually stunning, colorful and gory but it's the brutal, uncomfortable real life segments that really make the movie for me. the dread of the film dragging out all of the character's inevitable deaths is great, and so vile to watch that actual hell ends up feeling weak in comparison- but god, it must've been mind blowing in the 60s.

Gaspar Noé recommended this in Criterion Channel. I’d say the visual of this film is pretty stunned.

Hell doesn't look fun.

inaccurate bc there were no skaterz shredding in hell sry 😈🖕🏼

Can’t believe Gaspar called this movie messed up. Has that guy ever seen irreversible? It’s exactly what you’d expect from a movie titled “Hell” released in the 60’s. If that doesn’t sound appeasing, this isn’t the movie for you.

Pretty sure harumi had a little peepee..

A film that earns the everliving shit out of being called Hell, as it indeed is really very fucking much about Hell, moreso than probably any other movie, and it's from 1960.

decent movie until the second half where it becomes amazing.

this film is relentless in the way it tortures its characters, constantly putting them in fantastically terrible situations; I guess hell can be reached before and after death. jigoku is an unexpectedly intense movie that's sugar-coated by a great colour palette.

if you're a noé fan who's curious about whether or not this is actually "more colourful and crazier than any dario argento movie", don't expect much of that until the last 40 minutes. it's worth the wait.

We're all going to hell.