I’ll be the first to admit that putting CARVED into my DVD player felt like a chore. The cover, the name, it all sounded like another clichéd Japanese ghost story with a gimmick. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of Asian Cinema from the Akira Kurosawa classics to early horror like KWAIDEN to Godzilla. But given this new wave of horror (though almost two decades old), another ghost story just didn’t seem to be the ticket I’ve been waiting for. That said, I must admit, CARVED is just different and brutal enough that I actually enjoyed it. It isn’t nearly as predictable as the “woman possessing some electric gadget” stories that seem to permeate the only things coming overseas these days. It also doesn’t shy away from the brutality either. We’re talking pure terror child abuse. It isn’t gory, but some of the bloodshed is nasty and it isn’t all cheap-looking CGI. Despite it being another “back from the past” tale, everything else I’ve mentioned are all pluses in my book.

Well, child abuse obviously isn’t a plus in my book, but director Shiraishi manages to handle the unspeakable with a sure and mature hand. With some serious storytelling and unflinching violence and guilt all mixed together, every scene involving a child being beaten, cut, tortured and so on never seems exploitative. It’s very in your face, but it plays like a recoiled reaction to layers of dementia and parental frustration. It isn’t easy stuff to sit through, especially if you’re a parent like myself, but at the same time, I couldn’t take my eyes off the proceedings either. Never excused, how could it? But you get the insight into the madness.

Most of the film centers around the legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman, a specter that supposedly kidnaps children and tortures them. She then cuts their mouth open from cheek to cheek, making a horrible looking smile, and then she kills them. After 20 or so years, it’s become such a myth that parents and teachers use it to keep children in line, from talking to strangers and going to bed at a proper time. Unfortunately, after an earthquake lets her loose from her unearthly grave, the myth becomes reality as the real Slit-Mouthed Woman’s ghost shows up to wreak havoc the second time around. The first time was on two of her own children, thus the rumors and birth of such a myth was born. Her third child is alive and not doing so well in his 30's. When new kidnappings happen, he teams up with a fellow school teacher who feels responsible for the disappearance of one her own students, hoping to stop the evil before the child is killed and any more disappear. As he gets closer to the truth, so does the psychic link with his dead mother, but this also creates a more horrific pattern when several children disappear.

There’s a lot more going on than the tale of a mischievous ghost (thankfully, it involves possession rather than a specter climbing out of something yet again). The main kidnapped girl has parallel elements with both teachers, which makes their search that much more important. She was an abused kid who was just about to let her teachers know what was happening in her own home life. Her teacher also isn’t allowed to see her own little girl because of her own bouts of violence, and the Slit Mouthed Woman’s son, well, that’s obvious when you see the hell he went through as a little tyke. The screenplay also plays on the guilt of the girl’s mother. At first she seems to be as much of a monster as the horror icon. However, also explored in the story is her range of guilt over her own anger, as it's compounded by her self blame over the kidnapping of her daughter. There are no true heroes in CARVED. Only human beings making horrible mistakes, their deep and painful regret, and finally the innocence lost by battered children who grow up to begin the cycle all over again. Like I stated, it isn’t always easy to sit through, but powerful thought-provoking stuff indeed, and that sets this particular ghost story a step above many of the others in the last two decades.

Before going into disc and extras details, I would also have to mention the child actors. They are simply amazing. Most look to be about 8 to 10 years old and come across extremely believable in what must have been some very uncomfortable scenes to shoot. I flinched every time one was struck, instead of the usual grown I emit with most terrible tyke actors. Anyway, Tartan’s release is as to be expected. It’s a very nice transfer with great sound and picture quality all the way around. Extras include some interesting interviews with the actors, the original theatrical trailer, a couple of TV spots, and a making-of featurette. Rounding out the extras are the usual slew of trailers for other Tartan releases. Watching those reminded me of how tired I was of several of them, but also made me realize that CARVED is just different enough and handled so well that the creepy ghost story works. The main horror is with the multi-layered characters, so I have no problem recommending it to most genre fans. Those who are so tired of these movies probably won’t even be reading this review, but if you are, then I urge you to give this one a chance.