Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)

Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (Japanese: 口裂け女, Hepburn: Kuchisake-onna) (also known as A Slit-Mouthed Woman) is a 2007 Japanese supernatural horror film directed by Kōji Shiraishi and written by Shiraishi and Naoyuki Yokota. Based on the Japanese urban legend known as Kuchisake-onna, or "the Slit-Mouthed Woman", the film stars Eriko Sato as Kyōko Yamashita, a divorced mother and teacher who attempts to solve a series of child abduction cases with the help of her co-worker Noboru Matsuzaki, played by Haruhiko Kato.

The film was followed by a prequel, Carved 2: The Scissors Massacre, in 2008.

In 2016 a film titled Slit Mouth Woman in L.A. was released, but is unrelated to the series.

Plot

As stories about Kuchisake-onna ("The Slit-Mouthed Woman") spread through a Japanese town, an earthquake causes a corpse matching the entity's description to emerge from a closet in an abandoned house. At the same time, elementary school teacher Noboru Matsuzaki hears a voice ask, "Am I pretty?" A boy searching for Kuchisake-onna with his friends is then abducted at a playground.

Following the boy's disappearance, Noboru's school sends students home in groups escorted by staff. Mika Sasaki is reluctant to leave, telling teacher Kyōko that her mother hits her. Kyōko, whose own daughter lives with her ex-husband, becomes distressed when Mika says she hates her mother, causing Mika to run away. She encounters Kuchisake-onna, whose presence had been foreshadowed by Noboru hearing her voice. As the entity takes Mika away, Mika knocks off her mask, revealing her disfigured face.

Noboru shows Kyōko a thirty-year-old photograph of a woman resembling Kuchisake-onna. After hearing the voice again, he traces it to a house, where he and Kyōko rescue a boy from the entity. Kyōko seemingly kills Kuchisake-onna with a knife, but its body transforms into that of a housewife, revealing that the spirit can possess other women, who develop a cough.

Noboru identifies the woman in the photograph as his deceased mother, Taeko Matsuzaki, a sickly and unstable woman who abused him and his siblings. After Taeko killed Noboru's siblings, she "disappeared", and rumours and sightings of Kuchisake-onna began. The spirit subsequently possesses the mother of Mika's friend, Natsuki, taking Natsuki to its lair, cutting her mouth and murdering the abducted boy. Natsuki is found at a park by her father and admitted to hospital.

Kyōko discovers a note stating that Kuchisake-onna's hideout is a deserted house with a red roof, matching Noboru's childhood home. Noboru recalls that Taeko had asked him to mercy kill her, warning that she would otherwise return to haunt others. Instead, he slit her mouth and stabbed her, dressed her body in a coat and mask, and hid it in a closet.

Kyōko and Noboru find Mika in the house's basement and are attacked by Kuchisake-onna, which captures and brutalises them. Kyōko stabs the spirit in the neck, apparently killing it and leaving Natsuki's mother's body behind. Mika's mother then becomes the new host. Noboru fights the spirit but is fatally wounded; before dying, he beheads it, believing this will finally destroy it. However, decapitation fails, as the only way to defeat Kuchisake-onna is to obliterate Taeko's corpse in the closet. The spirit subsequently possesses Kyōko while she visits her daughter, though this may occur within a dream-like sequence.

Cast

Release

The film was released on DVD by Tartan Video on Aug 14, 2007. Tartan later re-released the film as a part of a 3-disc

combo pack with Sheitan, and Slaughter Night on Oct 13, 2009. It was last released on DVD by E1 Entertainment on Oct 11, 2011.

The film was released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video as part of the "J-Horror Rising" 4-disc box set on October 29, 2025.

Critical reception

Russell Edwards of Variety gave the film a mixed review, describing it as a "low-budget chiller that is unlikely to join the international remake stampede", though he noted that it "has an unsettling quality that transcends its cheap origins". Adam Hakari, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that it "does a passable job of touching upon some heavy issues while not forgetting to sate the appetite of gorehound fans. Still, the film so often comes close to greatness that viewers may find themselves disappointed when their expectations are -- pardon the pun -- cut short."

Andre Manseau of Arrow in the Head gave the film a score of 3 out of 4, calling it "risky, brutal and unsettling" and "a good film that is intense and scary". Adrian Halen of HorrorNews.net gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars, commending Mizuno's performance and writing that "A top contender for becoming a classic, Carved is a story that adds a new mythos into the horror arena." Justin Felix of DVD Talk awarded the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that "The central protagonists are not conceived well, but the titular antagonist is - and there's atmosphere enough to get the audience to the end point."

Prequel

A prequel to Carved, titled Carved 2: The Scissors Massacre, was released in 2008. It is also known under the titles Carved 2, A Slit-Mouthed Woman 2, and Kuchisake-onna 2.

References

External links

A Slit-Mouthed Woman at IMDb

Kuchisake-onna (A Slit-Mouthed Woman) (Carved) (2007) at Rotten Tomatoes