Release cover is slightly different.

What they say: Legend holds that thirty years ago, a suburban town was terrorized by the spirit of a woman whose beautiful face had been grotesquely disfigured by a jealous husband. Roaming the streets wearing a long coat and surgical mask, the spirit would approach young victims and, while removing her mask ask,`Am I pretty?` The victim’s response would almost always lead to their violent death. Now, one by one, children are disappearing again. As teachers and officials desperately begin to investigate, a panic begins to build as the woman’s spirit returns for some unfinished business and the town’s dark secrets are exposed.

What I say: This is another case in which Palisades Tartan has attempted to pull a bit of a fast one. This is a re-release of a film called Carved that was previously released before Palisades bought Tartan. This is kinda shady in my opinion but it is a very good film despite the “marketing”.

The first thing I really noticed about this film is just how dark it is. Children are consistently put in danger and there are threads of child abuse wrapped through the whole thing. This leads to a truly chilling atmosphere. As the dark secrets behind the killings are revealed the tragic nature of this film really takes hold. A lot of J-horror worries about the visuals and just being creepy something with nothing to back it up, this film delivers in spades. This film is disturbing, dark, and very well written. Performances are fine generally but there a couple of weak spots.

Even though I really enjoyed the film there is a drop in picture quality from the original release. I’m not sure why this is, but it is distracting. This is the only downer in this release.

Film: 8/10
DVD: 7/10