Criterion has assembled an informative package for this chilling cult favorite.
Jigoku
is given a strong anamorphic, letterboxed transfer that does a good job of capturing the film's stark, shadowy look with an impressive depth of detail (the primary colors used in the film's creepy second look positively startling here). The audio portion of the disc sticks to the original Japanese mono soundtrack, which is presented with clear, well-translated English subtitles, and the track sounds pretty good for its age and its mono-based limitations. Criterion has also assembled a tidy little package of extras for the film. First up is "Building the Inferno," a 40-minute featurette that covers the making of
, the career of Nobuo Nakagawa and how the film influenced many modern Japanese horror film directors. It provides a loving tribute to the film and its creator and those who are new to Japanese horror cinema will be happy to note that this featurette goes into detail about Japan's uniquely personalized approach to the genre. Elsewhere, the disc features the film's original theatrical trailer and a gallery of posters from selected Nakagawa films and Shintoho releases. The package is rounded out by a booklet with an insightful, detailed essay on
and Nakagawa by critic Chuck Stephens. All in all, this is another strong release for Criterion and a great introduction to vintage Japanese horror.