I was looking forward to this. A unique urban legend that couldn't possibly fail to frighten. A murderer with her face slashed open (echoing THE MAN WHO LAUGHS and MR SARDONICUS) with a huge pair of scissors to inflict a similar fate on her victims.

But instead of gory fun, we get a series of rather realistic child beatings. I'd previously imagined that any children in the story were just going to be frightened by her hideous appearance, but never actually harmed. The violence is hardly bloody, but the suffering of the adults is far less fearsome than the extent of the child cruelty.

This makes the film nasty rather than entertaining - the issue of child abuse is worth exploring and explaining, but not as a subplot in a horror film, where the problem is shown without any realistic resolution.

Also, the central story is very weak in places. There's a kidnap victim who suddenly spots some broken glass to cut their bonds with, after it's been sitting in front of them for days. Also, the neighbourhood children have an endless supply of accurate information about the slit-mouthed woman, while the police don't have a clue. Even the mystery of the monster is wrapped up more simply than a SCOOBY DOO episode, with the viewers at least half an hour ahead.

The movie's strong point is of course the monster, usually the sort of yokai that you see in traditional Japanese ghost stories, but apparently there were a wave of 'sightings' near schools in the 1980's. The plot exploits that incident and ignores the older legends.

While it's cool to see an ancient yokai monster portrayed realistically, she's unveiled very early on in the film, and many shots are so close up, that you can see exactly how the effects have been done - there's no mystery, no subtlety, no scares - just shocks. The director could have learned something from some of the poster art, that at least has her face defocussed behind the scissors in the foreground.

The monster also has an unusual array of powers, more complicated than necessary, and mostly unexplained. Her backstory is comparitively feeble, explaining little more than the way she's dressed. Such a fearsome character deserves a sequel, with a better origin story and more adult victims, please.

So, too much kicking and stabbing of helpless victims, and not enough plot. It's watchable enough for the performances and the bizarre title character, but I wanted it to have been much better.

Director Koji Shiraishi has previously delivered JUREI - THE UNCANNY and NOROI - THE CURSE.

Eriko Sato, the mischievous star of the recent live-action CUTIE HONEY - THE MOVIE, is almost unrecognisable in this, as a harrassed, mousey schoolteacher.

The English subtitles are a little awkward in places, and the American title of CARVED is a misleading one, making the film sound more like it's from the HOSTEL genre, rather than a yokai story.

Tartan Asia Extreme have released this in the US, but I fear this film might be too touchy for a release in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if the British censor only passed this with extensive cuts, particularly with so many child murders in the headlines at the moment.

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