So I really don't know if I should be happy or sad. The New york Times have released what all Miike Takashi fans have been dreading. Yes, Showtime felt that his episode of their Masters of Horror series, Imprint, was not something they felt comfortable airing. Mick Garris, the creator of the series, has even gone as far as saying its the most disturbing thing he has ever seen. The good news is that Anchor Bay will release it complete and uncut on dvd eventually (although no official release date has been set, the first two episodes are set for release in March).

Here is some excerpts from the rest of the New York Times article:

Originally scheduled to have its premiere on Jan. 27, "Imprint," directed by the renegade Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, will be replaced by "Haeckel's Tale," an adaptation of a short story by Clive Barker directed by John McNaughton ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer").

Imprint may go even further, and clearly represents something more than Showtime bargained for. "I think it's amazing, but it's even hard for me to watch," said Mick Garris, the creator and executive producer of the series. "It's definitely the most disturbing film I've ever seen." It will now be released directly to the DVD market through IDT's home video subsidiary, Anchor Bay Entertainment, along with the rest of the episodes in the series. No date has been announced.

Imprint plays like an infernal variation on "Memoirs of a Geisha." In mid-19th-century Japan, an American journalist (the genre stalwart Billy Drago) goes in search of the prostitute he has fallen in love with but was forced to abandon. The American's quest leads him to a mysterious island zoned exclusively for dimly lighted brothels, where one procurer, a syphilitic midget, introduces him to a relatively sympathetic prostitute (Youki Kudoh, who also appears in "Memoirs of a Geisha"). Hideously deformed, the right side of her face pulled into a permanent rictus, the nameless woman tells the American the terrible story of what happened to his lover, throwing in at no extra charge the story of her own hideous childhood as the daughter of impoverished outcasts. As the woman's story continues, her revelations, scrupulously visualized, become more and more outlandish, and her descriptions of the violence done to the missing prostitute, who was suspected of stealing a ring from the brothel's madam, become more cruelly imaginative and difficult to stomach. But the most shocking imagery is yet to come, as the nameless woman describes her collaboration in her mother's work as an abortionist.

Imprint was filmed in Japan under the aegis of Mr. Miike's regular production company, rather than in Vancouver, where the series is based and most of its other episodes were shot. "Definitely, at the script stage we made comments about the aborted fetuses," Mr. Garris said. "We made it clear that we were going on American pay cable television, and even though there wasn't as much control over content, there still were concerns. And then when we got the first cut, it was very, very strong stuff, and we made some suggestions on what might help before we showed it to Showtime. The Japanese made the changes they were comfortable with, and eventually we arrived at a film that he was happy with and we're all happy with. But Showtime felt it was not something they were comfortable putting out on the airwaves."

Imprint, Mr. Garris suggested, was not the sort of film that could be trimmed a bit here and there to make it more acceptable. "It is what it is," he said. "It really was, let's try and not hack this up," Mr. Garris concluded. "Let's all just agree to release it in its complete form on the DVD, and hopefully its audience will be able to find it that way."

As long as they live up to their word, I am happy with an uncut dvd. I will let it slide this time...