Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman
(also known as A Slit-Mouthed Woman) is a 2007 Japanese horror film directed by Kōji Shiraishi and written by Shiraishi and Naoyuki Yokota. Based on the Japanese urban legend known as , 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. Plot As stories about ("The Slit-Mouthed Woman") spread through a Japanese town, an earthquake causes a corpse matching the entity's description to break out of a closet in an abandoned house. As this occurs, Noboru Matsuzaki, an elementary school teacher, hears a voice ask, "Am I pretty?" At a playground, a boy who had gone looking for with his friends is grabbed by the entity. The boy's disappearance prompts the school where Noboru works to send students home in groups, escorted by staff members. Mika Sasaki is reluctant to go home, admitting to a teacher, Kyōko, that her mother hits her. Kyōko has a troubled relationship with her own daughter, who lives with her ex-husband,