Sweet Whip (Amai muchi) (甘い鞭)

A Kadokawa Film

A Kadokawa Horror Library 20th Anniversary Production

SWEET WHIP

Presented by Femme Fatale & Kadokawa Pictures

Executive Producer: Shinichirou Inoue

Planning: Takeshi Yasuda

Producers: Katsuya Kamo & Takashi Ishii

Based on the novel Amai Muchi by Kei Oishi

Naoko at age 32: Dan Mitsu

Naoko at age 17: Yuki Mamiya

Tsuyoshi Nakano

Itou Youzaburou

Hiroko Yashiki Jun Nakayama

Taro Suwa Fumiaki Mitsuyama Kura

Hiroko Nakajima

Naoto Takenaka

Producers: Ujikatsu Ohmori & Takashi Achiwa

Photography: Jasushi Sasakibara (J.S.C.) and Yoshiaki Yamamoto Lighting: Miyanobu Inori

Art Director: Takayuki Suzuki Music: Goro Yasukawa

Sound Recording: Mineharu Kitamura Editor: Maruyama Yuuji

Assistant Director: Shin Ikemoto Set Design: Takami Akio

Written & Directed by Takashi Ishii

Her name is Naoko Misaki.

15 years after the incident,

she's now 32, and works as a fertility specialist at this clinic.

Now I'll transfer the embryo.

Tell me if you feel any pain.

OK.

- Does it hurt? - No.

Apart from the operating and incubation rooms where Mozart plays,

Naoko spends most of Tuesday to Saturday...

in the confines of her consultation room.

We're all done. You can rest in your room.

On the right is her mother Kayoko, 57.

Despite her age she has terminal cancer and is in a hospice.

To this day Kayoko rues the destruction...

of the happiness she shared with her husband and only daughter,

due to that hideous incident 15 years ago.

With two eggs, it looks hopeful.

I'm so happy!

Wonderful! The egg collection operation is 8am next Tuesday,

so have an injection tomorrow.

- Please wait at reception. - Yes.

- Take care. - Thank you.

Your last patient this morning. Number 16.

Another busy day.

It's not over yet. Hang in there!

Mozart sounds like a march now.

True. The Director may like it, but it's wearing my ears out!

Hello, Mother.

Miss Naoko, when are you coming to see me next?

Tomorrow afternoon.

Since the incident, Naoko's mother calls her 'Miss'.

And Naoko came to use only formal language with her parents.

This is Naoko's family 15 years ago.

That's her father. After the incident...

he must have hated the unease he felt living with Naoko.

He was posted to Kansai,

where he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

This is Naoko at age 17.

That hot summer morning,

Naoko left for holiday school swimming club practice.

Just an ordinary morning.

Got your umbrella?

Hey, will you be home at the usual time?

See ya, Mom. Love ya.

What's that for?

Just like an American movie. Love ya, Mom. Hug, hug!

As always, Kayoko went outside to watch her daughter go.

And closed the door once she was gone.

As always.

As always, Naoko never looked back.

She had no way of knowing that, as always,

from the garage of a dome-roofed home beside the train tracks,

a man was watching her...

It happened that evening

on her way home from school.

As the rain poured down.

What's taking her so long?

- It's OK! - I'll go, too! - I'll be fine.

She'll be mad! Your umbrella...

I'm already wet and late, so it's OK.

Really? OK, see ya.

Take care! Bye!

This is crazy!

It's bucketing down.

- Hello. - Hello.

Our neighbour's kinda handsome, isn't he?

He's a wealthy bachelor.

I heard he has a basement room to listen to music in.

Don't be silly He's failed to get into med school three times.

Shut up!

Get off me!

A toilet...?

Mom! Mom!

Help! Somebody!

Somebody help me! Mom! Mom!

Somebody! Help!

Somebody! Somebody help me!

Mom!

Help!

Help!

Care to dance?

Let's... have fun.

No... Don't... Let me go!

Stay away!

No?

Let's... get along.

Mom! Mom! Help!

Somebody! Somebody!

No! No!

Somebody! Somebody! Help!

You're late! I called Miyuki...

I'm soaked! This was useless!

- What about Naoko? - Naoko?

- What's wrong? - She hasn't come home!

I called Miyuki, and she said they split up an hour ago!

The domed roof!

No patrol car?

My daughter's been abducted! She might be killed!

Kayoko, we don't know for sure.

We need more to go on. Like a ransom call...

She thought the police would send several cars,

the media would swarm in, and there'd be a public search on TV.

However, the reality was different.

There was no ransom call,

and she was of age, so she could be on a date.

"The trains are still running, so let's wait and see."

That's what the officers told her. All she could do was wait.

She stayed up all night waiting for her daughter to return...

but she never did.

Well, it was bucketing down.

Nobody came, and I didn't hear anything.

Ultimately, Naoko's disappearance...

wasn't made public or treated as suspicious.

That year, the police received over 100,000 missing person reports.

They saw no evidence of foul play,

so her mother reported her as a runaway,

and local police merely conducted a door-to-door investigation.

Later, a search of Naoko's room found love letters, alcohol,

cigarettes, as well as porn videos,

and contraceptives bought out of curiosity.

Do you know anything about this?

Don't worry. She's in her adolescent years...

Her parents tried to convince themselves that she had run away from home.

Then one evening, a month later...

Mr. Kajima, I'm sorry for the bother.

Not at all. It's my job.

So, how was your doctor's visit?

It seems to be stress. My autonomic nerve...

That's to be expected. A month without your daughter...

We want to do something, but we can't without evidence.

I'm sorry. If there's anything, even a phone call,

we'll respond immediately.

Our relatives suggested we hand out flyers...

Mom, help me...

Who are you?!

Are you Naoko?!

Mom...

Where on earth have you been for the last month?!

Behind the...

After risking her life to escape,

Naoko thought that her mother would rejoice...

That she would embrace her daughter and weep tears of joy.

However, that was not the case.

Looking at Naoko, bloodied, naked and handcuffed,

Kayoko must have realised what had been done to her.

She froze, gazing upon Naoko like some obscene freak,

and coldly rejected her.

How many did this to you? Do you remember?

One.

I'm afraid... Help me...

If it was one, it's Fujita.

His doctor parents died a long time ago.

What's he been doing all this time?!

You... you were at his house?

Naoko may have been unrecognisable,

but her mother's accusatory gaze...

would torment her deeply...

for years to come.

She's in custody!

She's naked, covered in blood. Fujita held her captive...

The basement room of Naoko's captor Takeo Fujita...

had been built by his doctor parents for listening to music in.

Completely soundproofed, it was once white.

They'd died 10 years earlier...

and it had become a torture chamber with moldy, windowless walls...

by the time Naoko was brought there.

For a long time before that,

Fujita had the sickening intention...

of imprisoning the girl next door.

On the fateful day of that driving downpour,

he had executed his wicked plan at last.

I'll handcuff you.

Sorry for this.

The incident received heavy coverage in newspapers and on television.

To protect the young victim's privacy,

the police withheld her details.

The perpetrator's name was released,

but the girl's name,