Tom Percival
Published February 13, 2026 6:00pm
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Trust me when I say this little girl isn’t what she seems…(Picture: Masters of Horror)
The alleyways and ginnels of TV history are littered with episodes so controversial that they had to be pulled from TV.
The most famous examples are episodes like The X-Files’ ‘Home’, The Simpsons’ ‘Stark Raving Dad’, or South Park’s ‘200 & 201’.
Still, at least these stories made it to air before being cancelled, because that’s not always the case.
Indeed, there are some TV episodes so twisted that they were never even broadcast.
One such story comes from the Masters of Horror show, an anthology series created by filmmaker and screenwriter Mick Garris.
The basic idea for the series was that some of the biggest and best names in horror would each direct a story for the series.
I know this pic isn’t scary, but there aren’t a lot of pics we can use without having to pay your therapy bills(Picture: Masters of Horror)
The masters included legendary spooky figures, like Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper, and John Carpenter.
However, one episode was deemed so disturbing that it was never broadcast unedited in the US.
The story in question was called ‘Imprint’. This twisted tale follows Christopher, an American journalist, who travels to Japan looking for his old girlfriend Komomo, whom he had promised to rescue from poverty and prostitution.
Soon after arriving in the country, however, he discovers that Komono has died. Heartbroken, he finds himself in the company of a young girl who reveals the shocking truth behind Komono’s death.
I won’t spoil exactly what happens, but it involves betrayal, murder and ghosts.
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So what made the episode so controversial? Well, the episode features graphic violence, including scenes of torture, as well as other disturbing imagery like ‘aborted foetuses’.
Attempts were made to edit the episode down, but Showtime (the network behind Masters of Horror) deemed it too disturbing to air on television, and it became the only episode from the series not to air in the United States.
Now you might be thinking that ‘it can’t be that bad’ and that this was just network executives clutching their pearls.
The episode was directed by the notorious Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike (Picture: Penta Press/Shutterstock)
However, on the horror section of Reddit, fans have shared their feelings on the episode, and they agree that the episode was a tough watch‘Imprint is actually an insane episode,’ wrote Long-Train-1673. ‘I don’t blame Showtime for not wanting to air it, personally would’ve preferred I hadn’t seen it, but I respect going all out.’
‘The torture scene made me mute it and cover my face,’ added Nymerias. ‘Really impactful, disturbing content, at least for me.’
While one user (who deleted his account) said, ‘I saw it years ago. I wasn’t prepared for the highly disturbing content. I regretted watching it. It’s one of the few horror films that has made me feel that way.’
Miike made one of the best horror movies ever, Audition (Picture: Omega/Kobal/Shutterstock)
So, which Master of Horror made this episode?
It was none other than transgressive Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike, who might be best known for his equally shocking horror movie, Audition.
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Speaking about the episode after it was pulled, Miike told the Japanese Times: ‘I thought that I was right up to the limit of what American television would tolerate. As I was making the film, I kept checking to make sure that I wasn’t going over the line, but I evidently misestimated.’
Still, Imprint got its time to shine.
It was released as part of the Masters of Horror DVD collection, and a heavily edited version ended up on the Chiller TV channel.
Masters of Horror is not available to stream at this time in the UK.
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