Current Influence - Noboru Iguchi and Japanese Splatter
Still from Tokyo Gore Police
If we are friends online or you follow any of the social media outlets I post, you know, currently I am watching A LOT of Japanese Splatter films. It was an obsession years ago, but recently stuck a chord with me again. Why? No idea, but I am so glad it did. Sure, this is a pretty niche sub-genre but it's over the top special effects, insane use of weapons and buckets and buckets of blood make me so happy to sit and watch them.
Iguchi-San sporting his House shirt
There are plenty of directors behind these films, but for me, I'm somewhat enamored by the genius writer/director of some of what I've fallen in love with, Noboru Iguchi. He's wacky, weird and quite honestly, wonderful. He uses the 3 "B" formula for success - Blood, Broads and Beasts. I must be upfront and say this, his movies aren't for everyone. They lack in "real world" type of actions, but I feel so strongly in this style of filmmaking, it's almost obsession.
I know, you're like who?? Maybe you've seen ABC's of Death and watched F is for Fart. Yep, that's my guy. His films tend to contain Japanese school girls, bullying, sometimes Yakuza and just my kind of zaniness. I can't recommend watching these enough, and going in with an open mind. Let's also remember, I'm currently writing a new script for our project "SQUARE" that I pitched to Matt 2 weeks ago and all he could say was "wow...thats crazy." You're damn skippy its crazy.
Let's name some films that you should see:
Still from Gothic Lolita Battle Bear
First and foremost, I think my favorite out of all I've seen thus far is Tokyo Gore Police. The score, the style, the gore, it has me completely captivated. I LOVE this film. Next is RoboGeisha, as anytime a girl/robot turns into a tank and attacks a walking mountain...well, sign me up. The Machine Girl is also a really great adventure. I grabbed the 3 disc steelbook version, which has making of and plenty of extras including the spin off short film - Machine Girlite (Shyness Machine Girl). Now, as wacky as The Machine Girl is, the short film is even more insane. Imagine, you get embarrassed and a machine gun pops out of your ass? Yep.
Iguchi-san and Zaborgar
I never hide my love for Tokusatsu (think a show like Power Rangers, Kamen Rider, Ultraman or maybe even Inframan). I can never get enough of the series that mix Sentai and Tokusatsu and this is where my love really takes off for Iguchi. He created Karate-Robo Zaborgar and is it ok to think, this was just for me? Haha, I can't help it. It has action and just a great mix of why I love tokusastu films and series. If you watched Kikaida or Kamen Rider, this is a must see for you.
Also, make sure you check out Mutant Girls Squad, as this also was a lot of fun. Swords for boobs, a chainsaw out of your rear? Yeah, these are my kind of ladies. Plus, make sure you look for Dead Sushi. This one I actually haven't seen yet. My Netflix rental queue is jam packed with all kinds of gory goodness (currently I have Tokyo Zombie and Meatball Madness) but trust me, it's coming. Other films to look for Zombie Ass - Toilet of the Dead which used to be streaming on Netflix, but now its down. I'm really just offering titles that are more well known, but google his work, watch and enjoy.
The film I'm most anxious to see has yet to be seen by many titled Nuigulumar Z (Gothic Lolita Battle Bear) which quite frankly looks to be a mix of Ted and Power Rangers. Below I've attached the trailer. Thank you to Iguchi-san for being a writer and director and having imagination that is pure heaven for some of us. You are a blessing to us (at least some of us.)
This week continued the craziness with my viewing habits. If anything, I've notice I'm staying in the Asian film swing but now venturing into other sub-categories. I continue to rent from Netflix for the discs I don't have, but I figured I would make notes of what is also streaming and where.
This week I saw a few that actually created an impulse for me to buy and I figured I would lightly highlight them as well. Keep in mind, this isn't designed to be a review, but more of what options are out there...good or bad.
I want to mention two that I absolutely feel in love with: Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, being the first of the two. I must admit I had never seen this one and once I started this one, I was hooked. So much fun. This is streaming on Hulu Plus and its a blast. I believe it plays almost like the perfect transition of live action anime. Really a blast. I ended up buying this bluray and it was very affordable (it's not here yet), now I'm hoping they have some extras on the disc.
The second one was Gamera 3 - Revenge of Iris. This is another film that I grabbed the bluray of (actually the three pack which sells for less than $10 and can be found almost everywhere) years ago and it just sat on my shelf with no love.
I truly made a mistake by not revisiting this film sooner. Wow, what a tremendous Kaiju film. Released in 1999, Gamera himself, is a beast with an amazing suit and overall look thats just fierce. The miniatures and scale of everything is fantastic. I need another viewing or two, but this is easily in my top few Kaiju films right now. I think it really has some very real moments but still the charm of being fantasy.
Ok, now onto the list of what I've been watching:
Godzilla vs Megalon(Streaming on Hulu)
Alien Vs Ninja(Streaming on Hulu)
Zeiram
Zeiram 2 (I actually wrote about this films earlier in the week HERE)
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl
2nd disc of Tokyo Gore Police (short films)
High Kick Girl This Girl is Baddass (Streaming on Netflix)
Gamera 3 - Revenge of Iris
Grabbed some DVDs!!
After last week, I ended up buying a few titles. The Machine Girl was offered as a 3 disc, steel book set and it has a bunch of extras and some additional short shorts. With my current obsession, I think I'm just a completist and needed to have this set.
Following suite, I already had The Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police but once I saw they both had different sets with additional offerings, I needed them. So, I grabbed Tokyo Gore Police 1.5. It has some short films that were fun, yet bizarre to watch....I love that shit.
Thats it for now, but this weekend, I plan on a Gamera marathon and really want to watch and enjoy these films again. Have a great week!
