I got hold of this film because it was directed by the same guy who did Tetsuo, and after having my senses bludgeoned and rearranged by that freak fest I sat down to this expecting a similar fun filled tale of gory man / machine transformation, self mutilation and object rape. So I was disappointed with this film, but if I watched in with an open mind my opinion might be different.
This film has more in common with the recent horror of Hideo Nakata than Tsukamoto's earlier work; you actually know what the hell is happening and you are actually given a chance to get familiar with the characters. If it had gone for this type of standard-fare horror it would have worked pretty well; but the story of decapitations and goblins sits rather uneasily beside frequent outbursts of slapstick humour and comedy. Again, this would have worked in the same way as the likes of Ghostbusters if it wasn't for the frequent outbursts of blood and gore, and severed heads walking around on spider's bodies (The Thing, anyone?). The music, to, sounded nice on its own but just didn't work with the film.
So really this film is a case of ice cream on pizza. It has many good elements, but they really shouldn't have been mixed. I would have liked to see a gory Japanese horror about a school on the gates of hell. I would have liked to see a Japanese comedy / horror about a bumbling goblin hunter. This film does both of these very well, and for that it is worth a watch. But they should really be on the same piece of celluloid. You could watch it with an open mind, but defiantly do not expect anything like Tsukamoto's other work.
This film has more in common with the recent horror of Hideo Nakata than Tsukamoto's earlier work; you actually know what the hell is happening and you are actually given a chance to get familiar with the characters. If it had gone for this type of standard-fare horror it would have worked pretty well; but the story of decapitations and goblins sits rather uneasily beside frequent outbursts of slapstick humour and comedy. Again, this would have worked in the same way as the likes of Ghostbusters if it wasn't for the frequent outbursts of blood and gore, and severed heads walking around on spider's bodies (The Thing, anyone?). The music, to, sounded nice on its own but just didn't work with the film.
So really this film is a case of ice cream on pizza. It has many good elements, but they really shouldn't have been mixed. I would have liked to see a gory Japanese horror about a school on the gates of hell. I would have liked to see a Japanese comedy / horror about a bumbling goblin hunter. This film does both of these very well, and for that it is worth a watch. But they should really be on the same piece of celluloid. You could watch it with an open mind, but defiantly do not expect anything like Tsukamoto's other work.