With its female vengeance theme, outrageously campy story, and blood drenched violence, Iguchi Noboru's "Kataude Machine Girl/The Machine Girl" shares a lot in common with Quentin Tarantino's magnificently over-the-top "Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2". Yet the unique twist that Iguchi adds are elements of Paul Verhoeven's "Robocop" and Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead Series" to create this wacky revenge, horror, sci-fi hybrid that seems like an adult version of a kid's Tokusatsu (Live Action Adventure) show.
Not surprisingly, the film was produced jointly by Asian video distribution house Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters (whose specialty is V-Cinema and Ero-Guro films), B-Movie art-house Fever Dreams (Death Trance, Flesh For The Beast) and legendary Nikkatsu studios (whose 70s Roman Porno films are infamous) and their influence in "Machine Girl" is very much present. Yet, the film seems less like a Japanese sexploitation cheapie and more like a throwback to 70s style "Pinky Violence" and 80s splatter horror - a film so unapologetic in its visual bloodshed and graphic horror that it seems destined to be a cult classic among horror fans and film geeks.
Gravure idol and model Yashiro Minase plays high school athlete Hyuga Ami, a tough and spunky girl who is taking care of her younger brother Yu (Kawamura Ryosuke) after their parents committed suicide amid rumors and false allegations of murder.
Ami's seeming carefree life is suddenly turned asunder when Yu is callously tormented and killed by local high school punks led by the pompous Kimura Sho, the son of a Yakuza gang lord (Shimazu Kentaro) whose lineage is said to trace back to the famed Ninja clan of Hattori Hanzou (i.e. Kage No Gundan). Yu's classmate Sugihara Takashi is also killed by the same gang.
Insane with revenge, Ami confronts the parents of one of the gang members responsible for Yu's death (which the Police have ruled the incident a suicide). Yet the parents are every bit as malicious and evil as their spawn and Ami is nearly killed by them (she gets her arm "fried" in Tempura batter during her visit with them).
Ami returns to the house and forces a confession from the gang member and after a murderous rampage, she kills both the gang member and his mother (the father is left horribly scarred with hot oil). Ami decides to go after ringleader Sho.
Yet despite her best efforts, she is captured and mercilessly tortured by the Kimura clan which includes Sho's dragon-lady, mother-from-hell (Asami). They even go so far as to amputate Ami's left arm.
Incredibly, Ami survives and escapes to the only safe place, Sugihara Takashi's parents auto-shop. Former "bousouzouku" (biker gang) lovers Suguru (Ishikawa Yuya) and Miki (Honoka) tend to Ami's injuries and nurse her back to health. When Ami tells them that the Kimura clan were responsible for their son's torment and death, they agree to help Ami get revenge. Suguru designs a Gatling gun arm attachment for Ami while Miki trains the girl in street-fighting combat.
Kimura Sho discovers Ami's hiding place and sends a team of his fellow classmates (who have undergone Ninja training) after them. Ami uses her new "machine arm" to kill the underage assassins but not before they kill Suguru in the mêlée and severely injure Miki.
Despite her injuries Miki teams up with Ami to go after the Kimura clan yet they again meet another challenging obstacle as the parents of the assassins (whom Ami killed) undergo both "spiritual" as well as mechanical augmentation to become "demon warriors" in an effort to get revenge on Ami.
With its wacky and twisted story, silly dialog, bizarre costuming and insane ultraviolence, "Machine Girl" generates comparisons to the works of Sam Raimi particularly "Dark Man" and "Evil Dead". Iguchi also seems to be emulating the style of Miike Takashi and successfully matches some of the visual mayhem and creative invention that Miike has shown in past films like "Koroshi No Ichi".
Whether by design or budget necessity, I was impressed with Nishimura Yoshihiro and Kazuno Tsuyoshi's decision to use a lot of "old school" techniques to achieve the outrageous gore sequences in the film. While not on the level of Tom Savini, Rick Baker or Tani "Screaming Mad George" Joji, their work here is impressive especially when over-reliance on CGI and green-screen is common in other films of this type. It almost took on a mad cartoon-like surrealism (Tom & Jerry or more appropriately Itchy and Scratchy from the Simpsons come to mind).
Yashiro makes for an attractive heroine and she brings charisma and charm to her role as Ami. In this age of young MILFs, I guess model Honoka's character may not be all that unbelievable but she does seem a tad too beautiful, a bit too cool and somewhat too young to be the mother of a junior high school teen. Yet, despite this Honoka does make for a tough partner to Ami's Machine Girl. Model/Singer Asami is also screen eye-candy as Kimura Sho's Lady Macbeth-like mother. She is seductively evil in the role and her camp performance is topped by her crowd-pleasing revelation of her "drill brassier". Her campy villainy is grand performance and fun to watch.
Shimazu Kentaro is also convincingly menacing in his performance as Yakuza boss Kimura. With his "Heihachi/Tekken" style hairstyle and "Flying Guilotine" weapon of choice, he makes for another interesting villain, albeit not an original one.
Like recent films "Shoot Em Up" and "Crank", "Machine Girl" is not for the overly serious and is suited for viewers who don't mind suspending disbelief and logic for a little over ninety minutes and just enjoying a film that is pure dark entertainment. I definitely look forward to their next project "Tokyo Gore Police" which looks even more outrageous and over-the-top.
Not surprisingly, the film was produced jointly by Asian video distribution house Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters (whose specialty is V-Cinema and Ero-Guro films), B-Movie art-house Fever Dreams (Death Trance, Flesh For The Beast) and legendary Nikkatsu studios (whose 70s Roman Porno films are infamous) and their influence in "Machine Girl" is very much present. Yet, the film seems less like a Japanese sexploitation cheapie and more like a throwback to 70s style "Pinky Violence" and 80s splatter horror - a film so unapologetic in its visual bloodshed and graphic horror that it seems destined to be a cult classic among horror fans and film geeks.
Gravure idol and model Yashiro Minase plays high school athlete Hyuga Ami, a tough and spunky girl who is taking care of her younger brother Yu (Kawamura Ryosuke) after their parents committed suicide amid rumors and false allegations of murder.
Ami's seeming carefree life is suddenly turned asunder when Yu is callously tormented and killed by local high school punks led by the pompous Kimura Sho, the son of a Yakuza gang lord (Shimazu Kentaro) whose lineage is said to trace back to the famed Ninja clan of Hattori Hanzou (i.e. Kage No Gundan). Yu's classmate Sugihara Takashi is also killed by the same gang.
Insane with revenge, Ami confronts the parents of one of the gang members responsible for Yu's death (which the Police have ruled the incident a suicide). Yet the parents are every bit as malicious and evil as their spawn and Ami is nearly killed by them (she gets her arm "fried" in Tempura batter during her visit with them).
Ami returns to the house and forces a confession from the gang member and after a murderous rampage, she kills both the gang member and his mother (the father is left horribly scarred with hot oil). Ami decides to go after ringleader Sho.
Yet despite her best efforts, she is captured and mercilessly tortured by the Kimura clan which includes Sho's dragon-lady, mother-from-hell (Asami). They even go so far as to amputate Ami's left arm.
Incredibly, Ami survives and escapes to the only safe place, Sugihara Takashi's parents auto-shop. Former "bousouzouku" (biker gang) lovers Suguru (Ishikawa Yuya) and Miki (Honoka) tend to Ami's injuries and nurse her back to health. When Ami tells them that the Kimura clan were responsible for their son's torment and death, they agree to help Ami get revenge. Suguru designs a Gatling gun arm attachment for Ami while Miki trains the girl in street-fighting combat.
Kimura Sho discovers Ami's hiding place and sends a team of his fellow classmates (who have undergone Ninja training) after them. Ami uses her new "machine arm" to kill the underage assassins but not before they kill Suguru in the mêlée and severely injure Miki.
Despite her injuries Miki teams up with Ami to go after the Kimura clan yet they again meet another challenging obstacle as the parents of the assassins (whom Ami killed) undergo both "spiritual" as well as mechanical augmentation to become "demon warriors" in an effort to get revenge on Ami.
With its wacky and twisted story, silly dialog, bizarre costuming and insane ultraviolence, "Machine Girl" generates comparisons to the works of Sam Raimi particularly "Dark Man" and "Evil Dead". Iguchi also seems to be emulating the style of Miike Takashi and successfully matches some of the visual mayhem and creative invention that Miike has shown in past films like "Koroshi No Ichi".
Whether by design or budget necessity, I was impressed with Nishimura Yoshihiro and Kazuno Tsuyoshi's decision to use a lot of "old school" techniques to achieve the outrageous gore sequences in the film. While not on the level of Tom Savini, Rick Baker or Tani "Screaming Mad George" Joji, their work here is impressive especially when over-reliance on CGI and green-screen is common in other films of this type. It almost took on a mad cartoon-like surrealism (Tom & Jerry or more appropriately Itchy and Scratchy from the Simpsons come to mind).
Yashiro makes for an attractive heroine and she brings charisma and charm to her role as Ami. In this age of young MILFs, I guess model Honoka's character may not be all that unbelievable but she does seem a tad too beautiful, a bit too cool and somewhat too young to be the mother of a junior high school teen. Yet, despite this Honoka does make for a tough partner to Ami's Machine Girl. Model/Singer Asami is also screen eye-candy as Kimura Sho's Lady Macbeth-like mother. She is seductively evil in the role and her camp performance is topped by her crowd-pleasing revelation of her "drill brassier". Her campy villainy is grand performance and fun to watch.
Shimazu Kentaro is also convincingly menacing in his performance as Yakuza boss Kimura. With his "Heihachi/Tekken" style hairstyle and "Flying Guilotine" weapon of choice, he makes for another interesting villain, albeit not an original one.
Like recent films "Shoot Em Up" and "Crank", "Machine Girl" is not for the overly serious and is suited for viewers who don't mind suspending disbelief and logic for a little over ninety minutes and just enjoying a film that is pure dark entertainment. I definitely look forward to their next project "Tokyo Gore Police" which looks even more outrageous and over-the-top.