Hiruko the Goblin (Japan, 1991)

A school was built on one of the Gates of Hell, behind which hordes of demons await the moment they will be free to roam the Earth. Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads on the demons' spider-like bodies. Hieda, an archaeology professor, and Masao, a haunted student, investigate the gory deaths.

Hiruko the Goblin feels like a very ambitious film for director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man), with a much larger scope for the story than his usually more character focused movies like Bullet Ballet (1998) or A Snake of June (2002). With Hiruko the Goblin he basically makes an alien invasion film with a yokai skin and pits two unlikely heroes against the demons of hell. 

It's a fun, creepy horror adventure where Tsukamoto wears his influences on his sleeves, both David Cronenberg and The Thing (1982) can be dimly seen behind the scenery. A cool film for fans of Tsukamoto and Japanese monster films, although a hard sell for all the arachnophobes out there!

Genre: Comedy/Fantasy/Horror. 1h 29min.

Killing (Japan, 2018)

Set during the tumultuous mid-19th century Edo period of Japan, Killing is the story of a masterless samurai or ronin named Ikematsu Sosuke. As the prevalent peace and tranquility are sure to be replaced by war and conflict across the land the swordsman feels restlessness creep upon him.

When you hear such promising words like "Shinya Tsukamoto's first samurai film", it's hard not to get a little misty-eyed. I've gushed enough over the director of Tetsuo: The Iron Man in the past so let's just say I was ecstatic when I heard he was working on a jidaigeki film. Apparently it was something he always had wanted to do so it could be seen as somewhat of a dream project of his. It's a fairly short affair, clocking in at barely 1 hour and 20 minutes, but Tsukamoto takes his time portraying every aspect of his samurai story with two warrior's clashing morals, the unstoppable need for revenge and sacrificing one's personal code of justice in the name of someone else's bloodlust. 

Tsukamoto has spoken about how he wanted the small cuts from the sword to feel very real and not just be beautiful slashes like you would see in the classics, and early on I personally thought he achieved that when a characters hand gets cut open and it looks realistic and painful as hell. Killing (a.k.a. Zan) proves to be an interesting, slightly gory new way for Tsukamoto to express his wonderfully insane self.

Genre: Action/Drama

Fires on the Plain (Japan, 2014)

A Japanese soldier endures illness, starvation and brutality in the Philippines at the tail end of WW2.

In 2014, Shinya Tsukamoto (Tokyo Fist) got the chance to direct a remake of a 1959 war movie of the same name, and its got his signature madness all over it. He plays the lead role himself, and gives us the portrayal of a man who slowly slips into violent confusion and disorientation. Both peaceful and patient, while also making sure to display copious amounts of blood and gore, Tsukamoto  has the power to make a relatively low-budget film feel like a huge deal and with a humane running time to boot (1h27m).

Genre: Drama/War

Haze (Japan, 2005)

A man wakes up to find himself locked in a very tiny, cramped concrete corridor, in which he can barely move. He doesn't remember why he is there or how he got there. He has a terrible stomach injury and is slowly bleeding to death. He begins to edge his way along the narrow maze-like corridors, only to see other people undergoing their own horrible tests though holes in the walls.

Watching Haze is like tumbling down into one of Shinya Tsukamoto's nightmares, and together with him, we're trying to find our way out while also figuring out how we got here and why there's mutilated bodies everywhere. It's a quite short journey (49 min), but it takes you through a cesspool which flows from one of Japans most daring and interesting directors.

Genre: Horror/Mystery

Nightmare Detective (Japan, 2006)

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a simultaneous suicide. Events take a horrifying turn. Keiko Kirishima is a cool, seemingly emotionless police detective, brilliant but off-putting. She's faced with two mutilated corpses who appear to have killed themselves, but she's not sure. A cell-phone number links the deaths. She calls on Akumu Tantei, a poor and suicidal young man who has the ability to enter people's dreams. 

So, I have finally seen the first Nightmare Detective (I wrote about the second one a long time ago) and can conclude that it's a pretty damn good duo of films. I really, really liked the sequel and since then I've had a hard time getting hold of this one. Here, Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man) is just as amazing without his usually overly shaky camera and unconventional film style and uses a more traditional narrative format, a mystery thriller with his own  cool fantasy twist. In other words, even if you couldn't get into his more crazy stuff such as Bullet Ballet (1998) or Tokyo Fist (1995), you should still definitely check out both Nightmare Detective films.

Genre: Fantasy/Horror/Thriller

Kotoko (Japan, 2011)

The story of a single mother who suffers from double vision; caring for her baby is a nerve-wrecking task that eventually leads her to a nervous breakdown. She is suspected of being a child abuser when things get out of control and her baby is taken away.

Let me just start by saying how glad I am that we finally have another Shinya Tsukamoto film on the site, it's certainly been too long since the last time. Tsukamoto has previously made films such as Tokyo Fist (2005), A Snake of June (2002), and above all, Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1988). Kotoko is a chaotic story about a mother whose mind is starting to collapse in on itself. If you're not a fan of shaky camera work, you'll need a barf bag before seeing this movie because sometimes it's like being stuck in a tumble dryer. Crazy camera aside, Kotoko is a phenomenal movie and quite a dark one at that, featuring one of the most shocking deaths I've ever seen, I think. 

Genre: Drama/Horror

A Snake of June (Japan, 2002)

Rinku is a suicide-prevention counselor, living with her husband Shigehiko. He's older than she, scrubbing things constantly, sexually indifferent. They sleep apart. During Tokyo's rainy season, Iguchi, a photographer Rinku has counseled by phone, sends her pictures he has taken through her skylight: she's wearing a short skirt, masturbating. He offers her the negatives if she'll follow his instructions.

Everyone who's familiar with Shinya Tsukamoto's work (Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist) will recognize his style from the start. Lots of close-ups and shaky camera-work, which could've spelled disaster for any director but Tsukamoto is in perfect control over the uncontrolled. 

The sexual themes run rampant with a common thread of voyeurism and Rinku is constantly being watched or used for someone's personal kink. The rain never seem to let up and must have affected the film's filter which is tinted in a grainy ocean blue color. Also, a long, seemingly self-aware metal penis makes an appearance. Mental.

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Tokyo Fist (Japan, 1995)

A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Tajuki, on the subway. Tajuki is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Tajuki might be having an affair with his fiance Hizuru. After an altercation, Tsuda begins training rigorously himself, leading to an extremely bloody, violent confrontation.

Here, Shinya Tsukamoto once again plays the lead role in his own film. Crazy camerawork put together with lightning fast cuts and bone-crushing violence. Over-the-top fights where every punch creates av huge, bloody lump of meat in the opponents face.  An insane (a word which describes most of Tsukamoto's films actually), psychotic ride through dirty boxing rings where the fists punches through air so fast it sounds like jet engines. 

Genre: Action/Drama/Thriller

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Japan, 1989)

A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal.

Tetsuo is the film that introduced me to the mind of famed director Shinya Tsukamoto, and after that, it's been one long, happy love story. If the description above doesn't make you want to watch this movie, then I don't know what will. Though certainly not a film for everyone, being filmed in black & white and a little slow in the beginning, but those who stay will discover a twisted, disturbing story with surprisingly enjoyable practical special-effects and body horror madness. Some scenes really are among the most insane things that ever have happened in the history of cinema.

Genre: Horror/Sci-Fi