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| Bill Harner, Freelance Movie Enthusiast |
If you find yourself strangely intrigued and wanting more, Sushi Typhoon has a movie (or seven) for you. Sushi Typhoon was born from the blood, guts, and circuits of the insane horror, gore, and sci-fi genres Japan. It came into being in 2010 with the intent to create low-budget horror, science fiction, and fantasy films aimed at an international audience.
Helldriver, Yakuza Warrior, and Mutant Girls Squad all share the common DNA in the stylings of visual effects creators and directors of the genre classics Tokyo Gore Police, Samurai Princess, and Machine Girl. In that vein Helldriver, Yakuza Warrior, and Mutant Girls Squad probably spent more on the makeup and prosthetic appliances than the rest of the film. Which, combined with over the top plots, acting that goes from half decent to “how can they manage to stay in character, this scene is so ridiculous?", and a wonderfully dark sense of humor makes them absolutely delightful to watch.
And this dude is responsible for most of the awesomeness.
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| Director Noboru Iguchi |
Since
Yakuza Weapon was my most recent viewing, that’s where I’ll start. Yakuza
Weapon centers around a young Yakuza who comes home to Japan when he is
informed that his father, a Yakuza leader, has been assassinated. As the story
progresses, the young Yakuza encounters, and deals with, various people and the
associated problems they bring him and his two helpers; in the way that only a
wealthy 16 year old who dropped acid while watching Shogun and employing a
screen writer to capture his every thought, can handle it. Amazingly douchey
fedora on the hero? Check. More decapitations than a Klingon orgy? Check. Blood
that flows freer than the Windex at a Greek family reunion? Double check.
Foppish assistant to the bad guy who counts to potato? Hellz yeah, Snootchie
Bootchies! (Any movie that features someone counting by potato is award worthy,
in my book) Strap on Robo-dildo? …Ok,
who's the jackass who wrote that into the damn script? Not cool, man, not cool.
What's that? You wrote in 47 metric tonnes of dynamite and a rocket launching
knee? Ok, we're cool, Brah.
There is more awesomeness to this flick but I don't want to spoil anything
because there were a couple of surprises that made me giggle so hard I almost
sharted.
Helldriver takes place in a divided Japan. The country is walled off
into two halves. The normal half, and the zombie half. Seems like a good start,
right? Throw in some great humor, a makeup and prosthesis budget that is
greater than the acting budget, and visual effects mostly made of rubber,
blood, and blood colored pixels and you’ve got yourself a movie. Somehow the
main character ends up tasked with fighting off the Zombie invasion. There’s a
few twists and turns and we find out that her evil mom/step mom (I’m not totally
sure) is the Zombie queen. The heroine finds herself outfitted with a chainsaw
katana and a car that makes Herbie seem not nearly as cool.
Karate Robo Zaborgar. What this is I don’t even know. I can’t begin to properly describe
it so I’m just going to write what I posted to the Book of Faces as I viewed it:
Post 1: I have discovered where old Power Rangers costumes, special effects and acting coaches go to die. Karate Robo Zaborgar!
I am about ten minutes into it and it makes Robo Geisha seem the height of whatever you call this genre of Japanese film making.
Post 2: Point
in its favor: Man breast milk. And fake spitting.
Post 3: Point
against : worst subtitles. Ever.
Post
from friend commenting on my observations: "Karate
Robo Zaborgar" said out loud sounds like you are getting ready to say
something awesome and then had a stroke before you could finish it.
Post 4: Point for:
just introduced an evil robot named Diarrhea Robot.
Post 5: I wish I had the fifth of Scotch we polished off last
night right now.
Post 6: Point for: bad guy Cyborg named "King Africa"
which is a Japanese guy in a Dashiki with ping pong ball eyes sticking out of
his face.
Post 7: Point
against and for: main character sitting on his robot motorcycle eating a roll
and crying.
Post 8: Ooooo....
we got tit missiles from the main bad cyborg lady. And a perverted motorcycle
robot.
Post 9: And
a human/Cyborg sex scene as only the folks at Sushi Typhoon could imagine it...
Post 10: Rocket
wheelchair. Powered by fart. I could not make this stuff up. I just want to
know what drugs are legal in Japan that they come up with this stuff.
Cold Fish is possibly the strangest of the bunch. Perhaps it’s the normalcy of it all that got to me. It’s loosely
based on a couple of serial killers in Japan. It centers around the hapless existence of a small fish trader who makes an
unlikely friend when his daughter is caught stealing.
There is gore and blood but in a much more refined and realistic manner than
the other offerings from the Typhoon. No fountainous spurts of the glorious red
stuff; just the satisfying dark red that clings and permeates certain scenes in
disgustingly beautiful way. Abusive relationships, random and seemingly nonsensical emphasis on western
religious symbols, chopped off peckers, microwaved food and corpse play are all
staples of the film. If you have dreams of becoming a serial killer but aren't
sure how to dispose of the bodied this film may have some pointers for you.
I haven’t had the
opportunity to view Deadball or Aliens Vs. Ninjas yet but I have a feeling I
won’t be disappointed by them.
Posted by Brandon Early for Bill Harner
