Wild Zero ワイルドゼロ (1999)

Wild Zero    

Wild Zero Film Poster

ワイルドゼロ 「Wairudo Zero」

Release Date: August 08^th, 1999 (Japan)

Running Time: 98 mins.

Director: Tetsuro Takeuchi

Writer: Satoshi Takagi, Tetsuro Takeuchi (Screenplay),

Starring: Guitar Wolf, Drum Wolf, Bass Wolf, Masashi Endo, Kwancharu Shitichai, Haruka Nakajo, Yoshiyuki Morishita,

IMDB

Wild Zero is a film from 1999 which was shot in Thailand (doubling up for Japan) and directed by Tetsuro Takeuchi, a veteran of the music video scene. It’s a B-movie about a young guy discovering the power of rock and love with help from real-life garage rock power trio Guitar Wolf.

The Machine Girl 片腕マシンガール (2008)

The Machine Girl    

片腕マシンガール「Kataude Mashin Garu」

Release Date: August 02^nd, 2008

Running Time: 96 mins.

Director: Noboru Iguchi

Writer:  Noboru Iguchi (Screenplay),

Starring: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentaro Shimazu, Honoka, Nobuhiro Nishihara, Ryosuke Kawamura, Kentaro Kishi, Taro Suwa, Nahana,

IMDB

Over the summer months I reviewed Sushi Typhoon movies. This is the label responsible for many splatter films and was created to sell movies to westerners based on what Japanese filmmakers think will sell, namely extreme action, horror and all of the clichés that are conjured up when we think about Japan. Machine Girl is the perfect encapsulation of this and it isn’t even a Sushi Typhoon film! It doesn’t get any more Japanese than a schoolgirl fighting ninjas and yakuza with blood spraying everywhere. What makes our central protagonist a machine girl? The huge machine gun she totes in place of her left arm.

Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies ステーシー (2008)

Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies   

Stacy Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies Film Poster

ステーシー「Sute-shi-」

Release Date: February 18^th, 2008

Running Time: 80 mins.

Director: Naoyuki Tomomatsu

Writer:  Chisato Ogawara (Screenplay), Kenji Otsuki (Original Novel),

Starring: Tomoka Hayashi, Yukijiro Hotaru, Shiro Misawa, Hinako Saeki, Yoji Tanaka, Shungiku Uchida, Toshinori Omi, Shiro Misawa, Natsuki Kato, Yasutaka Tsutsui,

IMDB

Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies (2008) is made by pink/horror film director Naoyuki Tomomatsu and it slots in between two other titles in his filmography, Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl (2009) and Zombie Self-Defence Force (2006) and it comes as I hit a wall reviewing bad horror movies. This one has ambitions of social commentary but it has a confusingly told story where the special effects overwhelm the message.

High School Girl Rika Zombie Hunter 最強兵器女子高生RIKA (2008)

High School Girl Rika Zombie Hunter   

最強兵器女子高生RIKA「Saikyo heiki joshikosei: Rika」

Release Date: February 18^th, 2008

Running Time: 75 mins.

Director: Kenichi Fujiwara

Writer:  Takeyuki Morikaku, Kenichi Fujiwara (Screenplay),

Starring: Risa Kudo, Takeshi Yamamoto, Mai Minami, Tsugumi Nagasawa, Eiichi Kikuchi, Lemon Hanazawa, Mina Arai, Akina Serizwa, Kotoha Hiroyama,

IMDB

The title High School Girl Rika Zombie Hunter is pretty self-explanatory in terms of the content of the film. A high school girl named Rika (Risa Kudo) hunts zombies. Rather reluctantly, I might add.

Undead Pool Attack Girls’ Swim Team vs. the Undead 女子競泳反乱軍 (2007)

Undead Pool / Attack Girls’ Swim Team vs. the Undead  

女子競泳反乱軍「Joshikyoei hanrangun」

Release Date: December 25^th, 2007

Running Time: 96 mins.

Director: Koji Kawano

Writer:  Satoshi Owada (Screenplay),

Starring: Sasa Handa, Yuria Hidaka, Ayumu Tokito, Sakae Yamazaki,

IMDB

I thought this was a horror film, a silly horror film. That’s what IMDB labels it as, an action horror. It was a silly horror but it turns out that it’s also a pink film. According to Wikipedia it is a title from the erotic horror genre and it stars AV girls like Sasa Handa, Yuria Hidaka, and Ayumu Tokito.

Alien vs Ninja AVN エイリアンVSニンジャ (2011)

Alien vs Ninja   

Alien vs Ninja Film Poster

AVN エイリアンVSニンジャ「AVN Eirian VS Ninja」

Release Date: July 23^rd, 2011

Running Time: 81 mins.

Director: Seiji Chiba

Writer: Seiji Chiba (Screenplay),

Starring: Shuji Kshiwabara, Mika Hijii, Ben Hiura, Masanori Mimoto, Donpei Tsuchihira,

The title says it all really. Aliens fighting ninjas. Two of the most iconic draws in cult movie history duke it out in a battle that should be cinematic gold but in the hands of director Seiji Chiba it is boring.

The rumble takes place in Sengoku era Japan where the Iga Ninja clan are spying on feudal lords and debating whether to throw their lot in with Oda Nobunaga or Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yamata, a young and impetuous ninja who revels in the thrill of the fight, is less interested in the politics so when a meteorite crashes into a village and unleashes a trio of aliens he finds himself facing his ultimate test as he fights katana against claw, shuriken against snakelike tail, and fist against fang.

Helldriver ヘルドライバー (2011)

Helldriver   

ヘルドライバー 「Herudoraiba」

Release Date: May 23^rd, 2011

Running Time: 117 mins.

Directors: Yoshihiro Nishimura

Writer: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Daichi Nagisa (Screenplay)

Starring: Yumiko Hara, Eihi Shiina, Yurei Yanagi, Takumi Saito, Kazuki Namioka, Mizuki Kusumi, Yukihide Benny, Asami, Cay Isumi, Maki Mizui,

Splatter film director Yoshihiro Nishimura has one setting: extreme. His creatures designs are extreme. His action scenes are extreme. His use of special effects and blood splashed around on screen is extreme. If you thought that Tokyo Gore Police (2008) and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl (2009) were extreme, you have seen nothing. Helldriver (2011) is a bone-crunching, head-splitting, and grotesque attempt at a zombie apocalypse epic on a shoestring budget and it is extreme action for its entire near two hour running time for better and for worse.

Mutant Girls Squad 戦闘少女 血の鉄仮面伝説 (2010)

Mutant Girls Squad   

戦闘少女 血の鉄仮面伝説　「Sento shojo: Chi no tekkamen densetsu」

Release Date: May 22^nd, 2010

Running Time: 90 mins.

Directors: Tak Sakaguchi, Noboru Iguchi, Yoshihiro Nishimura

Writer: Jun Tsugita, Noboru Iguchi

Starring: Yumi Sugimoto, Yuko Takayama, Suzuka Morita, Kanji Tsuda, Maiko Ito, Tak Sakaguchi, Asami, Chiharu Kawai,

Splatter outfit Sushi Typhoon (a subsidiary of Nikkatsu) was founded in 2010 and one of its earliest releases was Mutant Girls Squad (2010) which features three of the company’s biggest talents directing individual chapters of the film. The first part is orchestrated by action star/fight choreographer Tak Sakaguchi, and special effects maestros Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura follow him up in parts two and three. What starts out as an outrageously silly splatter-tastic tale of kick-ass girls taking on corrupt authorities in a tidal wave of blood and mutant body-parts falls apart by the end as Nishimura over-indulges his fetish for splatter special effects.

Lychee Light Club ライチ☆光クラブ Manga Review

Title: Lychee Light Club ライチ☆光クラブ, Raichi☆Hikari Kurabu 

Author: Usamaru Furuya

Launched in 2005, 1 volume and completed

Lychee Hikari Club is a one-volume manga whose origins can be found in a stage play that was performed at the Tokyo Grand Guignol Theatre in 1985. Usamaru Furuya takes the story and crafts a disturbing tale with a potent atmosphere given gory life by great artwork, a strong setting, ero-guro (erotic grotesque) and the excesses of yaoi all of which made me shudder and shocked me at points.

Tamami: The Baby’s Curse 赤んぼ少女 (2008)

Tamami: The Baby’s Curse    

Japanese: 赤んぼ少女

Romaji: Akanbo Shojo

Release Date: August 02^nd, 2008

Running Time: 100 mins.

Director: Yudai Yamaguchi,

Writer: Kazuo Umezu, Hirotoshi Kobayashi (Screenplay),

Starring: Naoko Mizusawa, Goro Noguchi, Takumi Saito, Asami, Atsuko Asano, Etsuko Ikuta, Itsuji Itao, Keisuke Horibe,

Director Yudai Yamaguchi followed up Meatball Machine (2008) with this schlocky horror film based on a manga by horror maestro Kazuo Umezu and it is a fun horror film full of death, destruction and a creepy baby-like creature brought to life by some “imaginative” CG/acting/physical effects. With a loony story, a classic haunted house setting, an OTT villain, and some ropey effects, every minute is perpetual fun to watch.