Monday, July 13, 2009

Tokyo Gore Police, 2008


The title coupled with the fact that it stars super-hot, Eihi Shiina from Takashi Miike’s Audition sold me on this film immediately. For my boyfriend it was that “These are the guys that did Meatball Machine!!”, greeted by a blank stare from me. I was, however, very impressed to see that director, Yoshihiro Nishimura, also did the special f/x and collaborated on the screenplay. Part Sci-Fi, part Kung Fu with over-the top-gore is the best way I can think to describe Tokyo Gore Police. I read another review that described the film as “Cronenberg inspired, live-action Manga” which I think is pretty accurate.

Tokyo Gore Police takes place in the future when the police force has been privatized. The police are hunting the “Engineers”, a group infected with a key-shaped tumor that gives them the ability to fuse amputated limbs with weaponry (which, in futuristic Tokyo, also includes wild animals??). Ruka (Shiina) is the star police officer of her force. In her hunt for the engineers, Ruka uncovers secrets about her deceased father and, shockingly, discovers the privatized police force to be corrupt!

Gorehounds will be underwhelmed by the Itchy-and-Scratchy-esque blood sprays and the overuse of CGI gore but will certainly not be able to complain about a lack of such scenes. The strange mutant creatures throughout the film are very well conceptualized and the make up is great. It’s definitely not a “scary” movie but it is very fun and anyone into Sci-Fi or Horror will appreciate it.

Watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no6JqRvhnys