Tetsuo: The Iron Man

I figure that if I want to start this review blog, I should probably start with the films that are responsible for my love of horror and off-beat cinema. Sure I had seen my fair share of horror movies before this one, but seeing this movie for the first time was like a mystical experience. I had yet to gaze at the black and white images of Eraserhead, nor had I had the pleasure of seeing any of Jodorowsky's films. I was 14('97) when the American VHS was released, and I can remember as if it were yesterday the first time I saw it at my local rental store...

The reviews on the box threw words like "Brilliant", "Hyper-kinetic" and "Shockingly Hilarious" into my brain.. leaving me to look into the creepy gaze of the dude on the front cover. I remember thinking to myself.. "How the hell do you pronounce "Tsu-Ka-Moto"!? The other movie that I was debating over was strangely enough "Blood Diner"... not yet my precious, I'll get to "Blood Diner" in a two years as fate would have it.

So I take this baby home, and oh my goodness this is some fucked up shit. If you're not prepared, like me, then this movie can really get into your head. I knew what I was seeing was truly visionary, and I can remember thinking that I need to find more movies like this. This movie really started my love/fascination with extreme cinema. I sought out that feeling again and again, and let me tell you... it rarely gets as good as Tetsuo.

So, enough reminiscing, onward we march. The movie is a surrealist/cyber-punk take on the "Metamorphosis " story, except the main character is turning into a machine. The abandoned factories and iron scrapyards really reminded me of my local surroundings of a post-industrial city. Once I saw Eraserhead, it was as if I had already seen these factories before, as if in a dream. The director, Shinya Tsukamoto, never relents in his assault on the viewer. You never know what is going to happen... and after the drill scene, you don't want to know what will happen.

Everything about this movie is perfect to me. The actor Tomorowo Taguchi gives it his all with his performance of a man loosing control over his own body. The industrial music track by Chu Ishikawa adds palpable tension to some key scenes, such as the one in the subway. The photography by Kei Fujiwara is dark and very experimental, and her performance is amazing as well. She would later make her own films, which include "Organ", a particularly nasty experimental flick.

This movie freaked out my all my friends, who I felt obligated to show.. one at a time. "You're odd" was a common comment after our viewing excursion... touche'. For me, this film acted as the high-water mark for my future forays into the horror underbelly. As I watch this film over the years, and I've changed so much from when I first saw it, but the film still holds its raw power to me in the same way as it did in 1997. It's like a bad hallucination.

If you haven't seen Tetsuo by this point, what on earth are you waiting for? The Tartan Asia Extreme DVD is still readily available, get yours now.

Welcome to my Lair of Horror...

I've been a huge fan of horror since I was very young. I can remember watching movies like Frankenstein and The Wolf Man when I was only a few years old. I have never believed what I was seeing was real, but I was fascinated with the darker side of art. I had read the complete Poe by the time I was 12, and I had already hunted down VHS copies of Fulci's Zombie and Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Needless to say, after discovering the writings of H.P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker as well as the films of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, and Shinya Tsukamoto, I was well down the path of becoming a horror connoisseur.

Like most people who have devoted much time and effort into amassing a substantial movie collection, I have found certain sub-genres which I have taken to heart more than others. We all have our own particular tastes of course. The aim of this blog is to bring to light rare and obscure movies that many of you have yet to see, or have yet to appreciate... and give them a thorough review.

Of course in this day and age, it is becoming increasingly easier to acquire obscure movies thanks in large part to the DVD revolution. But if your were to check ebay from time to time, you'll notice that horror movies make up a large portion of the collector's market. Certain movies I own, like "Last House on Dead End Street" by Barrel Entertainment, "The Guinea Pig Box Set" by Unearthed films, "The Ilsa Collection" by Anchor Bay and "August Underground: Snuff Edition" which was self distributed by Toe Tag Pictures have all fetched around 100 bucks at one time or another. I am not alone!

The passion of collecting films is still alive and well in my mind. Even though the economy puts a halt on excessive splurging, I can still look at my shelves and transport myself to the old "Mom and Pop" video stores I grew up on and love. There is something ridiculously awesome about being able to go grab my Synapse DVD of "Horrors of Malformed Men" and see a film that hasn't been shown for nearly four decades. If you're like me and can't get enough Italian Zombies, Cannibals, Samurai's, Giant Monsters, Mushroom People, Faux-Snuff Movies, Necrophilia, Back-Woods Slashers, and Henenlotter movies, then appreciate this golden age.