Za Ginipiggu (Complete with Pretty Pictures!!)

For this post I'll actually be doing a series of six smaller reviews, each for one of the six feature installments in the Japanese direct-to-video horror series of Guinea Pig films. For the date of release and director of which I'll be going with the conventions I can find online, even if everyone seems to be agreeing with a date/director I can't verify.


Guinea Pig: The Devil's Experiment, 1985, dir. Satoru Ogura

This was possibly the hardest film I've ever had to watch. It's set up like a snuff film; no plot other than a woman being tortured for forty minutes, pushing the limits of her human pain, both physical and mental. The effects in it were so effective that I couldn't tell at times if something was an effect, or if instead I was seeing an actress just that dedicated to what they wanted to show on screen. There were some points at which suspension of disbelief was easier, such as when the three torturers were using the classic theatrical slap of one of your hands hitting the other while it seems like you're hitting something else, and when the victim is being forced to listen to noise, since that can easily be added in after the fact. Although some may find the practically home-video quality of the footage poor, it works towards making this really look like it could be a snuff film. This definitely isn't for the squeamish, but if you're into seeing the extremes of horror, especially Japanese, this is a must see.


Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood, 1985, dir. Hideshi Hino

The second installment of the series brings a name on board that can actually carry a decent amount of weight: Hideshi Hino. The infamous horror mangaka, who not only definitely penned this but according to everything I can find also directed it, brings more plot into this film than the first. This time the torture of the "guinea pig" in the film is preceded by a bit recounting the capture of the woman, and endcapped with a demented monologue from the serial killer in the samurai costume. Although the effects in this installment are phenomenal and are some of the most realistic gore I have ever seen, it is more obvious from the way they have been shot this around that they are indeed special effects. It helps, too, that there is a making-of just as long as the film itself. Even knowing that these are fake, though, the ideas and images presented are still terribly disgusting, and should be enough to make all but the hardened at least squirm a little. Overall I found this one a better film than the first because as the script by Hino, a veteran writer, has a poetic quality to its horrors, which end up being a kind of ultimate, horrific creation through deconstruction of a human being, as if some post-modern strains of theory were taken to their worst ends possible.


Guinea Pig 3: He Never Dies, 1986, dir. Masayuki Kuzumi

At this point the series had garnered a decent amount of controversy as well as switched hands to another distributor, which results in the first comedic entry in the series. It serves essentially as a blunt satire on what the strains of corporate life in Japan can do to low-level members of the bureaucracy. The protagonist is such a worker who literally gets trapped in living hell he cannot escape: no matter how he tries to kill himself he cannot die. At first he tries again and again to find something that is effective, but it eventually turns into him essentially pulling a series of gorier and gorier gags on a coworker. As such, the gore starts out a little slower this time around but escalates to a point on level for the series, with organs strewn about a room and dismemberment aplenty. The comedic nature of this entry definitely makes this the least horrifying of the series at this point, but it will definitely be horrifying enough to those squeamish at all when it comes to gore. Personally, I wasn't scared but still found the gore inventive enough as a means for comedy that it should please any gorehound. The only problem I had with this film was the odd framing device where some sort of scholar is presenting the tale to the viewer, which I guess is meant to imbue some sort of realism as the first two films had, but with the fantastical premise of this entry it comes off as completely unnecessary. In a way, though, it adds to just how silly the entire film is, so it shouldn't stop anyone from enjoying it.


Guinea Pig 4: Mermaid in a Manhole, 1988, dir. Hideshi Hino

For the fourth entry in the series Hideshi Hino gets back on board as writer and director, and things take a turn for the darker again. Personally, this is the film that had me the most disgusted with the gore, which focuses on infection, pustules, worms, and maggots, which make me much more squeamish than hacked flesh ever has. Although I was much more disturbed overall by the nature of the first Guinea Pig film, this one had me closer to just wanting to vomit. Beyond this, the plot of this film is the most engaging of the series: a man whose wife recently died discovers a mermaid in a sewer, whom he brings up to his apartment to paint a portrait of, which he continues to do even when her body is ravaged by an infection. The themes touched upon by this film are prevalent throughout Hino's career: places of waste and objects of destruction, death, and rot as a source for the creative process. In this tale he takes this concept to the level of the material for the creative process coming from the rot itself, as the painter uses the seven colors of pus from the mermaid's sores to paint her portrait. With its commentary on the creative process and less conventional, more inventive style of gore, this is the strongest entry in the series, thanks to Hino's skilled hand as an artist.


Guinea Pig 5: Android of Notre Dame, 1988, dir. Kazuhito Kuramoto

Unfortunately, this is the point at which the series becomes noticeably weaker. The focus on plot is continued, and this time a sci-fi angle has been added to the horro, with a midget performing twisted experiments in an attempt to find a way to help his dying sister. Oddly enough the gore is downplayed this time, perhaps because the people involved just weren't as talented as before, as can be seen in the lackluster script and acting. Granted, these were never the selling points for the series, but since there is an attempt to give even more plot than any entry before it, a better script and acting would have been necessary to make this effective. Instead, the characters and their conflicts come off as yawn-inducing, which really wouldn't have been a problem if the gores was piled on like it was before. Instead there's a prolonged scene where we get to see a few things done to a corpse, which are really small in effect considering what's already been shown in the series. When one character has his legs cut off, it's considerably less realistic than in the previous entries in the series. One high point, though, is the severed head attached to a robotic arm kept alive by the midget, which is the best done effect in the film as we see it gradually get more and more disgusting. In the end, though, I feel like I've seen very little for what could have been done with this minimal story in fifty minutes. Worse than this is the plot hole which remains as my last impression of the film: if the midget's sister was terminally ill because of a heart problem, why didn't she just get a heart transplant?


Guinea Pig 6: Devil Doctor Woman, 1990, dir. Hajime Tabe

And now for the silliest and least gory of the films in the series. While the premise is amusing enough itself (a transvestite, black-market doctor "curing" really strange diseases), it gets lost in "diseases" that are just too focused on being ridiculous and less on being ridiculously gory. If there was more of a focus on ideas like the man getting the mobile tattoo removed from his body (can you guess how much skin has to be removed to catch a tattoo that can escape?) and less on things like a talking stomach this would have been more effective as an entry in this series. It also doesn't help that these are by far the weakest effects in the series, making even the poorest effects in the previous entry look uber-realistic. One of the few things that really works for this entry is the title character, who is played by the delicious Japanese transvestite Peter, who also happens to be a legitimate actos who even had a decent role in Akira Kurosawa's Ran. Overall, if you're going to skip on seeing an entry in this series, I'd have to say it would actually be Android of Notre Dame, for at least this film isn't trying to take itself seriously and can be enjoyable in just how irreverantly goofy everything is; it's obvious that the crew on this film was just having a good time being stupid.

Oh, David Lynch, What Hast Thou Done?

Dune, dir. David Lynch, 1984

Although the title of this review may indicate that I don't like this movie, I actually quite enjoy it, albeit in its own way and for what does work in it. A lot of people deride this film for its flaws, and while I can definitely agree with at least some of them (the pacing is definitely screwed up), I try to appreciate what Lynch was able to make work under the terrible production requirements of the De Laurentiis clan. In other words, I find the film by the director to be quite enjoyable, but the film by the producers is quite flawed.

One of the first things a person might notice working for this film before even watching it is just how phenomenal the casting choices were, and they hold up past the credits. The young Kyle MacLachlan gives a subtlety to his transformation from "simple" Paul Atreides to the leader Muad'dib so his progress never seems jarring, even with the fast-paced editing Lynch was forced to do to meet the requirement of delivering a two-and-a- half hour max film. We first meet Paul bright-faced and eager to learn about the universe he is about to travel into, but as he undergoes more and more hardships he smiles and beams less, adopting a stern glare that is yet not brutal, and a hard line to his mouth. One delectable performance of note is Sting as Feyd-Rautha, who barely talks but never needs to very much, his mad eyes taking in everything around him as if it is only a matter of time before he consumes it all. The only real complaint I have about the characters and acting in the film is the fact that not everyone is given as much screen time as they should have, such as Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck and Linda Hunt as Shadout Mapes, but this is most likely due to the fact that these characters were meant to be given more screen time but were forced into underdevelopment due to time constraints. And Lynch fans will be delighted to see many of his regulars pop up, such as Jack Nance as a Harkonnen captain, Dean Stockwell as Dr. Yueh, and Everett McGill as Stilgar.

As I've mentioned before, perhaps the greatest flaw in the film is the editing, which is constantly on the move, the plot rolling by at the pace of a trip down the open highway. We never get to sit back and really just take in the characters for who they are instead of for what they are doing. I highly doubt this is David Lynch's fault, though; if he needs to slow down and let shots and plot digest for a while in the viewer, even if it pushes the running time to three hours plus, he is a filmmaker who understands that this must be done. As such, I feel that the pacing problem in this film is simply because Lynch was forced to tell this story in under two and a half hours by the De Laurentiis'. The assembly cut he first delivered was four and a half hours long, and while this was longer than his final product was going to be, you can tell this movie is still much shorter than it was meant to be. Considering how the rest of Lynch's repertoire shows his capable skills for taking as much time as needed, from his first film, Eraserhead, to his latest, Inland Empire, I find it more than likely he is not to blame. Granted, David Lynch is one of my favorite filmmakers and I'm sure I am biased on this, but the fact that I really feel that this film would have worked so much better if it weren't for the money behind the film instead of the creative work being a problem, I find it quite easy to take the rushed editing in stride and enjoy the film. Plus, for the amount of story that Lynch had to cram into two and a half hours, the plot is amazingly coherent and still flows logically.

The other major point for which this film should be watched is the brilliant set designs, props, and costumes. The artistic direction of the film shows that the director is trained as a fine artist and knows how to make things simply look engaging. The homeworld and fleet of the Emperor are brilliantly barogue in design, covered in lavish gold and mirrors, evocative of Varseilles, but of course in space; this is science fiction, after all. The palace and accoutrement of the Atreides seem more indebted to 19th century European sensibilities, which reflects well the more pragmatic qualities of that house. Arrakis didn't leave much to artistic design since it is simply desert, but the filming location in Chihuahua worked perfectly well in evoking the sense of what it should look like. My personal favorite for overall design, though, is the lodgings and clothing of the Harkonnen's, the brilliantly mad, technologically obssessed antagonists of the tale. With bright greens and steel blues everything about them seethes industry gone mad, where men have been lost to money and the progress of power through machines. Even the servants of the house are dehumanized, all outfitted with "heart plugs" designed for the film, which act exactly how they sound in name: if one is pulled out, the heart is unplugged and leaks everywhere.

Of course, a review of Dune wouldn't be complete without mentioning the sandworms, and boy do they look good. I'm not exactly sure how they were created, but they definitely show that you don't need CGI to make a giant, awesome monster. These things have teeth like a lamprey but honestly look like they could crush you, interacting logically with their environments, never as if they'd been tossed in as a background layer.

Oh, and yes, other than the "Prophecy Theme" by Brian Eno, which is simply a great melody, the music is by Toto, but you wouldn't really notice other than the fact that there is electric guitar in the instrumentation. So don't let this fact distract you from the film or make you think that you're in for some post-'90's film featuring actual rock music throughout. The score is instrumental throughout and more rooted in traditional film scores than many other '80's soundtracks, and therein lies the great distinction: this film has a score by Toto, not a soundtrack.

Another part of the film that is highly discussed is the manner in which the "weirding way" has been interpreted. In the original novel it involves intense, precise psychological control of one's musculature and nervous system, which would understandably be difficult to portray in film as opposed to literature, so it makes sense that it would be changed. And changed it is: the weirding way has become weirding modules, which are essentially guns that focus the energy found in certain sounds (which the wielder must make with his or her own voice) for different affects, but usually the end result is essentially a laser blast. By creating these weirding modules as a mode of combat based around sound, Lynch is able to literally turn Paul's adopted name Muad'dib into a "killing sound," as his name will trigger a lethal bolt from a weirding module. Although the weirding modules can definitely seem a little silly, watching these great warriors shouting odd noises to kill people, it's an engaging manner in which to present an idea or a sound representing an idea as directly lethal. Moreover, the sound of an army wielding these modules ends up evoking the battlecries many armies from around the world would use to intimidate their enemies; this time the battlecries just happen to be lethal themselves.

One part of the film on which I definitely am left ambivalent are the voiceovers. I understand why they're there in a film that has to cram so much plot and character development in such a short time; it really does help further the narrative in a logical way. But at the same time I really enjoy seeing plot and character development rather than essentially being told what plot and character development is occurring. Again, though, the time constraint put on the film definitely makes it impossible to properly develop these things through visuals and dialogue, and I did get used to the voiceovers as the film progressed.

In the end, Dune is definitely a flawed film, and by far David Lynch's weakest effort (even he doesn't like discussing this film, as he sees it as the one time in his career he truly sold out), but there is still so much to enjoy in the film that it shouldn't be overlooked based on its demerits. Instead, go in and appreciate the film for everything good that is there, because it honestly would be a better than good film if David Lynch had been allowed to do an actual three hour cut of it.

N.B. There is an extended cut of the film, but this was done without Lynch's consultation. Although there are a lot of things that do work nicely within the longer running time, the cut was made without Lynch's consultation, and as such he had his name removed from that version of the film. So if you want to see Lynch's Dune, the theatrical cut is the only way to go, as it is the only cut he has given approval to.

Coming Soon or, Reviews Pending

So even though I don't have any reviews up here yet, I figured I might as well make a list of films that I should be posting reviews of soon enough. Hopefully shouldn't be too long before they're here! Not that anyone's waiting anxiously...:

I Am Curious – Yellow
Shadows in Paradise
Lawrence of Arabia
Naked Lunch
Sweet Movie
Blade II
Ariel
M
Goya's Ghosts
Rashomon
Umberto D.
Hero
Iron Man

I hope this gives a good idea of the range of film's I'm planning to cover on this thing!

N.B. I will be updating this list every now and then; it's also a good way for me to keep track of things! ;)

To Begin...

Welcome to my blog on video, film, cinema, what you will in the visual arts. My plan is to post reviews of everything I watch on here. Or at least what I have time to review. Hm. I've been watching a lot for the past couple of weeks, so I'll probably try to catch up on that. We'll see. In the meantime, velkommen!