Hello again, guys and ghouls.
I hope you're all faring well during our current year of hell. We're officially past the halfway point, so now as we're slipping into a new season and potentially into oblivion, we can slow down officially now that the spring and summer season are fading into fall and winter.
And since we're heading into fall you know what that means- Halloween. And of course Halloween means a lot of us are going to be watching more scary, spooky, creepy and ooky flicks. It comes with the territory- what better way to experience fear and horror from the safety of our homes than on our TV screens? Okay, and obviously I'm not referring to the real horror and fear on the news every day; this is a chance for us to distance ourselves from the actual real atrocities we are living through and venture into and come out of some temporarily threatening situations in a fictional reality and be totally A-OK because ultimately it's just a scary movie.
I know it's still really early for Halloween, and I know I have been focusing on some spooky and disturbing movies for the past few months anyway. If I'm being completely honest I haven't really stopped trying to push myself into watching more and more disturbing films- I guess it's my new way of coping with the crippling existential dread that 2020 has given a lot of us. But I was thinking, why not start listing some stuff early? Why not share some interesting or gross titles with you guys before the big day so you have plenty of time to decide which movies to add to your Halloween-movie-marathon list? Anyway, that's the goal I'm going for here.
So first we're going to focus on some great horror from Japan. I don't know if any of you have ever seen any Japanese horror or thriller movies, but honestly, they're probably some of my favorite horror flicks- they are more cerebral and foreboding than American horror, I would say. While American horror focuses on a lot of startling tactics, utilizing score and jump scares, Japanese horror tends to be more quiet, more reserved, and it always builds up to it's peak of fear instead of smacking the audience in the face with effects or surprises.
Some of the most notable Japanese horror movies would definitely be Ju-On and Ringu; both titles have a fair amount of sequels and both of which have been adopted and remade in America as The Grudge and The Ring or Rings. The Death Note movies were also choice- the ones that actually came from Japan and not the one Netflix spat out to us a few years ago (for those of you who haven't seen it, don't. It's a waste of time). These flicks are really great, and I'm honestly a huge fan of each of them and highly recommend checking them out, but there are so many more extremely creepy and disturbing films from the Land of the Rising Sun that more people should know about. Today, we're going to be talking about some pretty extreme titles- specifically, The Guinea Pig movies.
**Warning! Warning! You are now entering the part of the blog that discusses potentially triggering topics such as mutilation, bodily fluids, torture, abduction, mental illness, etc. If any of these topics will cause you to stress out, have a panic attack or whatever, maybe consider not reading further. If you keep reading, hey- you've been warned. Don't at me.
The Guinea Pig movies (ギニーピッグ, Ginī Piggu) are a series of films that came out in Japan in the 80's and early 90's. They all feature different stories, all of which are dark, twisted, and disturbing. If you're thinking that these movies involve adorable, cuddly rodents you are clearly reading the wrong blog and need to turn back now. The movies in this series call themselves "Guinea Pig" as their subject matter, production, and special effects are all of a purely experimental fashion. These movies are pretty intense in terms of gore- if you have a hard time stomaching a lot of violence and blood effects, these are some films you probably would have a hard time with.
The Guinea Pig movie series has 6 movies in total- one title in particular has earned itself a cult following, which we will talk about later, but others don't seem to be as well-known, at least from what I've seen in my research and viewing.
Years later, the Guinea Pig series would be picked up and essentially added-onto by the film production company Unearthed Films, where they released American Guinea Pig. I haven't watched any of these, and currently I'm not in a huge rush to watch them. Call me an elitist or a hipster, but I'm more interested in the original batch.
For this blog, I've watched 5 of the films, one of which I couldn't find a good version of, so hopefully one day I'll finish the whole catalog, but as of right now we'll go with the 5 I did see. So strap yourselves in, kids. We're going to deep-dive into some of the most intense horror from the Land of the Rising Sun...
The Devil's Experiment
The Devil's Experiment is the first in the series and honestly, I found it to be the most simultaneously boring, and jacked up of the films in the series, if that makes any sense. Essentially the film just focuses on some group of guys who have abducted a woman and they torture her a whole lot for, from what I could tell, unknown reasons. They spend the first like, 4 minutes of the movie slapping her. Most of the slaps looked thankfully like prat-slaps, so they didn't appear to actually connect with her face from the angle it was shot in. But later the camera changes angles and I'm pretty sure a few of the slaps actually connected with her cheek, and that bugged me a lot. Later they put her in a swivel chair and just spin her around and around until she vomits and passes out, which in watching it I was thinking sarcastically, "...Wow... that's some hardcore torture, fellas..." but the more I put myself in her shoes the less sarcastic I got about it. Then there's a period where they put some headphones on her head and play loud, ear-drum wrecking noises, and again, that was simultaneously disturbing and also boring because eventually, my mind tapped out and got more wrapped up in a game on my cellphone than watching something awful like that. Eventually it ramps up to them straight up inserting needles in her eyes, and that's where the movie got me freaking out. And eventually, from what I could tell, they just leave her for dead in the forest. That's it- that's the movie.
This one was definitely the weakest film in terms of production quality, though how they pulled off those eye-effects is still a dang mystery to me- but this one like I said, was simultaneously dull and disturbing in my opinion (*note* I almost put "in my eyes", but I figured it was too soon...). If you want to challenge yourself, this is flick will definitely be just that, but honestly I didn't think this was all that great for many reasons, so don't beat yourself up if you decide to skip it.
Flower of Flesh and Blood
Well well well- here we go with probably the most notorious of the films in the Guinea Pig series, Flower of Flesh and Blood. This film is probably the most prolific in the series and as mentioned at the beginning of this blog, it has garnered a bit of a cult following among horror fans. Here's a fun bit of trivia for you- allegedly, once Charlie Sheen happened upon this movie, watched it, and was absolutely convinced this was a real-life snuff film, so he contacted the FBI to look into it. Oh boy, friends, we're in for a treat.
Flowers of Flesh and Blood (ギニーピッグ2 血肉の華, Ginī Piggu 2: Chiniku no Hana) was directed by the legendary horror mangaka (manga artist) Hideshi Hino and focuses on a woman who one night gets abducted off of the street by some wacko who is dressed like a samurai. Samurai-guy then takes her to what I'm assuming is is home and proceeds to drug her, dismember her, ultimately murder her- all the while marveling over how beautiful the human body is when it's bleeding and getting chopped up. Then, for the finale we get a little tour and are shown what he does with the fun trophies he gets from his victims. Seriously, if you were expecting more of a story here, you'll be sadly let down- not many of these films are heavy in the story department, as they're usually only 40 minutes long. But what this film lacks in overt storyline, it really made up for with its notoriety. The film was pretty much black listed because of its extreme depiction of gore, and is also allegedly influenced serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki, who is known as the Otaku Killer. Isn't that fun, you guys?
In terms of effects, some of them are disturbingly good- and a couple of them are seen in other movies in this series. Luckily though, they're not too good, because there are a few times were you can just tell the things on screen are fake, so hopefully none of you brave souls who end up watching this movie will think it's real. Just remember kids- it's all just a movie, it's all just a movie...
Flower of Flesh and Blood is one that I find pretty scary, just because on of my biggest fears is getting abducted off the street and tortured, so in terms of a horror movie it does deliver a fright factor. This is also a fun film to challenge yourself with, or even see how far you and a group of friends can get into it. It's pretty intense, like we've discussed, but in terms of Japanese horror and gore, this is definitely a heavy hitter that has to be experienced at some point.
He Never Dies
He Never Dies, or Shudder! The Man Who Never Dies (ギニーピッグ3 戦慄! 死なない男, Ginī Piggu 3: Senritsu! Shinanai Otoko) is probably my favorite film in this series. It honestly has a more dark-comedic tone than the other movies on the list, and while it does have some pretty gross imagery it's not that great, and there are a couple times in the movie you see some effect snafus. Basically, this film follows a Japanese guy who is fairly miserable- he has a rough time at work, possibly has insomnia and doesn't seem to have a whole lot of friends or anything. So one day, he's had enough and decides to commit suicide. After he has cut his wrists, he notices that no matter how much he bleeds out, he's not dying. So he tries to speed up the process, and does more extreme stuff to himself that should do that job, but he just won't die. Eventually, he chops himself up to the point he's just a goofy talking head on a coffee table- the end!
Once you learn that the guy can't kill himself, the movie becomes increasingly predictable, but honestly in conjunction with the other movies in the series, this is a welcomed thing. He Never Dies doesn't take itself too seriously, and is well aware of it's gross-goofy plot and utilizes it well. It almost reminded me of a slightly more bloody version of Death Becomes Her, but much shorter and without any major conflict aside from his undiscovered indestructibility. This one is gross, and potentially triggering, so if you think you would be bothered with scenes of attempted suicide, steer clear of this one. But if you can handle it definitely check this one out- it was kind of fun.
Android of Notre Dame
The copy of Android of Notre Dame (ギニーピッグ ノートルダムのアンドロイド, Ginī Piggu: Nōtorudamu no Andoroido) I found honestly didn't have the best subtitles, so I found myself lost to what was happening in the story because my Japanese isn't that strong. But it did seem like one I would probably like if I knew what the hell was being said.
Essentially, from what I could tell, there's this scientist guy who is a little person, and he has a sister that seems like she's got consumption, and he is conducting experiments to try and revive corpses so he can be ready to bring his sister back if she dies- this part of the story seemed more like Frankenstein to me than anything in relation to The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The scientist guy does mention it, but the subtitles didn't actually show what he was saying in regards to it so I have no idea how it fits in with the overall story. Anyway, there's this other guy who is like, blackmailing the scientist guy or something, and he shows up to the scientist guys's house, gets his legs chopped off in a booby trap, and eventually kind of ends up like the guy from He Never Dies where he's essentially a talking head on a table. But then these experiments are done on him for... reasons... And eventually the scientist dude's sister dies, and he revives her, but then she gets mad at him for taking away from being at peace, and then she just dies again, and... that's about it. I think. Again, I'm not super sure.
This one had a more classical horror feel to it- thanks to the whole mad scientist character and calling back to Frankenstein, as mentioned. I want to see if I can find another copy of this with better subtitles- this one did have some gore, especially in the scenes where he's attempting to revive corpses, but otherwise it seemed more story-driven than a lot of the other movies in the series.
Mermaid in a Manhole
This is, oddly enough, probably one of my other favorite entries in this series. Mermaid in a Manhole (ギニーピッグ マンホールの中の人魚, Ginī Piggu: Manhōru no Naka no Ningyo) is the only other film in this series that was directed by Hideshi Hino himself. Also, I'm sure you noticed that this graphic and the graphic for Android of Notre Dame both are listed as being "Film #4"- fun fact, there has been some debate as to where this movie falls in the series, whether it's film 4 or 5. For the sake of the blog, I'm making the graphic say it's #4, and counting it via entry as #5. But I digress- moving on.
This film tells the story of a painter who likes to spend time in the sewers near his house. One day he finds an actual mermaid in the sewer, and decides to sketch her. Soon however, the mermaid starts developing pustules on her body that cause her a lot of pain, so the painter decides to take her to his home and put her in a bathtub so he can finish painting her. The sores continue to spread, however, and soon start rupturing with multi-colored pus, which the artist uses to finish his painting.
I'm personally a fan of Dr. Pimple Popper, so seeing cysts and whatnot expressed is one of my favorite things ever (yes, I'm one of those people), so I can't say I was personally bothered by the pus too much, but I know for some people that could be a little gross. There's also a pretty decent twist ending in this one, which kind of leaves you guessing- if you're a fan of that kind of thing this is definitely one to check out. Also, while you do spend most of the film following around the artist and the mermaid, the story also gets punctuated by interactions with the artist's neighbors. They add a little bit of levity and clarity to an otherwise insane story, so I really appreciated the scenes with them. This one is pretty gross for sure, but I, personally, will probably re-watch it this Halloween.
While watching these movies, I found a fun little making-of documentary that really took away some of the abject horror of some of the grosser scenes, but also really made me appreciate the actual work and artistry that went into making the movies. Maybe if you're curious but a bit on the squeamish side this could be worth checking out instead of the actual movies, but I feel like without seeing the movies first you wouldn't really get a lot of what's going on or being explained and displayed.
Well guys and ghouls, that does it for the first part of the Adventures with Japanese Horror series. Next I'll be diving into and talking about some of my personal favorite Japanese horror films. These are scary, a little bit gross, but a lot less disgusting as the Guinea Pig series. I hope you found something enjoyable in this blog that is chronicling my slow descent into cinematic madness, and hopefully I've shared some titles with you that you would have never heard about otherwise.
Take care everyone and I'll see you all again soon!
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