Helldriver

Japan, 2010
Original title: Nihon bundan: Heru doraibâ
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura
Starring: Yumiko Hara, Eihi Shiina, Kazuki Namioka

When I first saw Yoshihiro Nishimura's breakout film Tokyo Gore Police, I was excited. I thought here's a director with some GREAT ideas, an eye for constructing jaw-dropping set pieces, and an anarchistic approach to film-making that totally suited my twisted sensibilities. What could this guy do with more budget, more experience, and a better script? I couldn't wait.

That was 2008. Since then he's helmed 3 more movies. The first was 2009's Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl, and even then I lamented that it was just more of the same. But it was an ok flick, and I still held hope that his masterpiece might be just around the corner. His next was titled 'Mutant Girls Squad', which admittedly doesn't sound like a masterpiece, and wasn't.

And now we have his latest film, Helldriver. If you've seen any of the previous three, the verdict is once again - more of the same. Except now the novelty has worn off and is starting to resemble a rut.

This time around, the Northern part of Japan has been hit with a zombie infection by way of alien invasion, and has been walled off to protect the rest of the country. In a sly jab at political correctness and slimeball politicians, it's not long before there are calls to protect the 'human rights' of the zombies. It's a clever touch, but about as deep as the social commentary gets.




What follows is balls-out zombie-dispensing mayhem with the usual top notch splatter effects mixed with equally amateurish ones. There are moments of visual brilliance, some great set pieces, and enough blood and severed body parts to fill 382 Olympic-sized swimming pools. It's all extremely over-the-top, contrived to shock, and very, very silly.

Which can be fun! But the problem here is that the script mines a well-worn zombie scenario, while bringing little new to the table beyond the shock and gore that Nishimura (a special effects guy by trade) is so well known for. There's smatterings of humour throughout, and even a little 'ero' to go with the 'guro' (which I think is a first for Nishimura, and welcomed). But nowhere near enough for a 2hr long movie with a plot that could be written on a paper napkin.


  

For this viewer at least, two hours of inventive splatter is just not enough to retain my interest. There needs to also be a good story, or great acting, or lots of humour ... hell, an oversupply of nudity wouldn't hurt the cause either. And if all of the above were to be thrown in at once, THEN we'd be talking about a pony with more than one trick!

The other problem is that the film feels like a 45 minute movie, with bits tacked on at front and back to flesh out the runtime. This isn't helped by the decision to run the title sequence a full 45 minutes into the movie! I don't know if this was an intentional quirk playfully thrown in by Nishimura to break convention, or whether he is in fact implying that he had nothing to do with the first 45, and that this is where 'his' movie really starts. Because basically the first 45 minutes are crap. I recommend skipping them entirely.

 
  

And then half an hour from the end, the movie grinds to a natural conclusion, only to kick-start itself back into action for a redundant further half hour. I would not be at all surprised to learn that Nishimura only worked on the middle 45 mins, with the remainder being jobbed out to a junior director. Especially as IMDB has Nishimura listed as 'special effects supervisor' on no less than 33 films in the last three years - no doubt his time is limited!

And so was the budget it seems. Many scenes come across as unfinished and/or rushed, there are some awful visual effects, and what seem like glaring continuity problems. Even within the context of b-grade J-splatter, the limited budget is more visible than you'd expect.




On the plus side, Eihi Shiina (Audition, Tokyo Gore Police) has a major role here, and that's always good in my book - even if she spends a majority of the movie buried beneath less-than-flattering zombie makeup and/or blood. B-grade go-to girl Asami makes an appearance, as does Yukihide Benny. I don't know too much about lead actress Yumiko Hara, except to note that she has a fascinatingly large mouth! She has the physicality to pull off this kind of role, but not the presence that an actress of Eihi Shiina's calibre brings.



First-timers to the hyper-twisted world of Yoshihiro Nishimura may still have a blast with this, especially after a case of beer and with suitably low expectations! The middle 45 minutes are classic Nishimura - and there's a lot to love buried within its two-hour runtime. But I'm still waiting for that masterpiece that proves he's more than a special-effects wizard -  ready and able to take up the mantle of driving a new wave of Japanese extreme cinema.

Rating: 5/10




 

Braindead

aka Dead Alive
New Zealand, 1992

Director: Peter Jackson
Starring: Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver
IMDB: 7.6

Nowadays oscar-winning director Peter Jackson is best known for films such as Lord of the Rings, Heavenly Creatures, and King Kong. But back when he started his film career in New Zealand, he was the splatter king. This particular film concluded his early b-movie trilogy which includes his first two films Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles. Unfortunately this was to be his last foray in b-movie cinema as he moved on to larger, more commercial projects.

What these early features had in common was a low budget aesthetic combined with over the top gore and incredibly inventive effects. Brain Dead was filmed for only $3 million, and yet contains enough special effects for a movie with ten times the budget.




Despite the large amount of blood, brains, viscera and assorted many-hued body fluids on display, its definitely gore played for laughs - with a similar feel to Evil Dead II, Dellamorte Dellamore, or even Tokyo Gore Police. Jackson takes the zombie genre, and goes completely over the top with it. This is an incredibly funny movie - that is, if you're the kind of person that finds humour in zombies being taken down by garden implements with extreme prejudice.




The first half hour however is b-grade at best ... set in 1950's New Zealand, there is a distinct lack of glamour. No hardbody co-eds frolicking in the pool here! The backstory involves a zoo official collecting a rare Sumatran rat-monkey to bring back to New Zealand, despite strong disagreement from the local tribesmen.

Turns out they had good reason to object. This hybrid was conceived through the unlikely scenario of a giant rat raping a monkey, resulting in one evil motherfucking beast. Nevertheless, it takes up residence at the local zoo, and its not long before its zombie virus is unleashed.




Meanwhile we've been introduced to a range of strange characters, a love story is in progress, and the unlikely hero is rapidly maturing from bumbling nerd to ass-kicking zombie despatcher. The acting is quite woeful at times, but then its obvious that's not where the budget has been spent. Once the movie hits the last hour, it quickly gathers momentum with the body count accelerating exponentially. Before long we've descended into a balls-out orgy of zombie mayhem that may well be the single greatest achievement in zombie cinema.

Rating: 8/10

Japanese Movie Poster:

The Japanese movie poster is an awesome hand-drawn illustration of the film, and one of my favorite b-movie posters. Although it should be noted considerable license has been taken, as there are no characters in the film remotely resembling the attractive nurse depicted. Click here to see a larger version.

Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl

Japan, 2009
Original title: Kyûketsu Shôjo tai Shôjo Furanken
Director: Yoshihiro Nishimura, Naoyuki Tomomatsu
Starring: Yukie Kawamura, Takumi Saito, Eri Otoguro, Eihi Shiina
IMDB: 6.8

Following the worldwide success of his previous film Tokyo Gore Police, fans of director Yoshihiro Nishimura were eager to see what he would come up with next ...

Would he use his new-found fame to obtain better funding and elevate his creative vision to the next level? Would he take the opportunity to work with a more substantial plot and delve deeper into the quirks of Japanese society? Would he, in short, transcend his low-budget splatter origins to deliver something more ... intelligent?

Fuck no. With a title like Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl - you know this is going to be B-grade schlock all the way.

And while we might have hoped for more plot, more budget, and more depth - what we have instead is simply more of the same. Which is not necessarily a bad thing when you're creating some of the most outrageously twisted movies in film today.

Fans of the ludicrously warped end of Japanese splatter cinema, and in-particular Nishimura's signature style, will no doubt find much to love here. After all, where else could you see a vampiric schoolgirl suck the face (literally) off a frankensteined classmate, headbutt the fleshless skull clean off her shoulders - and with uncanny aim, have said skull vampirized mid-air and land directly on the face of another poor schoolgirl to repeat the process?

With an extremely high WTF factor, you won't see anything quite like this anywhere else. For those of you twisted enough to love this type of lurid spectacle, sit back and let the insanity (and blood), wash over you.




The story takes place at Tokyo High School, in a classroom replete with iconic Japanese teen fashion cliches - the Gothic Lolitas, the Ganguro girls, and of course the wrist-cutters. All of which are exaggerated to the point of extreme parody. Especially the Ganguro girls, one of which has taken tanning to the next level by wearing negroid facial prosthetics as part of her daily 'outfit'. Another Ganguro even has an African lip plate. And if you've seen Tokyo Gore Police then you can guess what the wrist-cutters are up to!



The story begins on Valentine's Day, and in Japan the custom is for girls to give chocolate to the guys they like. (On March 14, guys return the favor). Monami (J-idol Yukie Kawamura) has just transferred to the class, and has decided to give chocolate to the class hunk Mizushima (Takumi Saito). The problem is that the leader of the Gothic Lolita clique, Keiko (Eri Otoguro) has already decided Mizushima is "her" boyfriend .... and she's pissed.

Turns out that there's more to the demure Monami than meets the eye though. Luckily for Keiko, her father is the deputy principle, and a mad-scientist to boot. He's been working in Frankenstein fashion to re-animate life, assisted by the school's psychotic nymphomaniac nurse.




All this ties together in a story involving a Vampire Girl, a Frankenstein Girl, and one shitload of blood. But then you probably guessed as much by now.

Yukie Kawamura, a popular gravure idol turned actress, doesn't have the super-cool poise of Eihi Shiina, but does a pretty good job of grounding her character in some semblance of reality. Well ... as much as possible given the circumstances! And perhaps more importantly given the genre, looks super-cute even when covered in blood.



Although the film's budget constraints are sometimes exposed, for the most part the visuals are impressive - hyper-stylized, with bold saturated colours and inventive effects. Of special note are the scenes when a character is turned into a vampire, reminiscent of a particularly potent acid trip, with humans being perceived as nothing more than walking blood systems. Very, very cool.

It goes without saying that the gore effects are top-notch, and the battle scenes contain the obligatory poses, creative use of body-parts, and ridiculously violent and unlikely kills.



Also of note is the hard rock soundtrack that adds a driving intensity, ensuring energy levels remain high throughout. This is a film that you really should see live and loud in a theatre if at all possible, so you can fully enjoy the experience along with a bunch of like-minded maniacs.

In summary, and taking the title into consideration, fans will definitely get what they came for, and a bucket-load more besides. One note however - I can see this style getting a bit tired if Nishimura doesn't bring something a bit more substantial to the table in his future films. But as his next release is titled "Mutant Girls Squad" - I doubt that will be any time soon.

In the meantime I'm more than happy to revel in yet another feverishly twisted imagining from the mind of Yoshihiro Nishimura. And while there's nothing really new here, Japanese schoolgirls covered in blood and kicking the crap out of each other never really gets old now, does it ?

Rating: 7/10

Note: Technically this is not a solo Nishimura film as he shares director's duties with Naoyuki Tomomatsu. Nishimura's next solo project is entitled Helldriver and is due to start shooting this Spring.

More screenshots

Trailer