Hey folks, Harry here - this film is one of the reasons to be at Fantastic Fest later this year - it will blow the roof off the place - listen to Albert's experience!!!
MACHINE GIRL: A LEAN, MEAN BLOODY MACHINE
by Albert Lanier
It was when the drill bra was unleashed that audience lost it.
A sudden burst of applause erupted in from the assembled throng in the theater. Applause, loud cheers and laughter echoed for a couple of minutes as a fight scene increased in intensity. The filmgoers were already attentively eating up every sequence of the movie that was unfolding before them but this extemporaneous and unforced wave of enthusiasm over the sudden appearance of a bra with two metallic drills instead of soft cups demonstrated the collective feeling of enjoyment permeating the auditorium at that given time.
The audience I'm writing about happened to be watching a horror/action hybrid from Japan called THE MACHINE GIRL (Kataude Mashin Garu) which screened at the Hawaii International Film Festival's Spring Showcase on Sunday, April 20.
Horror and action flick fans may already be aware of this film since MACHINE GIRL has emerged as something of an online phenomenon because MACHINE GIRL 's trailer has been featured on websites like TWITCH and has generated a lot of internet buzz among film philes.
MACHINE GIRL was a last-minute entry at this year's Spring Showcase ( it was announced a couple of days before the festival began and took up a TBA slot) and to be honest, I knew nothing about this film before I saw it.
I'm glad I didn't do any research on MACHINE GIRL before I saw it because this film is easily one of the most entertaining pictures I have seen this year.
Some people may vehemently disagree with me on this point but I had a great time watching MACHINE GIRL.
The film's story is relatively uncomplicated: A female student named Ami (Minase Yashiro) finds out her younger brother has been killed by the son of Yakuza and his nasty minions. Ami and her brother have been fending for themselves since their parents-who suspected of being murderers-killed themselves and she believed at one time that violence was wrong and worst course to take.
Not anymore. Her brother Yu's death awakens a thirst for revenge within Ami that can only be quenched by finding her brother's killers and slaughtering them.
The remainder of the film illustrates in graphic detail Ami's campaign of killing as she wreaks deadly havoc on the persons involved in her brother's death. Even after part of her right arm is chopped up by the family of her brother's killer, Ami eventually gets her arm sown up and is given a deadly new gift: a Gatling-like gun with multiple barrels that she can attach to her arm and which she uses to take care of business.
Inch by bloody inch, Ami leaves a steady trail of corpses until she finally gets to face her brother's killer and his family...and the the drill bra pops out, ready for battle.
MACHINE GIRL's story essentially channels the basic plot of DEATH WISH, steals a bit from GRINDHOUSE and EVIL DEAD and adds a whole lot of plasma-covered carnage.
In fact, this is the bloodiest film I've seen in a couple of years and I've seen my share of bloody pictures.
MACHINE GIRL isn't just blood soaked or blood drenched, the characters are virtually marinated in blood.
One of the scenes I vividly remember involve a minor character getting a literal bloodbath.
There are many scenes in MACHINE GIRL that I could write about but this would ruin the sheer surprise of watching this film.
Writer/Director Noboru Iguchi has created a B-movie that pulses with reckless charm and an almost insane sense of storytelling.
Iguchi's script has fun with the concept of the revenge melodrama and the movie gets even funnier and more enjoyable as an ever widening circle of revenge consumes the film's story.
As director, Iguchi puts together some nice fight sequences in MACHINE GIRL that mix an over-the-top hilarity along with good-old-fashioned kick ass fights to the death.
However, what Iguchi does so well here is craft a relentlessly entertaining feature that never lets the moviegoer's gaze wonder elsewhere but keeps eyeballs glued to the screen.
Critics like me aren't supposed to enjoy films like this. We're supposed to tut-tut, tsk-tsk and call films like MACHINE GIRL trashy exploitation.
Bullshit. A film either works or its doesn't regardless of whether it's a big-budget studio feature or a low budget indie.
MACHINE GIRL works. Yes, it is-to borrow the title of a well-known website-bloody disgusting but MACHINE GIRL is also extremely entertaining.
I don't know what is in the drinking water in Japan but this kind of loony, blood saturated horror cum action film seems to lurk in the dark and not so-dark corners of Japanese Cinema.
Films like MACHINE GIRL are rarely made in this country except by grade Z filmmakers who probably can't get a major independent distributor to screen a film like this in theaters let alone get a DVD deal.
MACHINE GIRL also differs from American films of its ilk in that-like many Asian action films-it features a female protagonist who doesn't require a phony pseudo-feminist subtext and backstory in order to justify the violence that follows.
MACHINE GIRL is an achievement in gory cinema, a feast for fans of ultra violent pictures and a film that grabs one's lapel, aims its gun and blasts the hell out of one's face and head until all the skin, bones and brain matter are completely eliminated.
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