The Machine Girl

In The Machine Girl, Ami Hyuga (Minase Yashiro) looses her last remaining family member, her little brother, to the yakuza. She sets out to avenge him by any means necessary, despite having sworn off violence after the death of her parents.

What follows is hour and a half of nothing but over the top fight scenes, high pressure blood spraying everywhere and gore special effects galore. We have machine guns, chainsaws, drills, katanas, throwing stars, and everything else under the sun, slicing and dicing and ripping and shredding. The special effects and props are certainly well-made, although it would no surprise if had ended up thinking that this was made in the early 90s.

And, if gore and splatter are your thing, then this is exactly your type of movie. It holds nothing back, has no qualms whatsoever and doesn't even acknowledge that the lines you're not supposed to cross exist.

Personally I did think that the film went a bit too far in that I didn't particularly like the protagonists or their code of conduct. What I mean is that even though you expect your hero to slice and dice and murder most brutally, it shouldn't feel like they do it out of malice or for the enjoyment of pain in others. This one crosses that line and I simply don't like my films, splatter or otherwise, to be made that way.

Still, it is a very impressive example of its particular subgenre. By all means, if you're wanting to check out what a proper Asian gorefest looks like, look no further.

When schoolgirl Ami Hyuga's little brother is murdered, she vows vengeance upon the Yakuzas whose offspring carried out the deed. Along the way she is captured, tortured, and left for death. What follows is a testament to the indefatigably of the human spirit; and illustrates that determination can overcome the most seemingly insurmountable of challenges. In the lead role, Asami gives a finely nuanced performance, conveying both the vulnerability and passion of her character. Oh, did I mention that she has a machine gun for an arm? silly me, well she does. Absolutely essential over the top gore-fest arms, legs, heads are severed, hands are deep fried, fingers are eaten, eyeballs gouged and all involved are doused in literally hundreds of gallons of fake blood. My personal favourite is the matriarch of the evil family whose deadly Drill Bra (patents pending) proves a formidable challenge for our eponymous heroine. This ones never going to be nominated for a Palme dOr, but what it lacks in well, just about everything, it makes up in spades of enthusiasm.

The trailer for Noboru Iguchi's The Machine Girl has been doing the rounds of the b-movie community for months now. Gorehounds, exploitation fans action nuts alike have been looking forward to it with the same restless feverish anticipation the nerd community would embrace a new Star Wars movie. But let's get this out of the way first: a lot people of doubted the movie would fulfill the gory promises made by the trailer; cast away your doubts ye unbelievers, for like a good can of castoroil, this one does exactly what it says on the tin.

Now what does the tin say? A cartoonish hybrid of splattery goofy horror and gonzo action with only a basic revenge plot serving as a skeleton. I won't go into plot details because I'll only be wasting your time. In a nutshell: girl finds brother killed by yakuzas; girl has her arm chopped; girl wants revenge. Simple and effective. The talky parts that move the story forward are contrived enough to make you look forward to the next bout of creative splatter. Nothing to write home about but it gets the job done.

From a visual standpoint, the movie was shot in HD and that lends a cold, realistic look to it. Faster shutter speeds were used in the action scenes which means more stuttery images, reminiscent of 28 Days Later for example. The added benefit can be observed in the glorious blood geysers.

The main attraction here though is the splatter. It's done with enough tongue-in-cheek attitude to keep it from treading horror territory and remains more geared towards over-the-top action. Machine guns tear holes through heads and stomachs, torsos are cut in half, heads and hands chopped off and fingers served as sushi. Arterial sprays and blood geysers are all over the place in true 70's samurai fashion. Kung-fu fans will get a kick out of a favorite cult weapon cameo, the flying guillotine (as seen in Flying Guillotine and Master of the Flying Guillotine) and a certain drill bra is worthy of the cock and ball gun in From Dusk Till Dawn. There are evil yakuzas doing blood rituals, ninjas complete with shurikens and silly costumes (a nod to Godfrey Ho maybe?) and the cheese-tastic Super Mourners Squad. The prevalent comic-book sensibility makes everything so wildly enjoyable. Good, clean, family entertainment overall.

There might be gore galore but the movie is not without its flaws either. The score for one verges on silly muzak. Some parts sound like an early 90's NAMCO video game while others are cheap filler electronica. I wasn't expecting Morricone of course so it's only a slight annoyance but 70's Japanese exploitation movies boasted wonderful string scores that would have added the extra oomph here.

The CGI however should have been avoided altogether. They draw unnecessary attention to themselves and even though one could argue they are in step with the anything goes attitude of the film, I can't help but think they cheapen the whole thing in a visually unappealing way. Just watch the flying shurikens and you'll see what I mean.

What's important though is that The Machine Girl fulfills every promise it made upon its announcement. Watch the trailer. If an over the top action splatter fest that winks to martial arts and refuses to take itself too seriously sounds like your kind of thing, the movie will not disappoint. Iguchi made it with the enthusiasm of a fan and it shows: he knows what works and what doesn't. He also knows how many times fans have been disappointed by misleading ballyhoos and trailers of promised graphic violence and he delivers exactly what he set out to do.

Ami (Asami) is out for revenge after her brother Yu is murdered by a gang of young yakuza-ninjas. Unfortunately, while in pursuit of the leaders, she is captured and one of her arms is cut off. Not to worry, a friendly couple who are also out for revenge on the same people have a solution, make her a machine gun arm! After The Machine Girl finished I can safely say this: the Japanese are still producing awesome gore flicks. Noboru Iguchi has created a film that will surely receive cult status and easily go down as one of the goriest films ever made. Firstly, this IS a gore-flick, there is enough blood spray to fill a lake. Secondly, the story is not complex or incredibly challenging, likewise, there is nil character development. Therefore, if you watch this movie thinking along those lines (I would not know why, though, as it IS called The Machine Girl) you will be sorely disappointed. If you do go in expecting outrageous gore and some genuinely funny comedy you will be very pleased! The Machine Girl really should be released theatrically everywhere, it is a fun, exciting and well-made action/comedy/drama and one of the best movies of 2008!

4/5

I have always thought of Japonesse comedy as being like Shakespeare comedy; funny to the people of the time and/or place but not to the rest of us. This is the first Asian film to not only make me laugh more than just a chuckle, but to make me cry with laughter and literally smack my knee. The reason that this is so good is because it seems as if writer director Noboru Iguchi took a step or two back too get a view of the Asian film market as a whole and even seems to have looked at it with a non-Asian eye to see how the rest of us see the market.

The deliberate over-the-top cheese and "happy family beginnings" were great fun, but its the wonderfully gory scenes that you'll remember. I don't want to go into too much detail so as to avoid spoiling the fun for those who haven't seen it, except to say that the scene with the main bad guy making his son drink his blood as a right of passage to the yakuzza is the main culprit for my man tears.

The only real problem of note is that the fun starts to dry a little as time goes on, the gore occurs less and less and the deliberate cheesy acting and dialogue almost gets tiresome (though it never actually is). It seems as if Iguchi used up all his best ideas too quickly in the first half and had to run with an empty tank for the last third.

Despite this its still always superb fun, and even though it is definitely gory, I recommend most people to see it, just cover your eyes if it gets too much at times!