Death Kappa

I had at least expected the movie to at least have some sense of entertainment value, after all it does focus on one of the more famous of Japanese creatures in mythology.

Or at least, one would think that. But this movie quickly lost track of what it started out as and went into a full-blown "Godzilla" rip-off.

Nothing in the movie made sense, and I hope that the movie was meant to be a spoof, because everything in the movie was just fundamentally bad. From the creature costume, which clearly was just a badly made suit, to the fake model tanks, buildings and airplanes. And the airplanes and helicopters were held up with clearly visibly strings. And the big monster was also just a man in a horribly fake costume.

The special effects were as bad as the actual storyline, and it just quickly became painful to witness on the screen.

I gave up 20 minutes before the movie ended. I just couldn't suffer through a single minute more of the ordeal that is "Death Kappa".

If viewed as a loving tribute to Showa Era Godzilla movies, it's not that bad. But it's horrible dubbing and cheap special effects (some of which are even subpar by Showa standards) hamper it alot. If you grew up like I did and loved the Showa Era movies then you probably would enjoy the movie.

So I'm going to be writing a list article about weird monster movies in a couple of days. I've already seen a bunch, but for "research," I feel compelled to watch more (these are the kind of movies I'd probably watch either way, to be honest).

Death Kappa was at the top of my shortlist. This is mainly due to it being called "Death Kappa." I can't really resist a movie when it's called "Death Kappa."

It basically feels like a homage/parody of old-school giant monster movies, though the titular monster is the only monster in it for a while, and so there aren't even any giant monsters for like the first 2/3s of the movie. But that's okay. It means he can get in hand-to-hand fights with the human bad guys in the first half, some of whom wield samurai swords. It's that kind of movie.

The plot? Uh... there's a young woman who has some sort of connection to a kappa monster, who lives in a lake, and is super ugly, but he also has a good heart and wants to protect her. He saves her from some bad guys. Then another more evil monster (who's big) starts attacking a city. From there, it feels like a more comedic take on a giant monster movie.

I don't know if this is even good, but I had fun throughout. I was trying to do some push-ups while watching it (exercise and movie-watching: killing two birds with one stone), and for the most part, I couldn't, because I was laughing too hard at many of the scenes. There's a song that gets played a couple of times, and the ridiculous lyrics (at least from the translated English subtitles) are amazing.

Death Kappa is absolutely an acquired taste, but I think I'm the target audience, so I liked it. I don't know who else I could recommend it to, though.

Definitely a B-Movie, if you couldn't for some reason already tell. It's the story of a Kappa who finds peace and causes some hell along the way. About half way through it shifts gears and becomes a Kaiju movie and and steps up the action and comedy as everyone getting killed screams for their mommies, lol.

If you like low budget films or monster movies try this for a matinee on a slow day and have some fun.

For me it all began with a simple tweet of the movie critic Harry Knowles I got to read. He was watching, with his nephew I think, the Blu-Ray of DEATH KAPPA and writing in twitter that they were amazed (and that the kid was like "I can do that in my backyard" regarding some scenes of the movie!). Later I read in a Fangoria magazine that the director of "Kappa" wanted to make with it the TEAM America of Japanese monster movies! So I saw the trailer (which is quite awesome), realized it has the same producers of TOKYO GORE POLICE and THE MACHINE GIRL and added it to my list of must-wanted movies.

I just received the Blu-Ray last Thursday and on Friday night I finally got immerse in the world of the Kappas (it was the very last movie I saw in 2011!). The movie was everything I hoped for and then some. I mean, it's indeed a classic monster picture but there are certain elements that I didn't expect and that are pretty darn ridiculous, in the good and hilarious way! First of all, the look of the main character (a kappa – not *really* a monster but a "creature of legend", as we are told. A creature that actually knows sumo!) is likely the most bizarre you'll see in a 2010 picture! The Kappa is as ugly as f***, and once you have it dancing to some song for children, well you just have some truly WTF moment.

The movie is some sort of a spectacle of the "do it as you can" kind of filmmaking. I don't know if that makes any sense, but what I'm trying to say is that DEATH KAPPA is the kind of movie that doesn't give a s***. More than to TEAM America (that is a masterpiece of a movie with scale models), it is closer to SOUTH PARK. Remember those *real* explosions mixed with the animation from that TV show? Well, here we have that kind of thing with, for instance, images of buildings being destroyed. Plus, we have visible wires and all that kind of things. Certainly some will get it and go for it (as I did) and some will not at all, just like some will not forgive the completely over-the-top acting or just the entire first part of the movie (certainly the part without any of the Godzilla-like material).

And that first part of the movie delivers some WTF moments (like the one I mentioned) but it is mostly just something forgettable. We are here for the monster action and believe me, it is quite fun. The very last part, the monster fight, is quite the s***. Hell, we have the kappa (in its gigantic monster form, known as death kappa) showing us some fighting movements with a nunchaku-like weapon! It is just some very cool Japanese stuff.