Watch: Netflix Random Viewing #2: Tokyo Gore Police

Since I'm waiting on The French Connection 2 in the mail before I do a blog post on that franchise, I figured what better time then to do my second installment of Netflix Random viewing.  

For this entry, I watched 2008's Tokyo Gore Police

You may recognize the lead actress in this film if you have seen Takashi Miike's Audition.  Although, Eihi Shiina's is the lead again here, do not expect another movie that takes ninety minutes to setup any kind of payoff.  In typical Japanese extreme cinema fashion the action & gore start from nearly the beginning of the movie and doesn't let up until the credits are rolling.  A few weeks back I took a look at The Machine Girl (here) and while I found both movies to have a similar quality I will say right up front that Tokyo Gore Police blows away the former, in just about every aspect that will make you absolutely love or hate both films.

Not only is this film gory, but in the campy fun way, it is also strange & bizarre.  The plot is actually refreshing and somewhat of a departure from the usual "the gangsters killed so-and-so, I want revenge" Sure, there is some aspect of that in here, but it is not quite that simple.

The basic premise is that in a not so futuristic Japan, the police force have become a privatized force.  There is an elite unit within the force who hunt engineers.  "Engineers" is code for villains who have genetically engineered their bodies so any wound they receive, regenerates into a weapon (think the mutated body gun from Videodrome for a slight comparison?) The main character's father was on the police force before it became privatized and was strong opposed to the privatization, which ultimately led to his murder.  Along the way our hero learns there is more to the story than she thought and it leads to even more action and gore and weirdness.

Least to say, again with a movie like this you know pretty much exactly what to expect, so I don't really think many people who choose to press play in the first place aren't going to enjoy it.  If that happens, then well hey at least you got a new and bizarre experience out of it, right?

I highly recommend this flick.

I noticed that  Eihi Shiina also happens to star(but is not the lead I think) in 2009's Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl which judging by the title is going to be another exercise in gore, splatter, macabre and mayhem! Haha.  That may be what I use for my third installment, but maybe not because I don't want to get stuck in the same theme or genre everytime I do this.  I'm definitely watching it though.