Blood, Gore and Debauchery: A Night at the Movies with the Geisha of Gore
by Colleen Wanglund

Translator, with directors Yoshihiro Nishimura and Noboru Iguchi

On Saturday, July 3^rd, my daughter Darlene and I, along with my friends Diane and John, went to the Japan Society for a joint New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF)/Japan Cuts movie screening of MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD (SENTO SHOJO [2010]). The movie was directed by three directors: Noboru Iguchi (MACHINE GIRL [2008], ROBOGEISHA [2009]); Tak Sakaguchi (SAMURAI ZOMBIE [2008]); and Yoshihiro Nishimura (TOKYO GORE POLICE [2008]).  This was also the coming out party for Sushi Typhoon, a new movie label devoted to the distribution of Japanese films in North America.  Formed by producer Yoshinori Chiba, for Nikkatsu Corporation—the oldest film studio in Japan—Sushi Typhoon will focus primarily on the genres of horror, action, splatter films, comedy and thrillers.  They are bringing their initial releases to the States with the help of FUNimation—the Texas-based company responsible for some of the best anime titles ever brought to America.  There was a nice little reception with free appetizers, sushi and Sapporo beer.  They had a costume contest, and later on in the evening, Cay Izumi, one of the stars of MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD worked the stripper pole.

Prior to the party was the NYAFF screenings of ALIEN VS NINJA (2010), directed by Seiji Chiba, and then MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD (2010)—both movies being the first to be distributed by Sushi Typhoon—I arrived with my daughter early, and had the amazing experience of watching Yoshihiro Nishimura, one of my favorite directors (and, in my opinion, a special effects genius), apply a small prosthetic and some horror makeup to a young woman’s face. Then, he was kind enough to sign my TOKYO GORE POLICE (2008) DVD insert and take a picture with me.  I was so freakin’ excited!!  I got to meet one of my favorite directors!  Darlene was laughing at me; she thinks I’m such a geek.  Diane and John got there and we got to meet and take pictures with the star of ALIEN VS NINJA, Masanori Mimoto (unfortunately we didn’t get to see that movie).  After settling into our seats, the audience was greeted by Marc Walkow of Subway Cinema, the organization responsible for the NYAFF, and he introduced two of the three directors of MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD (2010): Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura.  They gave away some prizes to audience members and then explained the birth, if you will, of the movie.  Iguchi, Nishimura and Tak Sakaguchi were all at last year’s NYAFF for their respective movies, and, during one drunken evening, decided they should all do a movie together.  One year later, and here we were sitting in the theater, eagerly awaiting their joint project.  You could feel the excitement in the room.  Everyone there knew exactly what they getting into and couldn’t wait for it to get started.

As for the movie, MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD (2010) is exactly the comedic splatterfest we’ve come to expect from these guys.  It was basically done in three parts, with each director doing one part, but still using their movie-making skills on the whole movie.  In “Chapter 1: Revelation,” directed by Tak Sakaguchi, we meet Rin on her sixteenth birthday.  She’s a pretty girl who unfortunately is bullied mercilessly at school.  When she is pushed down a flight of stairs and ends up in the school infirmary, the nurse discovers she’s not quite human and attempts to kill her.  Rin’s hand turns into a mechanical claw and she attacks the nurse and is able to make a getaway.   She gets home, and seeing her distress Mom and Dad explain that she is a Hiruko, a member of a clan of mutants with superpowers (although, as we find out later in the movie, some of those “powers” aren’t so super).  Just as they begin to tell Rin about her background, a group of assassins with automatic weapons on their noses (firing booger bullets!) bust into their house and kill Mom and Dad, but Rin escapes.  With her hand now back in its mechanical form, she is soon spotted in the street outside a small strip-mall.  This is where Tak Sakaguchi’s signature comes into the movie—he is a fight choreographer and stuntman.  The people who work for the mall are determined to kill her and place her head in the mall to draw customers.  Rin fights each and every one of them off.  After the carnage, she meets Rei and Kisaragi (played by Sakaguchi), the androgynous leader of a mutant rebel group.  With a metal mask placed over her head, Rin is taken to the other Hiruko—and they’re all girls (the directors love doing things to girls!).  One girl has a chainsaw coming out of her ass, another has a living stomach, and yet another has breast swords—actual Samurai swords coming out of her breasts.  Rin learns about what she is and hones her fighting skills (and loses the mask) with the help of Kisaragi, Rei and Yoshie, a cosplay nurse! For those of you that don’t know, cosplay is costume play dress-up at conventions.

In “Chapter 2: Revolution,” directed by Noboru Iguchi, Rin, Rei (who has metal scales/feathers) and Yoshie (with two “octopus” arms and a nose like an aardvark) are sent out on a mission to stop a government anti-mutant squad from implementing their plan to kill all Hiruko by killing the top general.  This is where Iguchi’s bizarre vision of things comes into play (trust me, everyone laughed their butts off and so will you!).  After destroying the government’s “special weapon” and killing the general in a bizarre scene while he eats a bowl of udon noodles, Kisaragi orders them to kill innocent people.  Rin doesn’t like that at all.  She tries to convince Yoshie and Rei that what Kisaragi wants is wrong.  We also see Kisaragi give a blood sacrifice to the Lord of the Hiruko, which of course involves fountains of blood after limbs go flying.  Rin has a weird dream about her parents, that involves a head on a cake floating in midair.  She talks to Yoshie again and after a pretty cool fight between Rin and Yoshie, they decide that they’re going to stop Kisaragi’s plans for world domination—because isn’t that what the leader of mutant rebels always wants?

The Geisha of Gore meets Director Yoshihiro Nishimura

“Chapter 3: Rebellion,” is Yoshihiro Nishimura’s part, and he doesn’t disappoint.  The rebels are sent out on terrorist missions and Kisaragi has kidnapped the prime minister.  Rin and Yoshie confront Rei and the few girls left at the lair.  The fight scenes are priceless if you can imagine a chainsaw-butt and sword-boobs fighting octopus arms. It gets even better when Kisaragi’s secret weapon is added to the mix—she cuts herself with a box cutter and instead of blood she “throws” fire!  Rin and Rei fight it out, but apparently Rin’s hand also plays music and it somehow brings Rei around.  (There are guitar strings on the mechanical claw—don’t ask.) Anyway, the final battle between the three girls and Kisaragi is too funny for words.  He merges with the Lord to become SakaMuChi–a giant bloody mutant complete with boobs that spew acid.  Nishimura has outdone himself with THIS creature effect!!  He taught himself the art of special effects, you know.

With low-budget splatter movies like MUTANT GIRLS SQUAD, you either love them or you hate them, and I loved it!  The special effects are outstanding, the fight scenes are amazing, and the comedy is killer.  Even Darlene liked it, and she’s not the biggest horror fan. If you get the chance, you really should see it.  I highly recommend it, but then again I recommend you should see as many movies in the splatter/horror genre as you can.  They really are fun movies to experience.  I plan to grab it as soon as it’s released on DVD and Blu-ray, which should happen early next year.

Colleen's copy of the MUTANT GIRL SQUAD poster, signed by two of its directors!

After the movie the lights came on and Marc Walkow came back on stage and introduced Asami and Cay Izumi, two of the stars of the film, and re-introduced Iguchi and Nishimura.  The directors came out wearing only fundoshi—the cloth undergarment Sumo wrestlers wear—and actually made their way through two rows of the audience!  What was supposed to be a Q&A session turned into a carnival sideshow with Asami and Cay Izumi jabbing darts into the buttocks of the directors and Marc.  The translator was amazing, taking questions and keeping a straight face while translating the answers and what everyone was saying while they were messing around on the stage.  They picked on Tak Sakaguchi because he wasn’t there—saying it was his idea to do the role in drag because he thought he’d make a beautiful woman.  He was back in Japan filming a movie that he’s starring in.  Besides being a director, stuntman, and fight choreographer, he’s also an actor and a martial arts expert.  He’s also rather good-looking, especially next to two goofballs like Noboru Iguchi and Yoshihiro Nishimura!  We were then treated to trailers brought just for the festival for Nishimura’s next movie HELL DRIVER, a zombie flick starring Eihi Shiina (TOKYO GORE POLICE), and Iguchi’s KARATE ROBO ZABORGAR, based on a 1970’s Japanese television action hero.  Both movies are scheduled for release in 2011. Hmmm, sounds like I’ll be going back next year!  This was truly a great night out and it was nice to share it with my daughter and some friends.  There’s nothing like seeing a movie with a room full of fellow fans.  We laughed, we groaned, we ooh’d and aah’d, and we had a ball. Then we had free food and beer!

On a more serious note, the New York Asian Film Festival has been presented every year since 2002 by Subway Cinema (est. 1999), whose goal it is to bring Asian films to Western audiences.  In each year of the festival, Subway Cinema has been able to show over 40 films from all genres during the seventeen-day NYAFF.  Movie screenings have been hosted at the IFC Center (midnight screenings), The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Japan Society, in conjunction with their Japan Cuts film series.  The Japan Society, a cultural center which was founded over a hundred years ago, presents its Japan Cuts film series over two weeks and it showcases contemporary Japanese movies, again from all genres.  Japan Cuts is just one of many events hosted there each year.  If you’re interested in the NYAFF, Subway Cinema or the Japan Society/Japan Cuts just click on the links below.

Subway Cinema/NYAFF http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php or http://subwaycinemanews.com/

Sushi Typhoon http://www.sushi-typhoon.com/

Japan Society/Japan Cuts http://www.japansociety.org/

© Copyright 2010 by Colleen Wanglund

This entry was posted on July 13, 2010 at 2:15 am and is filed under 2010, Action Movies, Asian Horror, Colleen Wanglund Reviews, Geisha of Gore Reviews, Hot Chick Movies, VIOLENCE! with tags geisha of gore, Japan Cuts, Mutant Girls Squad, mutants, New York Asian Film Festival, Noboru Iguchi, splatter comedies, Subway CInema, Tak Sakaguchi, The Japan Society, yoshihiro nishimura. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.