J-Film Blog

US Title: The Machine Girl
Japanese Title: 片腕マシンガール (One armed Mashin Gaaru)

Continuing on with the Halloween/J-Horror theme, I bring you… well, I’m not quite sure what to make of this.  The Machine Girl is a twisted film spanning a few genre’s really, typical Tokyo “splatter” horror, comedy, and action.

Although it really doesn’t pull off any of them very spectacularly.  First off, I simply don’t get the whole Tokyo “splatter” thing.  Really, I don’t.  I mean, whats to like about rubber dummies being ripped/sliced/sawn/torn/shot apart into little pieces and obviously fake blood spraying at hyper velocity from places it never would! Right?  Yeah.  Maybe its supposed to be funny in and of itself, but I find myself laughing at how plainly silly and dumb it all is.  Maybe that’s the point. I DON’T GET IT!

But, back to the movie.  Ami Hyuga’s (Minase Yashiro) little brother Yu (Ryousuke Kawamura) is killed by bullies, the leader of which, Sho Kimura (Nobuhiro Nishihara) is the spoiled little twit kid of a local Yakuza/descendant of Ninjas, Ryuji Kimura (Kentaro Shimazu) and his twisted mom “Violet” (Honoka)….

Well, she decided to take revenge, after offing the family of one of the bully gang members in a rather nasty gore episode, and winds up getting her arm removed via a clumsy accident on Kimura-san’s part.

She gets back to the Sugihara’s, who also lost their son to Sho’s bullying, and they outfit her with a funky gatling gun prosthesis for her newly acquired stump.  Um, OK!

Well, the fun ensues as they go after and subsequently destroy the Kimura’s at the local shrine (WTF?) and some really sick and twisted blood-letting.  Including an appearance by Violet’s “Tetsujin” style drill-brassiere.  And an Evil-Dead style chain saw attachment.  Again. WTF?!

Let me say that again.  WTBF?!

I could see this being funny, IF the gore hadn’t been there.  I could see it being, well, icky if the comedy hadn’t been there.  But like I said.  I DON’T GET IT!

Maybe someone who does get this whole genre can explain it to me.  Unless you do get it, or simply want a funny disgusting blood fest for your (adults only, please!) Halloween party… I just wouldn’t bother.

On the bright side, the comedy and above-board acting (for this sort of picture) made it a damn sight better than the only other entries in this genre I’ve seen, Tokyo Gore Police (simply awful) or Suicide Club, which I’ve reviewed a few notches up.

Amazon: The Machine Girl
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1050160/

Oh, and you can catch this via Amazon’s Video on demand also, here: The Machine Girl

Here’s the trailer (Japanese) if you’re so inclined.  Even this is marginally NSFW, or NSFK, you decide: