TETSUO: THE IRON MAN/TETSUO 2: BODY HAMMER

TETSUO: THE IRON MAN/TETSUO 2: BODY HAMMER

By the arse-end of the 1980s, Japanese cinema wasn’t really offering much on an International level. Certainly, its genre output had all-but dried up. Then, in 1989, Shinya Tsukamoto’s feature debut TETSUO: THE IRON MAN changed everything …

The fun begins with a semi-naked metal fetishist (Tsukamoto) retiring to a lonely hut where he can carve an open wound into his leg and ram a length of iron piping into it.

Disturbed by a passer-by, the man flees out onto the street … and straight into the path of a passing car.

The driver, a nameless office worker (Tomorowo Taguchi), wakes the next day to discover a sharp piece of metal sticking out of his left cheek. A tiny bit perturbed by this, he nevertheless covers it up with a plaster and continues on his way to work.

At the train station, he’s attacked by a mutated woman, who tries to kill him with her metallic claw hand. He manages to fight her off and returns to his apartment, where she appears again. Is she a nightmare? A premonition? Or, worse, real?

Our man barely has time to contemplate what the truth may be, before he realises he too is transforming into some kind of grotesque machine. This is especially bad news for his live-in girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara) when he grows an enormous power-drill where his dick once was …

At just 67 minutes in length, IRON MAN remains a short sharp burst of outrageous energy. It’s a fireball of spastic relentlessness, replete with jarring sound design and restless editing. The inventive camerawork is often genius, while the lo-fi FX work with the monochrome photography, thanks to Tsukamoto’s staggering imaginative approach to filmmaking.

Although low on dialogue and even lower on logic, the film succeeds because of its non-stop onslaught of unforgettable images (the minute man toiling away inside a mechanical heart; the grisly aftermath of the drill sex scene; the human tank finale etc) and pounding industrial soundtrack.

Defining cyber-punk before the term was even in common use, the film also strongly echoes ERASERHEAD in terms of soundtrack and nightmarish visuals, while the body horror fascination of David Cronenberg’s early films is also easy to spot. But IRON MAN is wholly original too, and its influence can be felt in so much that has followed in its wake (rock videos, manga, THE MATRIX …).

It seemed almost inevitable that Tsukamoto would make a sequel. It came in 1992. BODY HAMMER is longer, shot in colour, and has a bigger budget.

But it’s also more of the same, in a good way. In it, Taguchi (Taguchi again) is a family man living in a high-rise apartment with his wife and son. In a sequence of events that echo the first film’s action, he starts mutating into a huge coalition of man and metal.

In a turn of events that I won’t pretend to completely understand, his son is then kidnapped by shady officials and Taguchi’s subsequent pursuit leads him to an underground group of semi-clad skinheads. Under the command of their leader Tsukamoto, the skinheads conduct experiments on Taguchi which accelerate his transformation into a life-sized human gun.

The introduction of colour is employed with rainbow-like flourishes, while the insanity is maintained thanks to a racy pace to rival its predecessor and surreal action set-pieces which combine Avant garde sci-fi aesthetics with mega gore. The industrial sounds persist, and the camerawork is as deranged as ever.

While BODY HAMMER suffers slightly from a longer running time and flashbacks which make an already muddled storyline even less comprehensible, its imagination and verve are undeniable.

Tsukamoto is one of the most important genre names in Japan, but his subsequent films – including the likes of A SNAKE OF JUNE, HIROKU THE GOBLIN and even TETSUO 3: BULLET MAN – have rarely managed to match the fevered intensity and creativity of these two era-defining efforts.

Third Window’s 2-disc package begins with both main features on the first DVD. The disc opens with a breathless, animated main menu page set to the clatter of the original film’s awesome soundtrack.

From there, each film has its own animated scene-selection menu offering 12 chapters apiece and the option of disabling the well-written English subtitles.

IRON MAN looks better than ever in an authentically grainy transfer which stays true to the original 16mm film’s 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Contrast is impressive, blacks are nice and deep while the startling imagery has never looked more detailed.

Likewise, the full-frame transfer for BODY HAMMER is correct and looks deeper in terms of colour and depth than previous renditions. I don’t recall the film ever looking this sharp either.

There are no extras on disc one.

Over on disc two, which opens to a static main menu page, we get some very appetising bonus features.

First up are window-boxed original trailers for both films. These are both 3 minutes in length, and look more like the older Tartan DVD transfers. Watching these, it some becomes apparent just how nice the new restorations are. Note how the old subtitles are also inferior.

A new 98-second trailer promoting Third Window’s double bill restoration looks great.

Next we get an excellent interview with Tsukamoto. This is 19 minutes long and features the man speaking graciously to the camera, his affable onscreen presence interspersed with text questions submitted by Third Window and fans.

Tsukamoto talks about his theatre origins, setting up his own production company, his reluctance to use CGI and much more in this mighty fine supplementary feature. He also confirms his personal involvement in the films’ new restorations – and promises the same treatment will come for more of his impressive canon.

A pre-TETSUO short film from Tsukamoto, "Denchu Kozo No Boken" (a.k.a. The Adventures of Electric Rod Boy) follows. This is a window-boxed 45-minute affair, taken from an original 8mm print and looking quite worn as a result. Still, it’s here and is good fun: it’s basically a colour template for what was to come, complete with churning industrial sounds and manic sci-fi surrealism.

Tsukamoto then returns to offer a 6-minute ‘background’ to "Denchu ...".

Finally, we’re treated to trailers for several other Third Window titles: UNDERWATER LOVE, VILLAIN, SAWAKO DECIDES, HIMIZU, COLD FISH, ISN’T ANYONE ALIVE?, KOTOKO and ADRIFT IN TOKYO.

Third Window have really done these films proud with this sterling release. The new restorations are pretty amazing; the extra features are generous and relevant. Above all, these films are genuine classics and deserve a place in any horror buff’s collection.

Also available on blu-ray.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Third Window Films
Region 2
Rated 18
Extras :
see main review
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