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Japan's always been a reliable source for the crazy, but in catching up with the trailer for Robo-Geisha (see it here), I'm starting to wonder whether it's beginning to be tailor-made for the sake of overseas revenue. Are small Japanese studios finally starting to realize the general popularity of Asian madness abroad? Plop out some slapdash but gory mess, spread publicity slickly over the 'net, get DVD studios like Media Blasters interested, and garner cult success by way of cash flow from foreigners who thrive on the flick's WTFness.Especially with this Robo-Geisha thing, the trailer seems geared to English-speaking viewers and extremely popular U.S.-based film/pop culture news sites like AICN (news blob here) have already propped it up like a solid gold microphone signed and kissed by MJ minutes before his death. Honestly, the film looks terrible, looking as if director Noboru Iguchi created a list of bad Japanese film subculture clichés and other assorted wild shit that could be created as cheaply (and quickly) as possible. This is coming from one awesomely cool dude who loves trash like Versus and Stacy.
This is not to say this or its batshit breathen (like Iguchi's Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police) won't be entertaining, but right now they seem less fun to discover with at least the possibility of it all being Anglicized for our consumption.
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5 comments:
I'm down with VERSUS & STACY, like you... those two still have their own definite senses of style and quirkiness, without simply trying to up the ante on how far blood can spray across a roof-top. Sure, they're visceral, but there's more than that. I pretty much fell off by the time I saw MACHINE GIRL, though. It was there that I decided for myself that these new Japanese splatter movies are basically just gooey cartoons. The gore doesn't look painful and it's all a big joke and there's no sense of anything "bad" actually happening to people. Sure, they get dispatched in really messy ways, but it's more in the vein of the Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote schtick. Even Herschell G Lewis' shit, as amateurish and raw as it was, was meant to provoke a gut feeling. This new Asian stuff is just for cheap laughs, and while I can certainly appreciate some light-heartedness as much as the next guy, too much of it wears thin *quick*. I *hated* TOKYO GORE POLICE, because there was no dramatic tension or real consequence to the violence, and I got bored with all the supposedly "zany" self mutilation antics.
For me, Tokyo Gore Police is like a bad cartoon joke that bored me a lot, perphaps because I had other expectatives with the film. I prefer japanesse films like Tetsuo
Glad to see I wasn't the only one who didn't care for Tokyo Gore Police. Tokyo Gore Police was so over the top it basically became a show piece to display as much carnage, gore, and confusion in a film.
I could see how that would be your preception, but these Japanese films are made for the Japanese, foreign markets are not a priority. I know this because Yoshihiro Nishimura said this himself when introducing Vamp Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl. He had to push to get this movie played outside of Japan. He is of a minority that is actually AWARE of his international audience.
This seems a little more generalized than it should be. Those movies are from a very small group of people, in one guy's special effects style. If you don't like it, that's fine, but I don't see how you can equate it to all Japanese horror.
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