Saturday, November 14

Details on CONTON (1987)

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Specs from Z-Grade: Jujin Densetsu / Con Ton Directed by Takuro Fukuda / 45 Minutes / Starring Tasashi Kato, Kyoko Katayama, Kazuhisa Kawahara, Manta Yamamoto, Fumihude Kimura, Ryoto Koike.

This short isn't subtitled in English so what follows is a complete (so expect spoilers) plot crunch based on my viewing of a DVD-R copy of the original Japanese Zeus/Roco Ltd. VHS. This title seems very rare. I have no idea who made this DVD-R and the only other copy I've been able to locate is the original VHS through Z-Grade for $150.

A young Japanese TV lighting technician, Goshun, who sculpts vinyl Kaiju figures as a hobby begins having nightmares about hulking samurai monsters invading his dreams punching down walls and throwing objects in his direction to a rip-off take on Goblin's Sleepwalking from Phenomena. Goshun is also having problems with his girlfriend Amy while being hassled by three petty street thugs demanding money after a small fender bender with the young man.

During one of his dreams, Goshun vomits up dark green bile in his bathroom sink and from the bubbling ooze a face emerges with a Alien-esqe teethed snake (lower half of the cover to the left) that shrieks and suddenly jumps towards his face causing him to wake up screaming. In another dream, Goshun walks into a darkened room and lifts a helmet up off the floor revealing an old hag's head. The hag's eyes open and clawed hands rip from floor grabbing Goshun as he gorily tears off the face of the hag. The bloody skull with dangling eyes and tongue spits intestines at Goshun that proceed to strangle him.

Goshun keeps trying to duck run-ins with the thugs but is eventually cornered in the TV studio after hours by them. Amy is thrown forth gagged as the men begin threatening with guns and beating the young man. As Goshun rages at his seemingly hopeless situation his body begins to transform a la An American Werewolf in London into a huge slimy beast with corded hair running from the top of its head down its back. The creature decapitates the thug leader, tears the face of another totally asunder, and stomps on the last with Amy looking on. Still in this otherworldly state, Goshun approaches Amy who shoots him pleading to stop. Amy gets up out of the darkness and ends up being one of the monsters from Goshun's nightmares as she takes her helmet off. Then the camera pulls out revealing the same scene in one of Goshun's vinyl figure projects on his desk in his apartment. THE END.

This short isn't bad, but it's not tremendously graphic with most of the effects being a bit cartoonish. Certainly not worth $150, though it is one of those obscure Japanese curiosities that makes you wonder why was it made in the first place like the Guinea Pig series. So hopefully this will quench the wonder from those wanting to find a copy.

2 comments:

Drunketh said...

This looks pretty awesome actually... where'd you get the DVDR?

Jayson Kennedy said...

eBay, but the seller had nothing else on DVD-R or horror related. Really odd...

...do you dare tread upon the staircase?

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