Japanese SOV Gore Follow-Up: CONTON (獣神伝説 /Jūshin Legend /Chaos) (1987)

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Here's a follow-up to this entry from a few years ago detailing the adventure feeling my way through Takuro Fukuda's unsubtitled shot-on-video gore short, Conton (Chaos). I finally got a copy of the original VHS, the very same copy from Z-Grade referred to in that write-up (not for $150 though!), and not the DVD-R used for that entry. Like GUZOO, see here, this VHS is also distributed by ROCO Company Limited. Looking around I'm confident in stating this is ZEUS Video's only release.

Here's Z-Grade's write-up from the auction: Over-the-top JAPANESE GORE HORROR SHORT directed by TAKURO FUKUDA! / EXTREMELY RARE JAPANESE VHS LTBX RELEASE – NOT AVAILABLE ON DVD! / ZEUS/ROCO CO., LTD / This is a Genuine Factory Original Japanese Import NTSC VHS tape and it will play in all U.S. VCRs. Presented in JAPANESE LANGUAGE ONLY with no English language or subtitles. NOT RATED / SP MODE / NTSC / COLOR / 45m 42s

In the fine tradition of the GUINEA PIG series, we present to you this weird lesser-known Japanese horror gore gem. The story involves a young otaku (nerd) collector and sculptor who works part-time as a production assistant for a television studio. He has quite a few vinyl Ultraman figures on display in his room. Anyway, it seems as of late, he has been having a lot of disturbing nightmares of tall armor-wearing demonic creatures that wield hatchets. In real life, he is having a bit of trouble with the local yakuza...as it seems he owes some cash to a trio of thugs. As his stress level rises, and the yakuza begin harassing him at his every move, the two realities seem to collide. At one point, he even sculpts out the creatures he sees in his dreams. 

And this is where the fun stuff begins. For starters, how about when our sleep deprived hero upchucks green puke into the sink, which then mutates into a face with an alien-like extended jaw and teeth? A few crushed skulls and eyeballs are on hand (check out the cover art on this sleeve!!), as well as the requisite tentacles, a nice beheading, and the climactic twist ending including the transformation of our hero into something ungodly. Nice EFX, if a little cartoony, but slathered in goo, puss, and lots of bloody mess. This gory Z-Grade Japanese horror gem is one rare tape, so get to bidding cause it's the only one we have.