22 reviews
Mix a typical creature movie with Tsukamoto madness and add cheesy characters and you have Hiruko the Goblin.
Don't watch this movie expecting anything serious like Tetsuo or Tokyo Fist. This Tsukamoto movie was an offbeat comedy with some strange horror effects. The soundtrack seemed as though it doesn't fit with parts of the movie either, and the characters needed more development.
However, the craziness was still there, and Tsukamoto's camera angles, lighting, and color were all there. I'm glad I have this DVD in my collection since I am a big Tsukamoto Shinya fan.
I give it 6.5/10
Don't watch this movie expecting anything serious like Tetsuo or Tokyo Fist. This Tsukamoto movie was an offbeat comedy with some strange horror effects. The soundtrack seemed as though it doesn't fit with parts of the movie either, and the characters needed more development.
However, the craziness was still there, and Tsukamoto's camera angles, lighting, and color were all there. I'm glad I have this DVD in my collection since I am a big Tsukamoto Shinya fan.
I give it 6.5/10
- eyesofsociety
- Jan 19, 2004
- Permalink
Hiruko the Goblin (aka Yokai Hanta Hiruko) director Shinya Tsukamoto has said that this is "a film about a head". I'm not sure that's quite right, but given the relative inscrutability of the film and Tsukamoto's self-professed love of cryptic ambiguity--substantial enough that he has said to not know what certain scenes or films of his are about--I suppose that "a film about a head" will have to do.
But actually, there's much more to Hiruko the Goblin than that, and at least on a surface level, the film is often almost pedestrian in presenting certain horror conventions. It's just that when you try to tie all of the scenes together, or when you try to figure out what certain more poetic and surreal dialogue and events have to do with what's going on elsewhere, the film's transparency for interpretation can harden into a block of concrete quicker than you can say "Ni"! But that's probably how Tsukamoto wants it, and if we're judging the film solely on how well it achieves its aims, we'd have to say it kicks butt. But that's not quite right, either, because a film could aim to suck, and if it does suck, we'd then have to say that it kicks butt. So we have to factor in how enjoyable/aesthetically rewarding the film is in what it sets out to do. On those grounds, I have to stick with a 7 out of 10, or a "C" here.
But enough with trying to be as impenetrably dense as Tsukamoto. Here are the basics of the plot as well as I can understand it: Hieda Reijirou (Kenji Sawada) is an archaeologist who has a penchant for inventing odd gadgets using everyday items, often kitchen utensils. At the beginning of the film, he makes some significant archaeological "mound" discovery. Then we switch to Takashi Yabe (Naoto Takenaka) and the much younger and more attractive Tsukishima Reiko (Megumi Ueno), who are exploring some cave when an unseen force comes after them and makes them quickly dolly along with the camera for some comical close-ups of "terror", ala the opening of Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky (1977). (Did I mention that this is sort of a horror comedy?) Then we switch to three school kids, apparently classmates of Reiko's, the most important of which is Yabe's son, Masao (Masaki Kudou), who are searching for Reiko at the school. They see the scary janitor, Watanabe (Hideo Murota), then get involved in an interesting horror situation at the school, when Reijirou shows up with a bunch of gadgets for some reason. Eventually, Reijirou and Masao Yabe team up and try to solve whatever the mystery was--and it turns out to be fairly bizarre and poetic.
That plot description probably sounds a lot more vague than it would have to, but in addition to the film being a bit confusing, I have to be careful to not give too much away. Maybe it would be better--since surely it's mostly horror fans reading this review who would be wondering if they should check out the film--to say that the first major section is kind of a combination of haunted house/slasher stuff, with a heavy Evil Dead (1981) vibe (Tsukamoto even uses Raimi-like fast hand-held "tracking" shots through hallways, weird angles, and even invokes a chainsaw at one point). The second major section turns into more of a supernatural/creature story--imagine David Cronenberg doing an H.P. Lovecraft film and you'll get the idea.
All of this stuff is good on some level, even if it's pretty difficult to put together. Among the things that I was still bewildered about when the film ended were: What was the relationship between Reiko, Reijirou, Takashi Yabe, and the three boys? What did all of that religion/mythology dialogue have to do with the plot? Why did Masao Yabe have appearance and functional resemblances to his ancestor? Just what was the deal with Masao's back--why was that happening? If you like weirdness, and you don't mind a bit of derivativeness and confusion, you'll love Hiruko the Goblin.
There were a lot of things I loved about the film. I loved Reijirou's gadgets. I loved the blood/gore/decapitations (part of why this is "a film about a head"). Tsukamoto sure knows how to get the visceral stuff right. I liked the humor. I loved some of the cinematography, even if Tsukamoto had his Raimi notes written on his palm while shooting. I loved the special effects, especially the Cronenbergish stuff (and this is another part of why this is "a film about a head"). I loved a lot of the music--especially the melancholy song that Reiko kept singing (which reminded me of some similarly-flavored songs from Suicide Club (Jisatsu saakuru, 2002)--I watched that only a couple weeks before seeing Hiruko). Some of the other music was a bit like generic 1980s "synth-horror" music, but on the other hand, some music that sounded close to that was interesting jazz fusion stuff. I loved the almost corny (well, maybe it just was corny) final scenes, one of which seemed like maybe Richard Kelly kinda stole it for Donnie Darko (2001).
So there were a lot of positive points about the film. I just hope I'm not going to have to pass a quiz on the plot, themes or subtexts.
But actually, there's much more to Hiruko the Goblin than that, and at least on a surface level, the film is often almost pedestrian in presenting certain horror conventions. It's just that when you try to tie all of the scenes together, or when you try to figure out what certain more poetic and surreal dialogue and events have to do with what's going on elsewhere, the film's transparency for interpretation can harden into a block of concrete quicker than you can say "Ni"! But that's probably how Tsukamoto wants it, and if we're judging the film solely on how well it achieves its aims, we'd have to say it kicks butt. But that's not quite right, either, because a film could aim to suck, and if it does suck, we'd then have to say that it kicks butt. So we have to factor in how enjoyable/aesthetically rewarding the film is in what it sets out to do. On those grounds, I have to stick with a 7 out of 10, or a "C" here.
But enough with trying to be as impenetrably dense as Tsukamoto. Here are the basics of the plot as well as I can understand it: Hieda Reijirou (Kenji Sawada) is an archaeologist who has a penchant for inventing odd gadgets using everyday items, often kitchen utensils. At the beginning of the film, he makes some significant archaeological "mound" discovery. Then we switch to Takashi Yabe (Naoto Takenaka) and the much younger and more attractive Tsukishima Reiko (Megumi Ueno), who are exploring some cave when an unseen force comes after them and makes them quickly dolly along with the camera for some comical close-ups of "terror", ala the opening of Terry Gilliam's Jabberwocky (1977). (Did I mention that this is sort of a horror comedy?) Then we switch to three school kids, apparently classmates of Reiko's, the most important of which is Yabe's son, Masao (Masaki Kudou), who are searching for Reiko at the school. They see the scary janitor, Watanabe (Hideo Murota), then get involved in an interesting horror situation at the school, when Reijirou shows up with a bunch of gadgets for some reason. Eventually, Reijirou and Masao Yabe team up and try to solve whatever the mystery was--and it turns out to be fairly bizarre and poetic.
That plot description probably sounds a lot more vague than it would have to, but in addition to the film being a bit confusing, I have to be careful to not give too much away. Maybe it would be better--since surely it's mostly horror fans reading this review who would be wondering if they should check out the film--to say that the first major section is kind of a combination of haunted house/slasher stuff, with a heavy Evil Dead (1981) vibe (Tsukamoto even uses Raimi-like fast hand-held "tracking" shots through hallways, weird angles, and even invokes a chainsaw at one point). The second major section turns into more of a supernatural/creature story--imagine David Cronenberg doing an H.P. Lovecraft film and you'll get the idea.
All of this stuff is good on some level, even if it's pretty difficult to put together. Among the things that I was still bewildered about when the film ended were: What was the relationship between Reiko, Reijirou, Takashi Yabe, and the three boys? What did all of that religion/mythology dialogue have to do with the plot? Why did Masao Yabe have appearance and functional resemblances to his ancestor? Just what was the deal with Masao's back--why was that happening? If you like weirdness, and you don't mind a bit of derivativeness and confusion, you'll love Hiruko the Goblin.
There were a lot of things I loved about the film. I loved Reijirou's gadgets. I loved the blood/gore/decapitations (part of why this is "a film about a head"). Tsukamoto sure knows how to get the visceral stuff right. I liked the humor. I loved some of the cinematography, even if Tsukamoto had his Raimi notes written on his palm while shooting. I loved the special effects, especially the Cronenbergish stuff (and this is another part of why this is "a film about a head"). I loved a lot of the music--especially the melancholy song that Reiko kept singing (which reminded me of some similarly-flavored songs from Suicide Club (Jisatsu saakuru, 2002)--I watched that only a couple weeks before seeing Hiruko). Some of the other music was a bit like generic 1980s "synth-horror" music, but on the other hand, some music that sounded close to that was interesting jazz fusion stuff. I loved the almost corny (well, maybe it just was corny) final scenes, one of which seemed like maybe Richard Kelly kinda stole it for Donnie Darko (2001).
So there were a lot of positive points about the film. I just hope I'm not going to have to pass a quiz on the plot, themes or subtexts.
- BrandtSponseller
- May 11, 2005
- Permalink
After opening an ancient tomb discovered beneath their school, teacher Takashi Yabe (Naoto Takenaka) and pretty student Tsukishima (Megumi Ueno) fall victim to the goblins trapped within. With the help of archaeologist Hieda Reijirou (Kenji Sawada), Takashi's son Masao attempts to prevent the goblins from escaping into our world.
Tetsuo, The Iron Man, Shin'ya Tsukamoto's nightmarish cyberpunk cult hit, found its audience with the art-house/obscure horror intelligentsia; I can't imagine the same crowd going quite so gaga for Hiruko the Goblin, which takes a far less visionary approach, borrowing much of it its visual stylings from Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and John Carpenter's The Thing.
The film's plot is just as incomprehensible as Tetsuo's—I hadn't a clue what was happening for much of the time—but Tsukamoto eschews the surreal for a far more basic, splat-stick style, with plenty of gushing blood, crazy creatures, and chaotic, over-the-top acting. It might not make much sense half the time, but with decapitated heads sprouting legs, a crazy archaeologist armed with homemade goblin-hunting gizmos, and a young hero who develops burns on his back that resemble the goblins' victims, it's hard not to enjoy on the most basic of levels.
Tetsuo, The Iron Man, Shin'ya Tsukamoto's nightmarish cyberpunk cult hit, found its audience with the art-house/obscure horror intelligentsia; I can't imagine the same crowd going quite so gaga for Hiruko the Goblin, which takes a far less visionary approach, borrowing much of it its visual stylings from Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead and John Carpenter's The Thing.
The film's plot is just as incomprehensible as Tetsuo's—I hadn't a clue what was happening for much of the time—but Tsukamoto eschews the surreal for a far more basic, splat-stick style, with plenty of gushing blood, crazy creatures, and chaotic, over-the-top acting. It might not make much sense half the time, but with decapitated heads sprouting legs, a crazy archaeologist armed with homemade goblin-hunting gizmos, and a young hero who develops burns on his back that resemble the goblins' victims, it's hard not to enjoy on the most basic of levels.
- BA_Harrison
- Feb 15, 2012
- Permalink
I found a copy of this film without the benefit of English subtitling, but was able to figure out the story... vaguely, anyway. I have been a fan of this director's work for many years, particularly the excellent TOKYO FIST, so I was very happy to find this obscure little film.
It seemed at first to be much more mainstream than the rest of Tsukamoto's films, but it did have its share of bizzare scenes... It is essentially a cross between EVIL DEAD II, THE THING, and THE CHURCH... but in Japanese. Mainly enjoyable, and a must for anyone interested in this guy's work. It is very strange indeed...
It seemed at first to be much more mainstream than the rest of Tsukamoto's films, but it did have its share of bizzare scenes... It is essentially a cross between EVIL DEAD II, THE THING, and THE CHURCH... but in Japanese. Mainly enjoyable, and a must for anyone interested in this guy's work. It is very strange indeed...
I saw an article titled "Insane Horror Movies You Have To See" and I liked almost all the movies on the list (MANDY, POSSESSION, HOUSE, NIGHTBREED, SOCIETY, etc.) but this film and TITANE were the only two I hadn't seen. I'd heard of TITANE since it won the Palme d'Or, but I'd never heard of this early 90s Japanese horror film. Don't associate this one with the late 90s J-Horror batch of films (RINGU, JU-ON, DARK WATER, etc.). This film shares a spirit much closer to Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD, mixing outlandish creatures, wild camera movements, and a general level of craziness that gets wilder and wilder as the film goes along. For the first hour or so, the film is a pretty transitional Asian horror film, featuring an evil spirit (a goblin) that's killing students at a private high school, but once a severed head with spider legs begins terrorizing students at around the 45-minute mark, that's when the film starts getting really good, building to a climax that to SOOOOO bonkers, I awarded the film another star. I was laughing out loud it was so outrageous! For fans of 70s and 80s Japanese horror films along the lines of 1977's HOUSE (not the William Katt film), seek this one out!
I decided to purchase the film before seeing it. It was a "blind buy". was it worth it? Yes. That's not to say that the film isn't without it's faults however.
The story (like many people have already said) is somewhat confusing. I'm not going to go into the basic plot of the film, because you can look that up yourself...lol. I'll tell you that the plot IS interesting though, if maybe a tad to complex for it's own good.
I'm just going to point out what i liked and didn't like, so that you'll be able to make a decision on whether or not the film would be worth your time.
The effects were OK. This is obviously a low budget flick. That being said, there were only a couple really cheesy effects. Of course, the main gimmick is the whole "heads with spider legs" thing, and that's pulled off pretty well for the most part. I gotta say, they do look pretty creepy and some of them shoot large tongues out their mouths (reminded me of Uzumaki to a certain degree).
The film doesn't really know if it's serious or slapstick. Now by slapstick, i don't mean there's scenes like you'd see in "the naked gun" or movies of that type however. One of the main characters runs around with quirky inventions made of household items. he carries a can of aerosol spray that evidently the goblins don't like. There's a lot of tongue in cheek events and scenes in this one...but there's some good horror elements as well.
in fact, there's actually quite a few scenes that gave me goosebumps. there was also 2 or 3 moments where i actually jumped a little bit. it's just too bad that it seems like the last 3/4's of the film loses the "horror edge" and makes the film seem like a bad Japanese Indiana Jones ripoff in comparison to what we see earlier in the film.
Oh yeah, there's some pretty violent scenes in this as well. so if you aren't a fan of gore and blood...then this might turn you off. however, the violence isn't "shocking" or anything that would upset the squeamish.
The premise is interesting, but i honestly think this would have been a much better flick if it was straight horror...and dropped the goofy comedic tone found in many scenes. Overall though, it's a pretty fun ride...and there's really not much out there that has the feel the film has. I'm a big time horror fan, and it floats my boat and was worth the blind purchase.
RATING: 7/10
The story (like many people have already said) is somewhat confusing. I'm not going to go into the basic plot of the film, because you can look that up yourself...lol. I'll tell you that the plot IS interesting though, if maybe a tad to complex for it's own good.
I'm just going to point out what i liked and didn't like, so that you'll be able to make a decision on whether or not the film would be worth your time.
The effects were OK. This is obviously a low budget flick. That being said, there were only a couple really cheesy effects. Of course, the main gimmick is the whole "heads with spider legs" thing, and that's pulled off pretty well for the most part. I gotta say, they do look pretty creepy and some of them shoot large tongues out their mouths (reminded me of Uzumaki to a certain degree).
The film doesn't really know if it's serious or slapstick. Now by slapstick, i don't mean there's scenes like you'd see in "the naked gun" or movies of that type however. One of the main characters runs around with quirky inventions made of household items. he carries a can of aerosol spray that evidently the goblins don't like. There's a lot of tongue in cheek events and scenes in this one...but there's some good horror elements as well.
in fact, there's actually quite a few scenes that gave me goosebumps. there was also 2 or 3 moments where i actually jumped a little bit. it's just too bad that it seems like the last 3/4's of the film loses the "horror edge" and makes the film seem like a bad Japanese Indiana Jones ripoff in comparison to what we see earlier in the film.
Oh yeah, there's some pretty violent scenes in this as well. so if you aren't a fan of gore and blood...then this might turn you off. however, the violence isn't "shocking" or anything that would upset the squeamish.
The premise is interesting, but i honestly think this would have been a much better flick if it was straight horror...and dropped the goofy comedic tone found in many scenes. Overall though, it's a pretty fun ride...and there's really not much out there that has the feel the film has. I'm a big time horror fan, and it floats my boat and was worth the blind purchase.
RATING: 7/10
- wierzbowskisteedman
- Oct 22, 2005
- Permalink
- BandSAboutMovies
- Feb 9, 2022
- Permalink
- Zombified_660
- Jul 21, 2006
- Permalink
This is a more kinetic and light-hearted film than some of Tsukamoto's other pensive and brooding work. Be prepared for cheap special effects and don't take it too seriously. There's a lot of passion here! The two leads are quite good. One of the minor characters was terrible. Maybe I just didn't get it.
I'm going to strongly recommend this to any fans of the Evil Dead... particularly the Evil Dead 2. It was filmed in the same vein. I was ready for Bruce Campbell to appear at any moment, and it would have made perfect sense.
I'm going to strongly recommend this to any fans of the Evil Dead... particularly the Evil Dead 2. It was filmed in the same vein. I was ready for Bruce Campbell to appear at any moment, and it would have made perfect sense.
- dopefishie
- Jul 14, 2021
- Permalink
Arriving in a small village, an archeologist tries to find the colleague who summoned him only instead to find his son hanging around a local school trying to find out where his crush has disappeared to, only to find that the reasoning for his summoning is a local goblin released by a classmate and must stop it together.
There was quite a lot to like with this effort. Among its brighter points is the exceptionally fun setup at play here that provides a lot of local folklore and background into the creatures' appearance. The initial guise of the group arriving at the village on an archeological expedition to uncover a series of ruins discovered in the woods surrounding the area gives this a solid backdrop to introduce the legend of the giant mound and the myths surrounding it. With plenty of evidence that there are superstitions about the mound and how dangerous it is to be around the area, aspects of a family curse that are brought up, and a series of secrets that have to be revealed about the way the locals treat the creature, the setup to this one is engaging and has a lot to like about it. On top of this incredibly fun setup, the film itself features plenty of exciting and enjoyable creature action which starts from the very beginning. The camera-work to display the creature scuttling through underground tunnels or down school hallways chasing after victims is immensely terrifying with the inhuman speed and low stature to the ground we see it zooming along, and given the beastly growling accompanying the sequences brings about a really impressive tactic. With the later scenes showing the creatures' true form and how it moves around as a human head with spider-like appendages sticking out from all sides allowing it to move about with the speed and accuracy it does and the eerie song it sings to tempt and distract victims, there's a lot to like here. That all gives the attack scenes plenty to like about it. The attack on the kids at the school manages to be both incredibly eerie with the unknown assailant flying around the room scattering objects in front of the terrified victim and manages to kill him without us seeing who it is after several distractions, while the creature chasing both the student and the professor around the campus contains several close calls and frenetic escapes on top of the impressive effects on the kills the finale, taking place in the creatures' underground hideout containing an army of similar beings about to be released, goes for more of a fantasy feel with the spells and incantations to stop them but fits in with the rest of the film and gives this a rousing, triumphant finish to raise the film quite nicely. There isn't much to dislike but it does have some slight issues. The main drawback factor to be had here is the strange treatment of the professor when he arrives at the village, which is seemingly quite comical and dismissive despite being the nominal action hero of the piece. The slapstick clumsiness, predilection for strange gadgets, and mockery by his peers all point to the comic relief role rather than the tack-charge man-of-action he really is throughout the rest of the film and leaves this one feeling somewhat discordant at the start. The other slight issue here is the films' low-budget effects work, for as good as the creature design and make-up look there are instances where it looks like cheap constructions which aren't detrimental but rather distracting. These are what hold the film down slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
There was quite a lot to like with this effort. Among its brighter points is the exceptionally fun setup at play here that provides a lot of local folklore and background into the creatures' appearance. The initial guise of the group arriving at the village on an archeological expedition to uncover a series of ruins discovered in the woods surrounding the area gives this a solid backdrop to introduce the legend of the giant mound and the myths surrounding it. With plenty of evidence that there are superstitions about the mound and how dangerous it is to be around the area, aspects of a family curse that are brought up, and a series of secrets that have to be revealed about the way the locals treat the creature, the setup to this one is engaging and has a lot to like about it. On top of this incredibly fun setup, the film itself features plenty of exciting and enjoyable creature action which starts from the very beginning. The camera-work to display the creature scuttling through underground tunnels or down school hallways chasing after victims is immensely terrifying with the inhuman speed and low stature to the ground we see it zooming along, and given the beastly growling accompanying the sequences brings about a really impressive tactic. With the later scenes showing the creatures' true form and how it moves around as a human head with spider-like appendages sticking out from all sides allowing it to move about with the speed and accuracy it does and the eerie song it sings to tempt and distract victims, there's a lot to like here. That all gives the attack scenes plenty to like about it. The attack on the kids at the school manages to be both incredibly eerie with the unknown assailant flying around the room scattering objects in front of the terrified victim and manages to kill him without us seeing who it is after several distractions, while the creature chasing both the student and the professor around the campus contains several close calls and frenetic escapes on top of the impressive effects on the kills the finale, taking place in the creatures' underground hideout containing an army of similar beings about to be released, goes for more of a fantasy feel with the spells and incantations to stop them but fits in with the rest of the film and gives this a rousing, triumphant finish to raise the film quite nicely. There isn't much to dislike but it does have some slight issues. The main drawback factor to be had here is the strange treatment of the professor when he arrives at the village, which is seemingly quite comical and dismissive despite being the nominal action hero of the piece. The slapstick clumsiness, predilection for strange gadgets, and mockery by his peers all point to the comic relief role rather than the tack-charge man-of-action he really is throughout the rest of the film and leaves this one feeling somewhat discordant at the start. The other slight issue here is the films' low-budget effects work, for as good as the creature design and make-up look there are instances where it looks like cheap constructions which aren't detrimental but rather distracting. These are what hold the film down slightly.
Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.
- kannibalcorpsegrinder
- Aug 22, 2021
- Permalink
Six years before Buffy the show (and one year before Buffy the not so great movie) there was Hiruko the Goblin, which tackled a premise about a portal to hell opening up underneath a school before either. Granted, beyond that it's not super comparable, but maybe a tiny bit interesting either way.
Hiruko isn't a masterpiece but it was very enjoyable. It hit the spot on a Friday night, being a pretty straightforward movie about a couple of guys trying to prevent demons from hell from entering the world. It takes a few detours and has some flashbacks, but it's interesting that the film mostly focuses on two main characters, whereas you'd probably expect this kind of movie to have a bigger group of main characters.
Still, it works, and while they're not complex or find themselves standing in the way of the special effects and bloody yet often comedic violence, you do care enough about the two leads. There's even some emotional stuff towards the end of movie that kind of works; feels a bit jarring, but it adds another layer to things.
Hiruko isn't a masterpiece but it was very enjoyable. It hit the spot on a Friday night, being a pretty straightforward movie about a couple of guys trying to prevent demons from hell from entering the world. It takes a few detours and has some flashbacks, but it's interesting that the film mostly focuses on two main characters, whereas you'd probably expect this kind of movie to have a bigger group of main characters.
Still, it works, and while they're not complex or find themselves standing in the way of the special effects and bloody yet often comedic violence, you do care enough about the two leads. There's even some emotional stuff towards the end of movie that kind of works; feels a bit jarring, but it adds another layer to things.
- Jeremy_Urquhart
- Jul 29, 2022
- Permalink
The amazing film maker Shin'ya Tsukamoto's with Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) and Testuo II: Body Hammer (1992) were both stunning and breathtaking whereas on this one, Hiruko the Goblin is something us. I didn't really get it at all and think it may have been a school kids funny one? Anyway it is very silly and very low budget so I will forget about it, although the spiders with human faces are amusing.
- christopher-underwood
- Feb 24, 2022
- Permalink
Unlike every other Tsukamoto film I've been able to hunt down (the two TETSUOs, GEMINI, and ROD BOY,) this film seems to be nothing more than a silly popcorn film. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, although it does raise some interesting questions about Tsukamoto's style as a director. The sped up POV running towards a character thing he did in both TETSUOs, for example, looks like an EVIL DEAD rip off here, despite the device having a completely different effect in the Tetsuo films.
This feels less like a Tsukamoto work than anything else he's done, even the slowly paced art film GEMINI. Beyond that, it's basically a straight horror flick: characters find themselves in a bad situation, and spend the entire film's running time trying to get out of it and/or fix it. The elements aren't original by any stretch of the imagination (there's even a crusty, crazy old man who knows more than he's telling,) but Tsukamoto's handling of them still feels new. When someone is attacked by a goblin, the victim flashes to a peaceful, serene, but nonetheless threatening dreamworld, which (as we discover) more often than not leads to suicide.
Much, much fluffier than anything else the man's done, and curious for his fans, although the uninitiated will just see a straight horror flick, albeit one better done than most. Fun stuff.
This feels less like a Tsukamoto work than anything else he's done, even the slowly paced art film GEMINI. Beyond that, it's basically a straight horror flick: characters find themselves in a bad situation, and spend the entire film's running time trying to get out of it and/or fix it. The elements aren't original by any stretch of the imagination (there's even a crusty, crazy old man who knows more than he's telling,) but Tsukamoto's handling of them still feels new. When someone is attacked by a goblin, the victim flashes to a peaceful, serene, but nonetheless threatening dreamworld, which (as we discover) more often than not leads to suicide.
Much, much fluffier than anything else the man's done, and curious for his fans, although the uninitiated will just see a straight horror flick, albeit one better done than most. Fun stuff.
What to say about this one? We watched it pretty early in our Movie Night experience. It was an odd movie, which we honestly expected to be the case. Not every day you hear about a movie head on a set of spider legs. What was unexpected was that I barely remembered what happened throughout the movie after turning it off. My only memories from movie are of creepy girl heads on spider legs skittering about. I think one time she was in a locker too. That's it. Everything else about the movie is lost to the ether.
This falls into an odd category of Movie Night duds where I still think it's worth seeing at least once. While the Wizard wasn't a fan, I think it was weird enough that I, at least, wasn't bored.
This falls into an odd category of Movie Night duds where I still think it's worth seeing at least once. While the Wizard wasn't a fan, I think it was weird enough that I, at least, wasn't bored.
- Jack-B-Nimble
- Nov 15, 2023
- Permalink
Wow. So much going on. Excellent use of audio and special effects. Early 1990'a shock horror special. Really underrated. Sure it's not the best scripted but that's not the point.
A huge weird and wonderful crazy movie. Really a joy to watch. It's not for kids. It's probably not a date night movie (unless she's special and loves cult b movie Grindhouse gore) and it's really not getting the acclaim it deserves!
Heart-wrenching scenes and a really bonkers script. For this generation of movie makers I can't understand why this Director has been ignored as his technical ability is excellent. It's weird and crazy and totally not viewing for the faint-hearted but damn it's fun and a roller coaster!
Special thanks to Adam at Third Windows for this gem. People are mean on IMDB.
A huge weird and wonderful crazy movie. Really a joy to watch. It's not for kids. It's probably not a date night movie (unless she's special and loves cult b movie Grindhouse gore) and it's really not getting the acclaim it deserves!
Heart-wrenching scenes and a really bonkers script. For this generation of movie makers I can't understand why this Director has been ignored as his technical ability is excellent. It's weird and crazy and totally not viewing for the faint-hearted but damn it's fun and a roller coaster!
Special thanks to Adam at Third Windows for this gem. People are mean on IMDB.
HIRUKO: THE GOBLIN (1990) Surprisingly fluffy supernatural adventure film from the director of the TETSUO movies, Shinya Tsukamoto, perhaps done to prove he could apply a mainstream touch to lighter material. As such, it's still got his trademark bodily aberrations and spurting blood. An archaeologist uncovers an burial mound he believes to be some sort of an appeasement to ancient gods, but he and a student are killed by the critters within.
Meanwhile, his colleague (Kenji Sawada), now conveniently a goblin hunter, teams with the man's son to seal off the tomb under the mound before more deaths are caused by the free-roaming goblin, which looks like a human head with spider legs and hypnotizes its victims into a state of tranquil bliss that makes it much easier for them to saw off their own heads. Speedy fun, played with just enough tongue in cheek. Based on a book by Daijirao Moroboshi. I watched the R2 British edition of this. I give it an 8.
Meanwhile, his colleague (Kenji Sawada), now conveniently a goblin hunter, teams with the man's son to seal off the tomb under the mound before more deaths are caused by the free-roaming goblin, which looks like a human head with spider legs and hypnotizes its victims into a state of tranquil bliss that makes it much easier for them to saw off their own heads. Speedy fun, played with just enough tongue in cheek. Based on a book by Daijirao Moroboshi. I watched the R2 British edition of this. I give it an 8.
- BrianThibodeau
- Aug 24, 2004
- Permalink
- Woodyanders
- Nov 14, 2006
- Permalink
- Reviews_of_the_Dead
- Jun 19, 2019
- Permalink
This has the stiff direction and sterile feeling typical of many Japanese films, pretty deadly for a horror movie, especially one that's intended to have a number of wacky and wild moments. The story is extremely confusing, missing even token explanations for many things; it's like it expects us to be familiar with the story from its original source. When it's not boring, it's extremely bewildering. Some of the special effects aren't bad for what was a low budget, but they tend to be derivative of other (and better) horror and science fiction movies. See how many such references to other movies you can spot, if you should decide to see this movie despite what I've said.
I went in without knowing what this would be, and i got surprised over how good this one was.
I don't know if all of this is based on japanese ghost/monster lore or if this is very inspired by The thing or whats up, but i liked what it was and how it played out.
It's a mixture of horror, some gore and japanese monsters/demons and its good stopmotion of the monsters, good acting and well made scenes. Audio is also very good and i cannot complain over the dialog.
It's a fun and enjoyable movie with a little bit of humor in it. It takes it self serious, but in a way not. It's recommended for you who want something odd but still not too much out of the box with complex story. This one is pretty easy to follow and straight forward.
I don't know if all of this is based on japanese ghost/monster lore or if this is very inspired by The thing or whats up, but i liked what it was and how it played out.
It's a mixture of horror, some gore and japanese monsters/demons and its good stopmotion of the monsters, good acting and well made scenes. Audio is also very good and i cannot complain over the dialog.
It's a fun and enjoyable movie with a little bit of humor in it. It takes it self serious, but in a way not. It's recommended for you who want something odd but still not too much out of the box with complex story. This one is pretty easy to follow and straight forward.