Amazon.com

Shinya Tsukamoto draws on the marriage of flesh and technology that inspires so much of David Cronenberg's work and then twists it into a manga-influenced cyberpunk vision. A man (Tomoroh Taguchi) awakens from a nightmare in which his body is helplessly fusing with the metal objects around him, only to find it happening to him in real life... or is it? Haunted by memories of a hit and run (eerily prophetic of Cronenberg's Crash), the man knows this ordeal could be a dream, a fantastic form ofdivine retribution, or perhaps technological mutation born of guilt and rage. Shot in bracing black and white on a small budget, Tsukamoto puts a demented conceptual twist on good old-fashioned stop-motion effects and simple wire work, giving his film the surreal quality of a waking dream with a psychosexual edge (resulting in the film's most disturbing scene). The story ultimately takes on an abstract quality enhanced by the grungy look and increasingly wild images as they take to the streets in a mad chase of technological speed demons. This first entry in his self-titled "Regular Sized Monster Series" is followed by a full-color sequel, Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer, which trades the muddy experimental atmosphere for a big-budget sheen but can't top the cybershock to the system this movie packs. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (43)

A feast for the eyes
I gave this film 4 stars mainly because I don't like to say anything is perfect. This is one film that anyone interested in disturbing cinema should see. Unlike any post Erasure Head film by David Lynch, this film is not wierd for wierds sake.

With very little dialogue this Black and White film is a visual overload. Simple to follow, and at times almost unwatchable. It is a halucinatory trip through the mind of a madman slowly and involuntarily turning into a machine. A must for anyone interested in the strange side of Asian Cinema.

Thank goodness the movie is only 60 min long. It will leave you with a gut punch that you will not soon forget. I wish they still had drive through theaters so that it could be a double feature with Erasure Head.

Beware of the Sequel Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer. Its not as good of a story and it loses something with the addition of the color. The VHS version comes with a short entitled Drum Struck, another delightful little gem. Highly recomended for those who like this sort of thing. Kinda like a Nine Inch Nails video but without the...soundtrack.

violence is a little over the top, but a real experience
let me start out by saying that most people should not see this movie or even try to. if you think that you can just turn it off when it gets disturbing and forget about it, you're sadly mistaken, because when you've seen just one sick part you'll be pretty revolted for a good amount of time even if you shut it off that second. this is only for people who enjoy art that is basically a shot at convention and a sort of revelry in surreal and disturbing imagery without necessarily needing a coherent or logical storyline, and if you're not among those people, stay far, faaaaaar away. for film students and people inclined to surrealistic/philosophical/absurdist art, this is an absolute necessity. the thing i loved about 'tetsuo' is that after the whole admittedly odd film, i came away with a feeling of having really aesthetically experienced something:a descent into the bizarre and the taboo that i felt concluded on a note of vitality and defiance that is touching. "we can put an end to this...world!", one of the 'metal men' screams to the other. it is not a pointless exercise in gore or depravity, but a frantic and urgent exhortation to fight against the dehumanization that is inevitable in a mechanistic, nightmarish, high-tech civilization. in a sense these two unfortunate victims of an insane and impersonal society do something positive with their horrendous fates, in that they set aside their petty personal battle and heroically turn what has destroyed and mutilated them against itself and thereby become more human than when they were both simply flesh and blood. of course, this is only my individual interpretation, but i feel pretty certain that the message of this movie is along those lines. one the other hand, i did feel some of the scenes were needlessly disgusting and that the director inadvertently made a lot of the movie so repugnant that what could have been a real, universally recognized cult classic will only be accessible to the toughest and most philosophically sensitive people out there, which are few indeed--too few for 'tetsuo' to ever gain even the slightest notoriety or communicate it's worthy message to the majority of viewers. even lynch, who i also have a great deal of admiration for, knows that while he can get away with a great deal of scenes that are utterly perverse and sadomasochistic because of his incredible flair for the surreal and mysterious, he has to let his viewers come up for air every once in awhile and take that unfortunate but absolutely necessary reversion to the mundane without which the subtlety indispensable to a great film is lost. but for those who love the artistic creation of really disturbing but beautifully artificial realities, this movie will be a gem and certainly a must buy. so in that sense, 'tetsuo' is one of the best movies of our time.

Social commentary in its own right
Watching this film reminded me of The Thing by John Carpenter. In that sci-fi classic, the man's body, taken over by the thing, is hideously twisted and transformed beyond our wildest imagination, which imparts a certain sense of sexuality to the proceedings.
In Tetsuo by Shinya Tsukamoto, the body is taken over by iron. Again the question of sexuality is high on the agenda as is evident in the scene where you see a male sex organ shaped like a huge iron drill spinning ferociously, hinting that love in our day often consists in the realm of the senses generated by genitalia and that a man's sex organ is nothing but a machine in such a context. We are just as inorganic as the machines that surround us and the iron and metals that make up those machines. As the man slowly transforms into iron, he experiences excruciating pains, to which we have grown so much numb. It seems to me that Tsukamoto's primary concern is the recoverty of the body, which in his case is almost always expressed with the imagery of sex, violence and pain.

Surreal Mechanical Horror...
Tetsuo is a surreal horror film about a hit and run accident where the driver begins to grow metal objects on his face. The metal objects are physical reminisce from the accident and it begins to physically haunt him. This metal curse grows worse, and the driver seem incapable of escaping his faith as he becomes dangerous for those around him. Tetsuo is a daunting cinematic experience with an interesting story and at moments the cinematography is remarkable. However, the very same cinematography uses several still shots put together to a continuous shot in order to create movement, which becomes repetitive and clumsy. This visual awkwardness creates a music video atmosphere that lowers the overall cinematic experience.

Ok.......
Lemme see here. You have some weird guy shove a piece of metal in his leg, he sees maggots all over it (ICK) runs out into the street gets hit by a car, then thus the driver turns into.... An iron man basically while the dude who got hit by a car is planning his death or something. Man this film is one hell of an acid ride through his transformation into this iron man. Very bizarre and twisted with the constant slash off to the heavy pumped industrial score while you try to focus on what's going on, many times I thought this was to absurd and wanted to turn it off but I wanted to see where it was going. It's visually breathtaking and not a very pleasant thing to sit through, but I can't give this five stars because quite frankly I don't know who would. This is followed by equally messed up sequel "Body Hammer" but that one made no sense really.... This is made by Shinya Tsukamoto who is a very good director and actor as well, if you've seen Ichi The Killer he's in there as a character, I want to check out his movie Tokyo Fist but I'm kind of scared too...... This is worth checking out only if you handle it. ... Read more

Reviews (20)

chaotic story of one man's fight with sanity
this is one of the most intense films i've ever seen. it is more or less the same story as tetsuo: the iron man, but it goes much farther, and much more completely insane.it's definitely not a film for everbody, as many japanese films seem to have a hard time hitting home with western audiences. but if you enjoy eclectic, chaotic, and definitely too intense film, i'm sure you'll enjoy this manic trip through one man's evolution into mechinization.very visual in nature, and the sound is unbelievable. very truly one of the most effective and memorable films i've seen to date.

Cinematic masochism at its best!
What a crazy, crazy, crazy movie. Everything you think you've heard, everything you think you know about this movie is irrelevant if you haven't seen it. I think Shinya Tsukamoto is genuinely insane. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is a nightmarish ride into hell and beyond, terrifying in its simplicity and intriguing in its complexity, and you absolutely will never, ever forget it. There's something hard to explain about this movie-- I'm kind of afraid of it, but nevertheless I feel like I have to watch it again and again and again. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. As for the DVD, it seems okay to me for a movie like this. It's a Japanese cult movie, so you can't really expect a pristine transfer, but what's there seems generally okay. I don't see the pixellation the other reviewers mention, and the movie is really dark and murky but I think that may have been what Tsukamoto wanted. As for the comment about the trailer looking better than the film, I really don't think it does. Parts of the trailer are in normal, full color, whereas most of the actual movie (including the exact same shots shown in full color in the trailer) was processed by its makers to make it appear in a somber shade of purplish blue. Other than that, it seems to be pretty much the same quality as the film itself. But I didn't see this film in theaters and I've never seen the VHS version, so I'm not much of an authority. But at any rate, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer will change your life. It will forever alter the way you think about movies and about yourself. Just go see it.

The NEW FLESH!
Pretentious film aficionados as well as Film junkies, snotty film students, lovers of blood, guts, and exploding cybernetic human hybrids will find this amazing. As well as social/cultural analysts. The film is too good for Hollywood's studio paid critics (i.e. Ebert and Un-Siskel). This film crosses into the post-modern ideology that suggests a possibility of humanity's acceptance of technology into their own bodies and flesh.

With current society relying on plastic surgery and physical augmentation this is a wake up to the broadcasted cable zombies of today!

TV is watching you, more than you watch it!

divowr@excite.com

honestly speaking.
Honestly, this has got to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. The storyline is garbage, picture is dark blue(so you really can't see it well), and it's just absolutely booooring. I was watching the whole time thinking "when will this crap end." I do not recommend this film to anyone except someone I hated. Some guy put this as #2 on his list of most disturbing movies. It's not shocking or scary at all. I wasted about an hour and a half of my life watching it. I really don't see how anyone could like this garbage.

Low Budget Science Fiction Horror Action Art Movie
Comparisons will obviously be made to David Lynch and Cronenberg, but if you like those directors and have a taste for low budget foreign horror movies then you will love Tetsuo II - Body Hammer.

Basically this is like a live action Magna cartoon and can be watched as a stand alone without seeing the original Tetsuo. Where the film scores in aces is with the editing and camerawork. Shinya Tsukamoto is held in great esteem by directors like Quetin Tarantino, who once asked if Tsukamoto would work on an American film with him. Tsukamoto responded by saying Yes - If he was allowed to nuke Hollywood.

The plot is crazy and revolves around a Tokyo businessman, Taniguchi, whose son is kidnapped by a cult of demented nazi-type body builders led by a villain who has the special power of being able to turn his body parts into mechanical firearms. Taniguchi discovers that he too has similar special powers and proceeds to try and wipeout the gang in a Superhero sort of way.

There is lots of arty nightmare sequences and action, although the film does loose its pace in parts. At its heart, Tetsuo II is a movie about a superhero with a grotesque gift. It is violent at times but the plot is actually coherent and the story is a lot of fun.

Considering the budget limitations the filmmakers have done well and Tetsuo has quite a cult following and it is easy to see why directors like Tarantino recommend it. So if you have a taste for low budget weirdness, then this movie is a must. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Two years after leaving the grungy cyberpunk calling card Tetsuo: The Iron Man, Shinya Tsukamoto reenters the world of flesh and metal metamorphoses with a more narratively ambitious film that is neither sequel nor remake, but a rethinking of the ideas on a bigger scale with more impressive effects. The film begins in the recognizable world of the thriller, where a young middle-class couples see their son kidnapped by mysterious hoodlums, and then takes an abrupt turn into an underworld of cybermen led by a mad scientist performing twisted experiments. The father (Tomoroh Taguchi, returning from the first film), filled with rage and shame at his powerlessness, suddenly transforms into a robotic warrior and becomes overwhelmed by the power, simultaneously terrified and ecstatic. Unlike in the original, Tsukamoto offers an explanation, for what it's worth, but the power lies not in the story but the nightmarish imagery and the themes of the marriage of flesh and technology, metal and magic. With an ample budget at his disposal (not to mention color), Tsukamoto ups the conflict to a battle of biblical proportions while maintaining the brooding, terrifying, nightmarish quality. Tsukamoto's gory, violent vision of technology run amok is not for everyone, but fans of David Lynch and David Cronenberg will find his dangerous visions just as creatively disturbing. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (20)

chaotic story of one man's fight with sanity
this is one of the most intense films i've ever seen. it is more or less the same story as tetsuo: the iron man, but it goes much farther, and much more completely insane.it's definitely not a film for everbody, as many japanese films seem to have a hard time hitting home with western audiences. but if you enjoy eclectic, chaotic, and definitely too intense film, i'm sure you'll enjoy this manic trip through one man's evolution into mechinization.very visual in nature, and the sound is unbelievable. very truly one of the most effective and memorable films i've seen to date.

Cinematic masochism at its best!
What a crazy, crazy, crazy movie. Everything you think you've heard, everything you think you know about this movie is irrelevant if you haven't seen it. I think Shinya Tsukamoto is genuinely insane. Tetsuo II: Body Hammer is a nightmarish ride into hell and beyond, terrifying in its simplicity and intriguing in its complexity, and you absolutely will never, ever forget it. There's something hard to explain about this movie-- I'm kind of afraid of it, but nevertheless I feel like I have to watch it again and again and again. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. As for the DVD, it seems okay to me for a movie like this. It's a Japanese cult movie, so you can't really expect a pristine transfer, but what's there seems generally okay. I don't see the pixellation the other reviewers mention, and the movie is really dark and murky but I think that may have been what Tsukamoto wanted. As for the comment about the trailer looking better than the film, I really don't think it does. Parts of the trailer are in normal, full color, whereas most of the actual movie (including the exact same shots shown in full color in the trailer) was processed by its makers to make it appear in a somber shade of purplish blue. Other than that, it seems to be pretty much the same quality as the film itself. But I didn't see this film in theaters and I've never seen the VHS version, so I'm not much of an authority. But at any rate, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer will change your life. It will forever alter the way you think about movies and about yourself. Just go see it.

The NEW FLESH!
Pretentious film aficionados as well as Film junkies, snotty film students, lovers of blood, guts, and exploding cybernetic human hybrids will find this amazing. As well as social/cultural analysts. The film is too good for Hollywood's studio paid critics (i.e. Ebert and Un-Siskel). This film crosses into the post-modern ideology that suggests a possibility of humanity's acceptance of technology into their own bodies and flesh.

With current society relying on plastic surgery and physical augmentation this is a wake up to the broadcasted cable zombies of today!

TV is watching you, more than you watch it!

divowr@excite.com

honestly speaking.
Honestly, this has got to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. The storyline is garbage, picture is dark blue(so you really can't see it well), and it's just absolutely booooring. I was watching the whole time thinking "when will this crap end." I do not recommend this film to anyone except someone I hated. Some guy put this as #2 on his list of most disturbing movies. It's not shocking or scary at all. I wasted about an hour and a half of my life watching it. I really don't see how anyone could like this garbage.

Low Budget Science Fiction Horror Action Art Movie
Comparisons will obviously be made to David Lynch and Cronenberg, but if you like those directors and have a taste for low budget foreign horror movies then you will love Tetsuo II - Body Hammer.

Basically this is like a live action Magna cartoon and can be watched as a stand alone without seeing the original Tetsuo. Where the film scores in aces is with the editing and camerawork. Shinya Tsukamoto is held in great esteem by directors like Quetin Tarantino, who once asked if Tsukamoto would work on an American film with him. Tsukamoto responded by saying Yes - If he was allowed to nuke Hollywood.

The plot is crazy and revolves around a Tokyo businessman, Taniguchi, whose son is kidnapped by a cult of demented nazi-type body builders led by a villain who has the special power of being able to turn his body parts into mechanical firearms. Taniguchi discovers that he too has similar special powers and proceeds to try and wipeout the gang in a Superhero sort of way.

There is lots of arty nightmare sequences and action, although the film does loose its pace in parts. At its heart, Tetsuo II is a movie about a superhero with a grotesque gift. It is violent at times but the plot is actually coherent and the story is a lot of fun.

Considering the budget limitations the filmmakers have done well and Tetsuo has quite a cult following and it is easy to see why directors like Tarantino recommend it. So if you have a taste for low budget weirdness, then this movie is a must. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Shinya Tsukamoto is most famous for his two Tetsuo films, nightmarish tales of flesh fusing with metal in a hallucinatory metamorphosis that would give David Cronenberg pause. For TokyoFist, he leaves the technological transmutations for a bloody bout with flesh, muscle, and self-mutilation, a domestic melodrama gone schizophrenic and emerging as a cyberpunk boxing picture: Raging Bull meets Eraserhead in an all-out sensual assault. Insurance salesman Tsuda (played by Tsukamoto himself) is a social zombie numbed by his deadening job and in a static relationship with live-in fiancée Hizuru (KahoriFujii), but he is jerked out of his stupor when a former schoolmate turned pro boxer blows into his life. Kojima (the director's real-life brother Kohji Tsukamoto) bullies Tsuda and puts the moves on Hizuru, like a repetition of adecades-old cycle of aggression, but this time Tsuda turns to the boxing club to beat his body into a match for his once and future rival. Tsukamoto's vision of modern Tokyo is an alienated world of disconnected citizens repressing raw emotion under a social veneer of manners and passivity. Uncork the emotions, and faces are pummeled into bloody pulp, boxers broken in the ring, bodies ritually pierced and tattooed... and then it gets weird. The film runs down before the conclusion, but until then it's an unbelievably visceral ride. --Sean Axmaker ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Tsukamato fans beware
Being a survivor of both Tetsuo and Tetsuo 2 before watching this film, I felt I was ready for anything Tsukamato could ever think of throwing at his core audience. What I was unprepared for was gore in bucket loads and a plot even hazier than the aforementioned films. Although it seems to be the director's style to have a less than linear plot and even less editing to a movie, Tokyo Fist seems to me as a failed attempt at a boxing movie. Self-mutilation, childhood rivalry, and a self-destructive path covers the visuals of what could possibly be the sickest overseas movie I've seen in a while. The strange thing about this movie is that it had more than it's fair share of potential. With a little storyline twist here, a little less over acting there, and a little more realistic fights on the side would've made this a good buy. Unfortunately, Tsukamato's taste for the bizzare, intense, and sadistic visuals somewhat ruined this movie. So why didn't I just give this a one star instead of two? Simple, any movie that makes you wanna barf 90 percent of the time deserves an extra star for effort. Another demented movie(with no real point) from a really demented director(who seems to have some serious issues to deal with).

Make sure you know who the creator is!
Thinking this was "just" a Japanese movie, I found Tokyo Fist anything but. Its raw unsubtle imagery -- not to mention over-the-top boxing "makeup", made me quite happy that I was watching this on an empty stomach. Yet, despite the human imagery of violence and spiraling downward, the sterility and facelessness of Tokyo itself is quite powerful -- more frightening, since it's the only part of the movie that doesn't seem impossible. The film is primarily shot in alienating, washed out blues, with red the primary visual for contrasting, jarring, color scenes. Sensibility and plot take a firm back seat to evocation and statement. It's kinetic, low-budget, and relentless, yet not at all preachy or pretentious.

Not comparable to Fight Club
I just want to mention that although this movie is extremely good it is compared to Fight Club far too much. Everyone says it's the Japanese Fight Club, but the only similarity is that there happens to be some fighting in both movies. You might as well compare the next Van Damme movie to Fight Club. But if you are a fan of Japanese films you won't be disappointed. It might not be as wicked as The Iron Man or Visitor Q, but it's still really good.

It's not "Tetsuo", but good on its own merits
Truthfully, I'm not sure what the other reviews are complaining about: "Tokyo Fist" is arguably more coherent than "Tetsuo", although it's hardly a finely tuned plot. Nor are the goings-on more extreme than in "Tetsuo." The tattoos and piercings are not "ritual"; in fact, they're pretty direct self-mutilation and alteration. I really don't understand why this is slapped with "Warning: Adult Content" labels, because frankly, the American cinema has seen much worse.
The "Fight Club" paralells people draw are also very misleading; first of all, the plots are nothing alike. This is more similar to "Tetsuo" than anything else. Second, this is in terms of direction simply a better film. It's obvious Tsukamoto sat down and thought hard about how exactly he wanted each shot to be presented, whereas David Fincher tried to assault the senses by NOT thinking. It's not as digestible to American audiences, but them's the breaks.
Tsukamoto's distinct directorial style (there's even a little stop-motion here) is better defined here, especially his use of color. His "video game" style is very much present here, and while it's not for everyone, if you're interested in being challenged, it's probably for you. It's also a good lead-in to "Tetsuo", although the same warning there applies here: if you haven't sampled of David Cronenberg, David Lynch and a few other "perverse" filmmakers, I'd step carefully.

IT AIN'T ROCKY!
Remember Fight Club with Brad Pitt? This is the Japanese version. A little grittier, less witty, and arguably more viceral, it evidently seeks to show what people are like behind the polite facade of everyday life. A small time salesmans' sterile life is interupted by the reunion of an old high school aquaintance who's now a professional boxer. When the boxer puts the moves on the salesmans fiancee, the salesman does an Edward Norton and becomes a pugilist. No doubt the arthouse crowd might like this film, but for those who live in the real world, don't expect a movie on fighting; it's about frustration and loosing control when emotions run amok. While not unwatchable, it's not exactly something you run out and buy afterwards, even if you like really abstract movies. ... Read more