FILM
ONE
GUZOO: THE
THING FORSAKEN BY GOD
(1986)
director:
Kazuo (Gaira) Komizu
starring: Yumiko Ishikawa · Naomi Kajitani · Kyôko Komiyama ·
Hidemi Maruyama · Tomoko Kujô
FILM
TWO
GAKIDAMA
[DEMON WITHIN]
[also known as TASTIEST FLESH] (1986)
director:
Masatoshi Sukita
starring: Kazuyo Matsui · Kyôzô Nagatsuka · Ichirô
Ogura · Yôsuke Saitô
GUZOO
is the debut short film from Kazuo [Gaira] Komizu, a popular cult director
(responsible for ENTRAILS
OF A VIRGIN, LIVING
DEAD IN TOKYO BAY, RUSTED
BODY, ENTRAILS
OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN). The story deals with a group of girls
who vacation at a remote house in the wilderness where a horrible creature
with tentacles tries to eat them one-by-one. Perhaps Komizu was inspired
by H P Lovecraft's Cthulhu and, on that level, it delivers in
spades. But this film is a sharp departure from the erotic Pink thrillers
that would follow. Despite the lack of nudity, the girls are cute and
the gore FX are surprisingly well done. Director Kazuo Komizu - always
the innovator [he DID make Japan's first zombie
movie with the aforementioned LIVING
DEAD IN TOKYO BAY] - was also the first with "thrashing,
slimy tentacles of horror," a couple years before UROTSUKIDOJI
(LEGEND OF THE OVERFIEND).
PLEASE
NOTE:
Even though the credit sequence claims this is "Part One,"
there is no Part II. In an Asian
Cult Cinema
interview, Gaira himself says it was never made.
PLUS
A BONUS FEATURE:
GAKIDAMA [DEMON
WITHIN] 1985
Former
cinematographer for Shuji Terayama (THROW
AWAY YOUR BOOKS AND RALLY IN THE STREETS), Masatoshi Sukita helmed
this short film (54 min) in 1985. It is quite possibly the greatest, forgotten
Japanese gore film of all time. The story deals with a journalist who
becomes infected with a demon that incubates inside the man's stomach,
before violently bursting out through his mouth. As soon as the demon
is 'born,' it's snatched away and devoured by a mysterious stranger.
Seemingly, the thief is one of numerous former victims addicted to the
tasty flesh of the monsters.
Two
short Japanese
films with English language; fullscreen format, 95 minutes,
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT.
Extras include selected
trailers.
