D V D C R Y P T

NAKED BLOOD

Directed by Hisayasu Sato
Written by Taketoshi Watari
Cast: Misa Aika, Sadao Abe, Mika Kirihara, Masumi Nakao & Yumika Hayashi

1995/76 mins/Color/2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo
1.85:1/Japanese/Japan/PAL Region 0

Website: www.japan-shock.com/

Review of the Japan Shock DVD

Surreal, bizarre, perverse, gory - NAKED BLOOD (aka SPLATTER) is all of that and more! Way too extreme for many people, its scenes of explicit gore immediately disqualify it from ever getting an UK release. However, thanks to Japan Shock Video you can now judge the film for yourself, as they have released it completely uncut onto video and DVD in Europe with the benefit of English subtitles.

In NAKED BLOOD a young man, Eiji (Sadao Abe), has completed his own 'brain secretion research,' which he hopes will be the 'ultimate pain killer for human beings.' A drug which turns pain into pleasure and sadness into happiness. He names the drug 'Myson.' At the same time his mother Yuki (played by Masumi Nakao), who is a doctor at a local hospital, conducts experiments on women to do with contraception. She believes contraception is necessary to halt the rapidly escalating human population. Three women are injected with a drug, monitored for a few hours, and then allowed to go home after being paid for their time.

Sadly Eiji has tampered with the drug they have been administered and the three become unsuspecting guinea pigs for 'Myson.' Eiji becomes obsessed with one of the three girls - Rika Mikami (Misa Aika), an insomniac who never sleeps and has high levels of endorphin in her brain (the chemical produced by the brain when pain is induced). The other two girls have their own personality traits - one is a narcissist obsessed with her appearance, the other a glutton. When the two girls come to realise that pain induces pleasure they want more -much more! One sticks her hand in a frying pan, moaning with orgasmic delight, then munches on her crunchy fingers! The other indulges in a spot of body piercing - sticking a large needle in her arm and sighing with ecstasy stating "the more wounds I make the better I feel." The glutton sits on her kitchen table, masturbates using a steel fork and knife and then proceeds to cut off and eat parts of her own anatomy. Meanwhile Eiji and Rika make love wearing virtual reality goggles, which gives them both visions and allows them to communicate with Rika's large cactus! (Don't ask me to explain what the hell that is all about!) The conclusion leaves space for a sequel, which thus far has not emerged.

NAKED BLOOD contains some truly startling imagery. For the first half an hour or so it is quite slow moving and lulls you into a false sense of security, but then the film hits you with a sucker punch - intense scenes of body piercing and self-mutilation. Very graphic, very explicit and totally uncompromising NAKED BLOOD is a must-see movie. It does have some very strange surreal moments, which are pretty hard to decipher and contains some of director Sato's obsessions - from voyeurism to a fascination with new technology. (For another example of Sato's work check out THE BEDROOM, which was released on video in the UK on the Screen Edge label) For hardcore horror fans however this is one to track down at all costs.

Japan Shock Video has released NAKED BLOOD uncut on DVD in Europe in 1.85:1 widescreen on a Region 0 PAL disc. It contains twelve chapter stops, a Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese audio track with optional remastered English subtitles, which are easy to read, although quite small. The only extra is a pretty poor picture gallery. The picture quality in the film is fine exhibiting a fair amount of grain, although that has more to do with the way the film was shot than through any fault of Japan Shock. I can't really see any future release by another company looking any better, but I stand to be corrected!

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