HIRUKO THE GOBLIN (1990)

An archaeology professor named Takashi and pretty female student Tsukishima (Ueno) go missing, so his son Masao (Kudou) and estranged (and much ridiculed) archaeologist brother Hieda (Sawada) go in search of them. They encounter the titled goblin who has possessed poor Tsukishima, whose head now sits on a giant spider’s body. With Hieda’s knowledge and gadgetry, and some sage advice from a crotchety local janitor (don’t ask!), our heroes venture towards the local school, where most of the trouble seems to be. Masao, meanwhile, is plagued by the fact that whenever someone dies, he gets scars on his back resembling the deceased’s faces. Hold on folks, it’s about to get a whole lot weirder!

They just don’t make ‘em in the States the way they make ‘em in Asia. Whether it’s Hong Kong, Japan, or Korea, these horror flicks from the 80s and early 90s always have a great sense of the bizarre about them. I find them to be a helluva lot of fun, the more whacked out, the better. In fact, with the current crop of dour, understated horror dreck that has come from Asia recently (particularly Japan with such overrated titles as Ringu, and the slightly better Dark Water), I kinda wish things would go back to the days of the campy, exploitation fun of the Category III films from Hong Kong like Erotic Ghost Story, Peacock King or the great The Seventh Curse, which was like a Hong Kong version of The Evil Dead, but much more bizarre, and this film actually has a bit of the aforementioned Raimi film’s POV shots.
This 1990 Japanese film from the director of Tetsuo, is supposedly unlike anything director Tsukamoto has done before, and some have blasted the director for selling out and going mainstream. Well yes, this is a little more accessible than some, in fact the film is like a mixture of the somewhat sentimental Godzilla (the director indeed was influenced by films and Saturday matinee-like serials he saw as a child, and it shows, especially early on where it definitely reminded me of the cutesy but fun monster films Toho Studios would churn out) and the warped, gory fun of The Seventh Curse. It’s not nearly as gory as other films of its type, but we’re still talking about one hell of a messed up little film. And me likey very much indeed (I had never seen the film before, shamefully), even if it’s not quite as memorable as the Hong Kong titles.

On the downside of things, one must admit that the inclusion of flashback scenes was not at all necessary and not very well integrated into the film. But look, this film has too many entertaining moments to worry about things like that. Whether it’s the fact that this school makes Sunnydale High look normal (did you say Hellmouth?), whether it’s the hilarious scenes of the spider girl seductress (is she a black widow then?) shrieking and crying, or the fact that our heroes’ attempt to thwart said spider goblin is a can of insect repellent (!), there’s so much fun, so often in this film that you could never get bored. That is, unless these sorts of films aren’t your thing, a category that many will probably fall into. Oh, well, that’s their loss. They’ll miss the truly amazing scene of a girl’s head submerged in water with fog surrounding her, as she sings her siren song, before she crawls out and we notice that the head has a spider’s body. It’s the weirdest and most captivating of scenes, and Tsukamoto really shows us what a talent he is in scenes like this. Fans of his more indie oriented films might wince, but I was grinning from ear to ear. Great makeup job on the lead actor’s back too, with all those intricately drawn faces, something I’ve not seen before (unless you count Freddie’s Dead: The Final Nightmare). And look, any film that tries to convince me that ghosts are an acceptable topic for an archaeologist to discuss but a goblin is kooky talk- just warms my heart, folks. In fact, archaeology gets a bit of a drubbing throughout the film, you’d think the guy was a televangelist…or a telemarketer. God I hate those cretins!
The finale, which reminded me a little of The Abyss is visually striking, if a little cutesy for some tastes, but like I said, if your taste in movies covers both Mothra and The Seventh Curse, you are going to enjoy this film. Personally, I think it’s one of the lesser films of this type, but given my distaste for the current state of Japanese horror in particular, I had a good ol’ time with this early 90s flick. If you’re expecting Testsuo or something in the vein of Kurosawa or Mizoguchi, you’ll wind up pretty disappointed, and probably a little messed up.

The DVD has a few minor extras, the first of which is an interview with the director. He talks about how this was his first big studio film, his influences, and the fact that even he’s not entirely sure what happens in the end of the film. Most interesting is his discussion on how he uses female characters in all of his films. Next up is a brief interview with the unnamed special FX guy, who apparently started in commercials before being hired by Tsukamoto for the Tetsuo films. Pretty decent extra for those inclined, but I wish a separate feature in which the FX guy shows off some of his creations, were actually included in the interview instead of being counted as a separate extra. Also included are a trailer, and a photo gallery which includes some very interesting sketches. There are trailers for One Missed Call (more J-Horror. Snore!), Rojo Sangre, Choking Hazard, and Deadly Outlaw Rekka, which looks like fun from Takashi Miike and even featuring the great Sonny Chiba.