Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Review: Doctor Who – The Ambassadors of Death / Cert: PG / Director: Michael Ferguson / Screenplay: David Whitaker / Starring: Jon Pertwee, Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney / Release Date: October 1st

Stranded on Earth by his fellow Time Lords, Jon Pertwee’s Doctor spent a good chunk of his four-year stint working as a scientific advisor to UNIT (although what that organization really needed was a fitness trainer, to judge by the porky waistlines of the Brigadier and his men). In this seven part serial, a mission to recover a Mars probe results in three mislaid astronauts and some ear-splitting coded messages from outer space. Luckily, the Doctor and the Brigadier are on hand at the shiny Space Control HQ to puzzle over what it can all possibly mean.

The Doctor twiddles his lower lip in extreme perturbation as one riddle is swiftly followed by another. The recovery capsule finally touches down (somewhere in Wales, I think), but when it’s opened up, there’s no one inside. Where are the astronauts? Someone’s taken them, but who? That’s if it was the astronauts inside the capsule. What if it contained… aliens?

Eventually the Doctor swaps his velvet smoking jacket for a spacesuit and blasts off towards Mars (in a conventional rocket, not the TARDIS) to get some answers. First, though, there must perforce be a great deal of sober technical chat. (“We’ll have to use a mixture of standard fuel and the new M3 variant.” “Has that ever been done before?”) Meanwhile, the Brigadier’s men go into action, tumbling helplessly about the assorted factories, gravel pits, quarries, gasworks and aerodromes which make up the bulk of the locations.

It’s all quite gritty, but then again it’s not really. The story is actually rather good, a reasonably sophisticated mix of high echelon conspiracy, fraught first contact and creature shock. The trouble is, too many of the individual twists and turns depend upon UNIT’s proven inability to protect installations from even the most half-arsed of attacks. And it’s hard not to feel that, minus the TARDIS and stripped of his knowledge of time travel, the Doctor is little more than Quatermass in a frilly shirt.

On the plus side, the script has a nice vein of sardonic wit, and there’s a toughness to some of the supporting performances, especially from William Dysart as the head goon and Cyril Shaps as Lennox, a disgraced scientist. And let’s not forget Liz Shaw (Johns), one of the most accomplished of the Doctor’s companions. A Cambridge boffin, she also looks hot in a mini-skirt, has a mean right hook and gets involved in an exciting car chase behind the wheel of the Doctor’s vintage yellow roadster. When captured and forced to work with Lennox for the enemy, she’s quick to come up with an escape plan: “Tell him the isotopes are running out and you have to go and get some more.” What a woman.

Extras:

* Commentary with Caroline John, Nicholas Courtney, Peter Halliday and Geoffrey Beevers, director Michael Ferguson, script editor Terrance Dicks, stunt co-ordinator Derek Ware and stunt performers Roy Scammell and Derek Martin. Moderated by Toby Hadoke.

* Mars Probe 7: Making the Ambassadors of Death – With Michael Ferguson, Terrance Dicks, Derek Ware, Roy Scammell and assistant floor manager Margot Hayhoe. Narrated by Carl Kennedy.

* Trailers

* Tomorrow’s Times: The Third Doctor – ongoing series looking at the press coverage of Doctor Who reaches the Jon Pertwee era. Presented by Peter Purves.

* Photo gallery – production, design and publicity photos from the story.

* Radio Times listings.

Review: Santa Sangre / Cert: 18 / Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky / Screenplay: Roberto Leoni, Claudio Argento, Alejandro Jodorowsky / Starring: Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell, Thelma Tixou, Sabrina Dennison / Release Date: November 5th

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1970 film, El Topo is often credited as kick starting the ‘midnight movie’ scene and while the director has not been particularly prolific film wise (he was originally going to film Dune in the mid-70s), his CV includes acting, writing (including a stint on comic books) and spiritual guru. This 1989 film was a cult hit when it was first released, and looks set to have that reputation affirmed when it hits the screens again thanks to offbeat world cinema distributors Mr Bongo Films.

Fenix (Axel Jodorowsky, one of four of the director’s sons appearing in the film) is in a sanatorium, struggling to communicate with the doctors, and the other patients; most of whom are Down syndrome sufferers. Having grown up working in the family business, a travelling circus where he was a young magician, his father Orgo (Stockwell), an overweight, drunken knife thrower with designs on his assistant, the tattooed lady (Tixou) much to the irritation of deeply religious (albeit a very off beat religion) mother, Concha (Guerra). His only friends are the assorted clowns, dwarfs and Alma (Dennison), the deaf mute daughter of the tattooed lady. When Concha catches Orgo in flagrante delicto, she tips a pot of acid on his crown jewels, sending him into a rage in which he cuts both her arms off and then promptly slits his own throat. Young Fenix has witnessed all this and will never be the same again.

Things take an upward turn for the troubled Fenix when his mother later turns up at the institute and he escapes. The pair set up in showbiz again, this time retelling religious tales on stage, Fenix gesturing with his arms thrust through the sleeves of her dresses, as she sensually tells the stories. Soon, his arms would be carrying out more sinister deeds for his domineering mother.

While not as baffling, analogical or surreal as El Topo, Santa Sangre is still full of symbolism, hallucinations, gore and general insanity. The basic narrative is pure slasher horror, but there is much more to enjoy, and read into, in a tale which covers family values, religious fanatism and personal identity amongst other things, but at no time in an exploitative way. Even Jodorwsky’s use of real Down’s Syndrome teens and circus performers is handled well. This is the sort of world David Lynch and Federico Fellini would take us to. Rather than revelling in the weirdness, it becomes completely natural. For every uneasy or unsettling moment there is a darkly humourous one. During an elaborate and emotional funeral procession for the circus’ elephant the clowns squirt tears like a soda syphon, the animal’s oversized coffin is dropped into a rubbish dump, only for it to be pounced upon and torn apart by starving scavengers.

While it’s not especially easy viewing, and unquestionably not for all tastes, Santa Sangre is exhilarating, challenging, enigmatic and distressing, but entirely rewarding and entertaining.

Extras: TBC

Review: Inbred/ Cert: 18 / Directed by Alex Chandon / Screenplay: Alex Chandon, Paul Shrimpton / Starring: Jo Hartley, James Doherty, James Burrows, Seamus O’Neill, Dominic Brunt / Release Date: October 15th

 

The great British horror movie renaissance continues with Alex Chandon’s Inbred, a new take on the familiar ‘backwoods’ subgenre in which a bunch of naïve innocents encounter a group of freaky weirdos in some Godforsaken wilderness and then get offed in eye-wateringly graphic style. Never exactly feel good movies, Inbred goes just that little bit further and, in all honesty, you might feel like a good bath and a breath of fresh air after you’ve enjoyed/endured it, just to reassure yourself that you’ve not been completely desensitised. Inbred is ugly, mean-minded, brutal and desperately, hopelessly bleak and whilst it’s in no way a bad movie – it’s technically very proficient and the performances are generally strong – it can’t help but leave a bit of a sour taste in your mouth when you emerge, raw, battered and bruised, at the end of its ninety-minute running time.

A bunch of irritating and cocky troubled young offenders are taken on a community service character-building weekend by a pair of social workers. But this is no jolly to Alton Towers or Blackpool Pleasure Beach; for reasons unknown this little collective set off to the ominously named village of Mortlake deep in the heart of remotest Yorkshire. They base themselves in a ramshackle country cottage before heading down the local hostelry (or should that be hostilery?) which is gloriously named ‘The Dirty Hole’ where they feast on hairy pork scratchings and dubious warm lemonade. The pub is full of we-don’t-like-strangers-’round-’ere snaggle-toothed locals and run by the bluff but genial Jim (O’Neill) who, we find out, does a bit of amateur entertaining in his spare time. Later in the day the soft Southerners have a dodgy encounter with some particularly inbred youths – and a bad day for the visitors gets a whole lot worse.

Inbred may well be the grossest, sickest horror movie this reviewer has ever laid eyes on. The nature of the beast means that we’re on edge from the very outset; we know our characters are heading towards something unpleasant and we watch with mounting dread as they arrive at Mortlake, set up their temporary base and then start to mingle with the monsters. And make no mistake about it, the people of Mortlake are very definitely monsters. When the bloodletting and killing starts it’s relentless and it’s unpleasant and it’s underpinned by the absolute weirdness of the ‘inbreds’ and their surreal ‘theatre’ in which Jim, in blackface master-of-ceremonies costume, provides entertainment for the baying, grunting crowd via a succession of appallingly-horrific torture sequences which are virtually Grand Guignol in their excessiveness. Think The League of Gentlemen dialled up to eleven and mix in a bit of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Straw Dogs and maybe The Hills Have Eyes and you’re getting close to nailing the tone and atmosphere of Inbred.

The reality is that Inbred is a horrible film but then that’s the point. It’s not safe and comfortable and there’s not much in the way of redemption or salvation in store for anyone – it’s just the story of the wrong people in absolutely the wrong place and suffering the consequences. Director and co-writer Alex Chandon (Cradle of Fear; Pervirella) clearly set out to make a gross and disturbing movie and it’s pretty much mission accomplished in the finished product. As a horror film it undeniably hits the spot (often bludgeoning it to death) with a real sense of cold, hopeless isolation in the locations and prosthetic make-up and practical visual gore effects (and just a smidgeon of CGI) which, whilst inventive, are more often than not eye-poppingly disgusting…quite literally in one case.

Inbred is absolutely hardcore horror – this is pitch-black stuff and its humour is as dark as night – and as such it does what it sets out to do and is a triumph of its type. It’s not an easy film to watch but then it isn’t supposed to be. In the end the best that can be said for Inbred is that it’s wildly effective and put together with style and enthusiasm but I worry for anyone who says they found it genuinely enjoyable. It’s for the strongest of stomachs only.

 

Extras: Director’s video diary, making of feature, footage from the owner of the film’ min location, on-set interviews and deleted scenes.

 

Review: Marvel One Shot – Item 47 / Director: Louis D’Esposito / Screenplay: Eric Pearson / Starring: Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Bradford, Maximiliano Hernandez, Titus Welliver / Release Date: September 17th

There are people in this world that are born to be achieve greatness. They are brave. They are strong. They are heroes. And then… there’s everyone else. ITEM 47, the short film from Marvel Studios that acts as a companion piece to last summer’s Avengers Assemble, explores the dividing line between the likes of Iron Man and Captain America and the remarkably unremarkable common man. Directed by Avengers producers Louis D’Esposito, ITEM 47 is a rare glimpse into the mess that’s left behind when the Avengers call it a day.

The film is set immediately after the events of Avengers Assemble, with New York City having seen better days and the eponymous team having left a rubble-strewn disaster area in its wake. Though S.H.I.E.L.D. has done its best to clear the city of any stray alien technology, one item, a exceedingly powerful gun, was left behind. The opening scenes shows a young couple, Claire (Caplan) and Benny (Bradford), sitting in their car, engaged in a vague argument about the ethics of what they’re about to do. Caplan’s character is decidedly more gung ho than Bradford’s, who seems to be dragging his cold feet behind her unbridled enthusiasm. Claire wins out in the end, convincing Benny to carpe diem as opportunities such as the one afforded to them are few and far between. As the couple intrepidly yank down their ski masks (Claire’s is a cheerful shade of strawberry pink), Benny reaches for the Chitauri gun they’ve found amongst the debris on the streets of New York.

Here is where screenwriter Eric Pearson draws the line between superheroes and mere mortals. Heroes, when presented with great power, opt for the path of great responsibility. As much as we might like to think otherwise, if put into a similar situation, the rest of us would probably take a page from Claire and Benny’s book and rob a bank. Why single-handedly battle the forces of evil in brightly colored skintight spandex when you can get rich quick? The young couple manages to leave a cookie crumb trail of busted bank vaults in their wake before S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, hot on their heels in pursuit of the missing Chitauri tech, catch up to them.

This Marvel One-Shot finds its strength in its honest humor and a sentimental shout-out to everyone’s favorite fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Phil Coulson, will likely tug at a few heartstrings. So far, audiences have seen little of S.H.I.E.L.D. beyond Nick Fury’s sphere of influence and in just a handful of minutes, ITEM 47 manages to flesh out the organization to provide a picture of a group of people who have been recruited to the job because they are the best and brightest, if not necessarily the most noble.

ITEM 47 will be included on the Avengers Assemble Blu-ray which will be released on September 17th.

Review: The Day Time Ended / Cert: 12 / Director: John Cardos / Screenplay: Wayne Schmidt, J. Larry Carrol, Davod Schmoeller / Starring: Jim Davis, Christopher Mitchum, Dorothy Malone, Marcy Lafferty / Release Date: September 17th

88 Films’ new Grindhouse range of DVDs gets off to a flying start with this trippy delight. The first thing to note is that it stars Jim Dixon, better known as Jock Ewing from Dallas. The second thing to note is that it’s completely nuts.

Eager to escape the madding crowd, grey-haired patriarch Grant (Dixon) has built a state-of-the-art ranch-style dwelling in the middle of the desert (you’d have thought he would have had enough of ranches after all those argumentative suppers around the Southfork dinner table, but some people never learn). However, no sooner has he installed his extended family in this plush new abode, when weird things start happening – triggered by the energy of a supernova which happens to be reaching Earth at that very moment. In the corral behind the house, winsome granddaughter Jenny (Ryan) stumbles upon a massive green obelisk, which then shrinks to a size where it can comfortably fit in her pocket. That night, she wakes up to find a little green man dancing and twirling about her room. He, in turn, is scared off by a floating space-craft which resembles a photographic enlarger with legs.

By now, everyone is up and wondering what is going on. More alien space-craft flash past the window. Hearing a knock on the front door, Grant’s wife Ana (Malone) opens it to discover a slavering monster looming there. “You know what’s happening?” says Grant. “It’s a space-time warp.” “I’m not quite sure I know what that is, Dad,” replies his son Steve (Kolden) politely, perhaps wondering if the old man has been hit on the head by the flying photographic enlarger.

But Grant’s right. A space-time warp is the only possible explanation – either that or someone has been smoking a whole lot of weed. (Three writers are credited to the script, which suggests a spliff of considerable size.) Whatever the crackpot premise, the result is a wonderfully unhinged piece of film-making. Although made as late as 1979, it feels like an old school B-movie. The dusty desert setting and grainy, washed-out film stock give it the authentic grindhouse look. It’s easy to knock the optical effects and stop-motion animation, but if you give yourself over to them they have their own gauzy, otherworldly charm. The last reel, especially, has some genuinely hallucinatory moments that channel the ghostly, behind-the-veil vibe that Fulci went for in some of his flicks. This is one to show your friends, so that you can watch their supercilious expressions turn first to puzzlement, then to fascination and finally to awe as they try to get to the bottom of what they’re seeing. Cinematic peyote.

Special Features: 1:13:1 Original Aspect Ratio, Stills Gallery, Full Moon Trailer Park, Reversible Sleeve with Original Artwork

Review: The Victim / Cert: 15 /Director: Michael Biehn / Screenplay: Michael Biehn / Starring: Michael Biehn, Jennifer Blanc, Danielle Harris, Ryan Honey / Release Date: September 24th

Michael Biehn, forever remembered for his iconic roles in The Terminator and Aliens has turned his attention to grindhouse cinema for his first foray into writing and directing. The Victim was filmed over a period of 12 days on a budget of just under $1 million, and is a taut and highly watchable psychological thriller characterized by brutal violence and sex.

Good-time girls Mary (Harris) and Annie (Blanc, Michael Biehn’s real-life wife) are spending some… ahem… quality time with a pair of sleazy Sheriff’s Deputies deep in the woodlands. A bit of raunchy naughtiness ends in tragedy and soon Annie, now a witness to a violent crime, is running for her life.  Fortunately – or perhaps not – she stumbles across Kyle (Biehn), a moody reclusive outsider who shies away from civilisation and spends much of his time in a cabin in the woods (no, not that one). Initially Kyle wants nothing to do with Annie and tries to turn her away; but she’s desperate and terrified and after a less-than-friendly visit from the two Deputies, he decides to take the law into his own hands to save Annie from her pursuers who’ll clearly stop at nothing to silence her forever.

While it’s true that The Victim revisits familiar territory Biehn’s movie belies its micro-budget and creates a real sense of unease and jeopardy; much of Annie and Mary’s back-story is told in flashback, a device which, if overused or misused, can floor the tightest of narratives. But here we’re never entirely sure if what we’re seeing, as told by Annie, is the truth or some convenient distortion being peddled to encourage Kyle to help. Misdirection is the name of the game right through to the frustratingly-ambiguous ending after eighty or so minutes of edgy violence – there’s a wince-inducing bludgeoning sequence – and sex scenes which are surprisingly graphic for a 15 certificate (in the UK).

The Victim, a passion project for Biehn, is a decent first effort in the writer/director’s chair. Despite its brief running time it could do with a little tightening up – the early sequence of Kyle driving to his cabin seems to go on as long as the journey actually would – but as an homage to a very particular style of filmmaking it’s a quiet, commendable triumph.

Extras: Behind the scenes footage

Review: Dragon Wasps / Cert: 15 / Director: Joe Knee / Screenplay: Mark Atkins, Rafael Jordan / Starring: Corin Nemec, Dominika Juillet, Benjamin Easterday, Nikolette Noel, Cosondra Sjostram / Release Date: September 17th

According to Wikipedia, there are between six and ten million species of insects in the world, and there are doubtless plans to make direct-to-DVD movies about each and every one of them. This time it’s the turn of wasps. Big wasps. Really humongous wasps. Wasps the size of helicopters. Now, if only the budget had been anywhere near as big…

Clad in clingy tanks and tight shorts, hot female entymologists Gina (Juillet) and Rhonda (Noel) are studying bugs in the Belize rainforest. Except that it’s all a front and Gina is actually looking for her long-lost father, another distinguished entymologist with an interest in biochemical engineering. A clue leads her to suspect that he might be somewhere in the rainforest interior, so off the plucky pair go, but they soon run into some American soldiers, commanded by John (Nemec), a tough nut who is given to saying things like “I love the jungle!”.

Eager for a jungle jaunt, he agrees to help in the search. But before they can so much as peek under a mangrove, a swarm of giant wasps descends upon the rescue party. With most of his platoon hauled off wriggling and screaming back to the hive, John decides that the only thing to do is to try and get the rest of his men killed by taking refuge with some violent drug-runners. Jaguar, their leader, is heavily into the occult and spouts lines which wouldn’t be out of place in a topless revue: “Have you come to set your spirit free? Are you ready to experience the pleasures of the flesh?”. Uh, can I get back to you on that?

Made on a budget tighter than Rhonda’s shorts, Dragon Wasps doesn’t stand comparison with Anaconda or Eight Legged Freaks, but still manages to be fun in its own way. Director Joe Knee moves things along nimbly and gets the most out of some lush green locations. The critters (which also shoot jets of a napalm-like substance) are reasonably convincing when it’s just a single one of them on screen, but look rather blurry en masse. The cast are a mixed bag. Listening to Juillet’s whiny voice and watching her struggle with the light banter which is a given of the eco-horror genre, you can’t help but wonder what the actresses she beat for the role were like. (Did they have crazy eyes and BO? Did they forget to wear underpants to the audition?) On the other hand, Nemec gets the balance of humour and grit just right, and, as his sidekick Meyers, Benjamin Easterday is very engaging indeed. Won’t attract much critical buzz, but makes the time fly.

Review: Touchback / Cert: TBC / Director: Don Handfield / Screenplay: Don Handfield / Starring: Brian Presley, Kurt Russell, Melanie Lynksey, Marc Blucas / Release Date: Out Now (US Import)

What if you had the chance to relive a moment from your past and change the destiny of your future? This is the basis of Touchback, the fantasy/football film written and directed by Don Handfiel.

High school star quarterback Scott Murphy (Brian Presley) has everything going for him in the small town of Coldwater (nicknamed by Scott as Backwater because he thinks its a hick town and he wants out); his beautiful, outgoing girlfriend from a wealthy family, Jenny (Sarah Wright) and a chance to play at Ohio State on a football scholarship. During the state championship game, he makes the winning goal, but gets his leg snapped in the process, shattering all his dreams of success forever.

Fifteen years later, he’s married the shy girl in the band, Macy (Melanie Lynsky) who works as a maid at a local motel collecting aluminum cans to provide extra money for the family’s needs, has two little girls he can barely afford to buy things they need, a beat up, rusted out truck that barely runs and owns a farm that’s overdue on the mortgage about to be taken over by the bank.

To top it off, he walks with a permanent limp from his football injury and takes prescription drugs to ease his pain.

When his best friend, Hall (Marc Blucas) shows up in his Porsche; a big league player in the NFL and his ex-high school flame, Jenny on his arm that came down for the last game of the high school football season, his world gets darker and darker.

Day after day, he beats himself up mentally thinking: what if I would have done things differently on that final play, my life would have been different. Scott gets his chance in a very, round-about way allowing him back in time during that final week of the championship and the ball is set in motion.

Performances are all top notch, but it’s Kurt Russell as the sage mentor to Scott, Coach Hand that steals the show. The audience loses themselves in his character and you begin thinking to yourself; why isn’t this guy a real life football coach, he’s that good.

The football scenes are brilliantly choreographed and exciting. Special mention has to go to sports coordinator Mark Robert Ellis for his remarkable work on Touchback and for playing the coach for the opposing team from Cuyahoga in the big game.

Cinematography by David Rush Morrison brilliantly highlights the film with his colors and images creating the emotion of the film’s characters and Norman Rockwell inspired background.

Touchback is a heartfelt film that combines the elements of the Best of Times, It’s A Wonderful Life and the Twilight Zone. It gives one food for thought for getting that second chance in life, but also reminding you to make the best of what you have.

Special Features: None

Movie Review: The Tall Man / Cert: 15 / Director: Pascal Laugier / Screenplay: Pascal Laugier / Starring: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie, William B. Davis / Release Date: March 18th

You’ve heard the story before, or so you may think. A small run down Washington town, Cold Creek, live in fear for their children’s lives as they seem to go missing with alarming regularity. The locals are convinced an unseen boogie man is to blame, nicknamed The Tall Man.

Local nurse, Julia (Biel) comes home one night to find her child’s nanny (Eve Harlow) bound and beaten, and the youngster being bundled into a van. The obviously distressed Julia gives chase, hanging onto the van with determination but ultimately ends up battered, bloody and understandably distraught.

It would be a crime to reveal anything more about this surprising, marvellous thriller from the director of Martyrs, arguably one of the most visceral and disturbing films of the past few years. Just as you think the film is set, the rug is pulled, and not just the once. Biel (soon to be seen in the Total Recall remake, and one of the numerous executive producers here) is fantastic in the lead, not afraid to be less than glamorous, and she is backed by an equally brilliant cast of supporting actors, notably Lance Henriksen lookalike McHattie, creepy teen Ferland (Tideland, Silent Hill) and The X Files‘ Smoking Man, Davis. The cinematography breathes life into the dead town and the surrounding forest, (actually Canada, although meant to be the USA) while also filling it with an unspoken dread. Horror fans may well be wanting (and expecting) a gory serial killer flick, but instead Laugier has crafted a tense, unnerving, but thought provoking tale which ruminates on the responsibility of parenting, and the very nature of what we consider evil.

Extras: None

Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack / Cert: 15 / Director: Takayuki Hirao / Screenplay: Takayuki Hirao / Starring: Mirai Kataoka, Hideki Abe, Ami Tamiguchi, Masami Saeki, Takuma Negishi / Release Date: October 1st

Director Takayuki Hirao brings Japanese horror manga artist Jumji Ito’s graphic novel screaming to life in this distinctive anime adaptation. Certain strands of the story have been changed and condensed but the themes of learning from past mistakes, the search for truth and the atrocities of war are packed into seventy surreal minutes.

Kaori, Erika and Aki are vacationing by the sea when they happen upon a stinky, scuttling sea creature that has been hiding out in their summer house. Kaori kills the creature and places it in the trash but it floats up out of the bin triggering an attack from the Pacific Ocean. The three girls are joined by two local men leading to some familiar anime flesh exposure and a horror movie style set up as fish suddenly grow legs and go on a rampage.

The invasion doesn’t really let up from here on in with swarms of fish making their way on to the mainland and violently attacking humans with their new spiky metal legs. When Kaori discovers her fiancé Tadashi is in trouble she heads back to Tokyo to see if she can save him. Gyo kicks off its weirdness from the start and doesn’t stop until the very end. The allegory with the Pacific War is made clear throughout the film but it also comments on loyalty, manipulative media and a greedy society fascinated with fame.

Visually Hirao has stuck with the twisted and delightfully bizarre imagery from Ito’s graphic novel to which your eyes will be glued to the screen as each new creature is revealed. Ito’s creations bring new levels of madness to the usual shark attack scene. As the human race turns into grotesque green gas bags emitting noxious fumes, sporting tentacles and shit-spurting body spouts, Kaori clings to the hope that the mutated beings still have possession of a soul and free will. The idea of divine retribution is handled with a circus top scene full of supernatural Edvard Munch inspired smog that brings the film to its startling conclusion. Alongside all that a mad professor waxes lyrical about government conspiracy and cover-up whilst experimenting on this new species of farting fish.

Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack is infectiously funny, fast paced anime that delivers an assortment of freaky sea beasts whilst also commenting on the impact of conflict.