U.S. DVD Release
Any gorehound worth his weight in pig intestines knows there are only three countries that do gore the way gore should be done…America, Germany and Japan. Of course, Italy used to be the number one contender but they’ve been out of the running for a long time now. You simply cannot ignore the body of work that came out of Italy during the 70’s and 80’s but they seem to have lost their nerve to make real horror nowadays. I’d have to say America, Germany and Japan are really the only countries out there still delivering the icky sleaze and slimey gore we all know and love so much. God Bless ‘em!
The one and only thing we American’s and our stiff-necked German allies cannot compete with though is the sheer taboo smashing tastelessness of Japanese gore & exploitation. I know some of you may disagree and throw your copies of MSP or August Underground at me but let’s keep it real folks…the Japanese have a comic and movie series based on an anti-hero called, Rapeman. Yes, Rapeman…apparently he does the deed with women, against their will of course, that spurn and emasculate men.
If that don’t shut yer patriotic pieholes nothing will!
Anyhow, in my opinion Japanese gore & exploitation is just so goddang sleazy that one cannot help but watch with fascination! With the recent emergence of such twisted fare as the Guinea Pig films, the All Night Long series, Redroom 1 & 2 and the films of Tamakichi Amaru…I gotta tell ya…the Japanese got us beat, hands down, in the weird little gory horror film department.
One such horror film that’ll make your O-ring pucker in delight and finally hitting Region 1 courtesy of Discotek Media is Splatter: Naked Blood. I had actually seen this a few times being offered through some of the region free and import sites I frequent but I really never got around to purchasing a copy. It looked interesting but never enough for me to piss away $30. Thankfully, Discotek Media isn’t one of those companies that stick it to the consumer’s wallet so it’s considerably cheaper on Region 1.
Eiji (Sadao Abe of Uzumaki), a brilliant young scientist, is on the verge of an amazing medical breakthrough that will revolutionize pain management. He’s created a serum called MYSON that promises to rid the world of pain for good by converting pain into pleasure. The serum is now almost complete but still needs to be tested on living subjects. Eiji sneaks his formula into some experimental contraceptives and his Mother unwittingly administers it to three test subjects in her clinic. Eiji begins to closely monitor the three girls in an effort to gauge possible side effects of the serum and accidentally falls in love with one of the girls, a wallflower named, Rika (Misa Aika).
The other two girls, “gluttonous woman” (Yumika Hayashi) obsessed with eating and food and “vain woman” (Mika Kirihara) obsessed with beauty and weight begin to show signs of the formula kicking in but the results are less than positive. Gluttonous woman starts eating everything in site in her apartment including her own fingers, her eyeball and…*GULP*…her love tunnel! *retches* Vain woman becomes so obsessed with the pleasure she receives from causing herself pain that she begins piercing and slicing her body and beautiful face!
The only one seemingly unaffected by the formula is Rika. Could her insomnia and strange, almost sexual biofeedback relationship with a cactus have anything to do with it? As Eiji gets closer to Rika he soon discovers that Rika has been negatively affected by his formula and there may be no way to reverse the transformation it’s causing! What side effect is MYSON causing Rika? Is she also harming herself in order to gain pleasure or does she derive pleasure from hurting others?
Without understanding the true impact of his discovery, Eiji may very well have doomed the world.
Splatter: Naked Blood is one twisted, muthatruckin’ gore flick! The synopsis on the back claims this film is making some sort of socio-political commentary but one only need watch the film and check out the director’s filmography (mainly rape/torture flicks) to get a the gist of this film…it’s all about sex, sadism and gore. Period. If there is a point being made in this film, Hisayasu Sato effectively cancels it out by creating a violent, almost misogynistic, movie that some may consider just as cancerous as society’s obsession with beauty and our rampant consumption of natural resources. It’s like Deodato trying to make a point about media sensationalism in Cannibal Holocaust while feeding into it by slaughtering animals.
One of my biggest questions is, “Who exactly are you preaching to?”
Are you trying to tell the guy spanking his monkey that beauty is only skin deep? Are you hoping that a chick eating her own puss will somehow wake viewers up to our unstoppable global consumption of our natural resources? Or should I say…”cunt”sumption? *wink wink*
Fat chance. At the end of the day, Splatter: Naked Blood is just plain gross and that equals fun in my book! Everybody loves mad scientists; experiments gone wild and the end of civilization so do yourself a favor and check this out! Anytime you come up to a scene that makes you scratch your head and go, “Huh?” just remember…SHE ATE HER HOO HOO!!
