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 obody does existential sadism quite like the
Japanese. This sounds like quite an odd and probably unflattering cultural
generalization, but the list of films mixing extreme gore and transgressive
philosophy that come from the country speaks for itself. Ignoring the
ham-fisted "Guinea Pig" series, films like the "All Night
Long" trilogy and "Organ" succeed in providing chilling and
nihilistic explorations into the relationship between the human soul and the
human body. Of course this relationship is generally investigated and
illustrated through bodily mutilation and/or mutation, which does edge the
films into exploitation territory.
However, the superior films in
this obscure subgenre stand alone as being intelligent, fascinating and
deeply unpleasant, never quite achieving cult status due to the fact that
the violence is too extreme for most viewers, and the plots too abstract and
soul searching for the average gore-hound. "Naked Blood" is
possibly the best of these films -- harrowing, ponderous, sickening, and yet
oddly beautiful at times. It is a film that is guaranteed to stick in the
mind long after viewing; whether you'd actually want it to is another matter
entirely.
The plot is fairly minimalist. A young scientist named Eiji (Sadao Abe from
"Uzumaki")
decides to follow in his father's footsteps to help humanity by developing a
drug that converts pain into pleasure. To test it out, he switches his drug,
called 'Myson', with one in his mother's fertility clinic. Soon, two of the
women are in the thrall of the drug, committing horrible acts of
self-mutilation. However, a third girl, Rika (Misa Aika, from
"Weatherwoman 2") seems unaffected, and Eiji begins spying on her
in an attempt to find out why.
There is simply no way "Naked Blood" could be considered a
straightforward splatter film. In fact, the gore doesn't really start until
two thirds of the way through the scant 75-minute running time, by which
time those who are only interested in viscera will probably have been put to
sleep. The rest of the film is concerned with exploring director Hisayasu
Sato's obsession with the darker characteristics of the human spirit. In the
cases of the two girls who spiral into gory self destruction, this plays out
as disgust with the base human needs of superficiality and consumption.
Although their two characters are quite obviously designed to be symbolic as
opposed to realistically written human beings, the fact that they have any
kind of identifiable personality at all gives their awful fates a real
impact on the viewer.
The film's main interest is with the essential loneliness that is at the
core of our being, and as such "Naked Blood" is very bleak and
nihilistic. Sato has a clinical, almost surgical approach to the subject
matter and the characters, framing the film as if he were less a director
and more a doctor performing an autopsy on the human condition. It is quite
depressing, but also fascinating, and his direction recalls the early work
of Cronenberg as well as his fellow countryman Shinya Tsukamoto ("Tetsuo").
The film is quite slowly paced, and definitely falls under the art-house
banner, being quite abstract and obtuse in places. This is probably the only
film ever made that illustrates loneliness through the use of a cactus plant
wearing a virtual reality helmet.
Having said all of this, the gore is still probably the film's main draw,
and with judicious use of the 'fast-forward' button, it will certainly
satisfy or repulse, depending on your reasons for watching. The effects are
quite incredible, achieving a seldom seen, or indeed wanted, level of
realism. This is not to suggest that they are gratuitous, as Sato quite
obviously includes them to make a point rather than simply to shock. He has
a talent for maximizing the impact of these scenes, displaying a disturbing
knack for knowing exactly where to stick the knife to extract the maximum
revulsion from the viewer. One long sequence where a girl performs a
sickening act of self-consumption is quite unlike anything I have ever seen,
and I honestly have no idea how some of the effects were achieved.
Overall, it is hard to know whether to recommend "Naked Blood" or
not, and the fact that I'm rating it so highly is not necessarily to suggest
that the average viewer should even think about watching. For the initiated,
however, this is probably the genre's highpoint. Well directed, tackling
some fascinating, if bleak themes, and with far more effective and shocking
scenes of gore than almost any other film, "Naked Blood" packs an
incredible punch that will not be easily forgotten. |
