Gôsuto sukuwaddo

Ghost Squad (2018) is a Japanese movie that I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a young lady who sees ghosts that won't leave her alone until she helps them get revenge on the people who killed them. The ghosts give the young lady powers to help her overcome the killers and gain revenge.

This movie is written and directed by Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl) and stars Yuni Hong (Slave Men), Minori Mikado (Prison School), Asaka Nakamura (Etheria) and Sumire Ueno (Prison School).

This movie is terrible...truly no reason to watch it. The makeup used to create the ghosts felt like elementary school Halloween costumes. The blood looks like tomato juice. The weapons the ghosts use are absolutely insane, a baby gun, a dog puppet...real weird stuff. The makeup kn the corpses were okay. The concept of transferring powers from the dead to the living by kissing was wild...there's also a bikini scene that's good and real bad at the same time. The dialogue is also awful other than the use of the term "ghost poontang" one time that had me dying.

Overall, there's absolutely no reason to subject yourself to this film. I'd score this a 1/10 and recommend skipping it.

At first, he was director for porns.

Then, he was director for movies which are so weird that you have to ask: "Was it made on drugs?" I mean movies like Dead Sushi, Zombie Ass or Robo Geisha. But then came Ghost Squad and I'm impressed how improved Iguchi's work is. Sure, some widget moments here and there has this film, too, but it's far more serious than his previous works and some scenes are real heartwretching tearjerkers, which you wouldn't expect from this man who is known for crazy stuff like the aformentioned films.

As an Iguchi-fan, I'm accustomed to his narmy, absurdly, funny, silly and over-the-top "art", but here, he is able to show that he can make me not only laughing, but also dealing with more emotional topics.

I'm surprised. Should this be a great step for Iguchi's career as director or will he go back to Sukeban Boy?

Initially I must admit that I had expected a tad more from "Ghost Squad" (aka "Gôsuto sukuwaddo") than what I ended up watching on the screen.

With that being said, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that "Ghost Squad" is a bad movie. It was entertaining enough for what it was, but it wasn't a particularly outstanding movie in the Japanese cinema.

The characters in the movie were for the most parts actually funny enough, but they weren't really given enough space to unfold themselves, given the limitations of the script and storyline.

As for the acting in the movie, well it was adequate. Especially when taking into consideration the type of movie that "Ghost Squad" is. Don't expect any outstanding award-winning performances here, though.

"Ghost Squad" is crammed with odd humor and weird effects, that is often seen in Japanese movies of this type. And it can be somewhat of an acquired taste, either you like it or you don't. Luckily I do like it.

However, there was just something missing from "Ghost Squad" to lift it up and out of the mediocre gutter. I can't really put my finger on what it was, but there was just something crucial missing from this movie. And as such, my rating of "Ghost Squad" lands on a very bland five out of ten stars.

"Ghost Squad" doesn't really have the contents to support a second viewing.

Because this is hands down the worst movie ever made by Noboru Iguchi, worst even than Robogeisha. Take all that makes the works of this director a joy to watch (namely the stunning action sequences, the gore and the imagination), remove and replace it with the same soap-opera crap that was present in Robogeisha and with amateurish, snooze-inducing action sequences not even worth a cinematography student's project and you have the perfect recipe for failure. The only interesting element of this I see is that the subject of women being raped is finally treated with the due respect and seriousness and not in the usual over-the-top japanese way, albeit in the frame of some lesbian and fanservice innuendos. Unfortunately, albeit I applaude the stronger maturity of Noboru in that sense, this does not make things better overall. I'd honestly rewatch Robogeisha more happily than ever touch this thing ever again.

I tend to love this director's work, but it usually works so well because the whole thing is over the top craziness. Here we have this ultra serious plot, which grinds gears hard when we get to things like the "baby gun" Neither part is bad, they just don't mesh well.