Guinea Pig 3: He Never Dies

After the first two Guinea Pig movies, which could never really be described as 'fun', it comes as something of a surprise to find that the third in the series, He Never Dies, is actually quite lighthearted in comparison. It's still very gory, with some highly convincing and gruesome effects, but a juvenile sense of humour stops this one from being as grim as its predecessors.

Part three is introduced by a serious looking American guy who tells us that what we are about to see is a true story. Call me suspicious, but I don't think he's telling the truth...

An office worker who hates his job, and who has just lost his girlfriend, decides to end his life. However, after slicing open his wrist, he realises that killing himself will be a lot harder than he at first thought: he never dies! Having hacked at his wrists, sliced at his neck, and unsuccessfully tried to strangle himself, the obviously immortal fellow gives up trying to top himself. Instead, he decides to freak out his friend (who is currently banging his ex) by calling him up, inviting him round and then mutilating and dismembering himself in front of the terrified sap (he even guts himself and flings his entrails at the poor bloke).

By the time he has finished, he has reduced himself to nothing more than a talking severed head on a table.

I have noticed that several people on IMDb have compared this film to the early works of Peter Jackson, but even though there are the common denominators of comedy and outrageous gore, I don't think He Never Dies is either as funny or as wholly entertaining as the gore classics from the Kiwi wunderkind.

It is, however, a very peculiar film, and worth seeing, I guess, if you're a fan of silly splatter or truly bizarre cinema. And it's only 39 minutes long!

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

A lot of people on a lot of boards talk about the GP series as a good introduction to serious gore.

The series of films in question, are video movies trying (by mid 1980's standards) to be as graphic as possible. Some are filmed to be serious snuff films (and more then a few people believed that they were!) and some, like HE NEVER DIES, are meant to be more humorous.

I sought out a few titles from this series and this was the first one I watched. At 40 minutes, it was an easy watch and I at no point felt queasy. The gore itself was all self inflicted and done with a humorous bent. It's about a worker who felt unappreciated at work, and wanted to end his life, and what happens to him when he tries to end it.

I wasn't truly disappointed but I suppose I just expected more.

What a flow those flicks have in the Guinea Pig franchise. This one is purely made for the fun of it but for me it wasn't funny at all. If you watch the end credits then you can see that they really had a big time making this and I must say that the effects really looked great and are almost the real thing but the story itself was a bit terrible.

One man is so depressed and bored that he cuts himself with a razor. Thinking by slashing his wrist he is going to die suddenly he notices that he doesn't feel any pain at all and the bleeding do stops. Next try, a pencil being pulled through his arm and still no pain. Time for revenge. He asks a friend of him to come over who is now with his ex girlfriend. Once the friend comes over to the apartment the gore comes in. It's harakiri time and it's all well done but at the end of the day it's a big farce for me. The funny moments added just didn't work out for me. It do contains some gory moments and a tittie shot but overall I found it a bit lame.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 4/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0,5/5

I thought this film's obvious brutal violence was lifted by two things:

1) the fact that unlike most other Ginipiggu films, the gore was all self-inflicted by the lead character, Hideshi, and 2) it really is a funny film. Seriously! I think the weird experiment of trying to make what is after all an incredibly manic and extreme film into a laff riot actually paid off. Not only does it lessen the nastiness to a tolerable excess, but it forces you to have sympathy with Hideshi and giggle along with him at his daft predicament. By the end credits, everyone involved is unable to keep a straight face. Easily my favourite of the series.

I found this to be the most enjoyable of the Guinea Pigs I've viewed. It's light hearted good clean fun (okay so i'm exaggerating a smidge). A man is depressed and spends the entire movie trying to kill himself in hilarious ways. It's actually very upbeat, the music is amusingly inappropriate for a suicide situation. Basically it's a good little comedy that is only about 1 hour long about creative ways to commit suicide despite the fact that you just can't succeed. You don't even need subtitles to appreciate this little flick. As far as the Guinea Pig series goes, it's likely one of the least sadistic and bloodless, but the humour and character makes up for it entirely.