Hakkyousuru kuchibiru

When Michio Kurahashi is suspected of being a serial killer and goes on the run, his pretty sister Satomi hires a psychic in a desperate bid to prove his innocence. And precisely what happens after that is anyone's guess...

I usually jot down notes whilst watching a film to help make life easier for me when it comes to writing a comment, but about half an hour into Crazy Lips I put down my pen and paper, for accurately summarising the plot to this insane movie was clearly going to be impossible and all the scribbling in the world wouldn't help me to express my feelings about it.

So I'm going to wing it, sans notation; bear with me...

In a world where most mainstream cinema has become dull and predictable, I can always find time for the completely demented and bizarre, and Crazy Lips is just that—a depraved, off-the-wall piece of Japanese cinema that defies simple categorisation. Supernatural horror, mystery, music, soft porn, and martial arts are combined by director Hirohisa Sasakito to produce a messed up piece of work reminiscent of movie maverick Takashi Miike's offbeat output, only one lacking that director's unique narrative skills, sense of style and intelligence.

But although Sasaki might not be a real threat to Miike when it comes to confrontational cinema (Takashi still holds the title 'King of Japanese Weirdness' for producing monumentally effed up movies like Visitor Q and Fudoh), Crazy Lips is still the only film I have ever seen to feature the wandering spirits of decapitated girls, a pair of FBI agents who keep an eye on proceedings through the screen of a television set, a scalping during intercourse, and a woman being forcefully double teamed by an evil psychic's assistant and a hanging corpse with a hard-on.

All of which must surely count for something.

I would have to say the most bizarre movie I've seen to date is Shinya Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo" (1988), but "Crazy Lips" comes in a close second. Writer Hiroshi Takahashi, director Hirohisa Sasaki, and producer Takashige Ichise all have a hand in piling genre upon genre in the making of this uncategorizable film. There's something for everybody here, and no hint as to what direction the movie is headed from one scene to the next, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. The only American-made films I've seen that come even remotely close to this amalgamation of forms are "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension" (1984) and "Six-string Samurai" (1998). If you like either of those, or even if you don't, then this movie is worth catching. Rating: 6/10.

This movie can only and has only been described in my circle of friends as the Stain. Because all who witness it's perverse power find themselves Stained. It's not that the movies bad, it's just that so many horrible things in-explicitly interwoven with so much randomness, that you laugh when things are horrifying and you clutch yourself in terror when something random and almost funny happens. And as you sit through more and more of it, you find that a funny black smudge is starting to infect your soul. Not a lot of it, but enough to be noticeable.

After much scrubbing and scalding oil, we found the Stain to be fastly stuck with no possible solution. Unless you see Gore From Outer Space. Gore can in some ways, reverse some small effects of Crazy Lips....not all of the Stainness will be removed, but enough of it to breathe freely (and not find yourself feeling sick).

Hope this was helpful

Hirohisa Sasaki's "Crazy Lips" left me stunned.The film mixes pinku eiga rape scenes with martial arts,comedy,gore and musical numbers.Michio Kurahashi has been accused for killing and decapitating schoolgirls.His sister Satomi believes that he is innocent.She enlists the services of a psychic named Etsuko Mamiya and her sleazy assistant Touma and all hell breaks loose in the family of Kurahashi."Crazy Lips" is gleefully weird and tasteless.It has rapes committed by Touma,silly FBI agents,bloody murders and cheesy musical number.The cinematography is lovely and there are some well-choreographed martial arts during the climax.7 scalps out of 10.Still haven't seen sequel to "Crazy Lips" titled "Gore from Outer Space".

"WTF did I just watch??" was the only thing that went through my mind when the credits started to roll.

This movie is messed up in all kinds of ways. An amateur mess of different genres. It just jerks from supernatural to horror to comedy to musical to violence to drama to WTF?? I tried hard to get a general concept of the plot. But there really isn't one at all. It's not worth mentioning the plot because the story is loose, messed up, messy, just not a plot at all.

This movie isn't weird, or even so bad it's funny, it's just plain bad. Maybe that was the goal of the makers, because apparently the project was sold to a Chinese company, who told them what kind of film to make, and so the makers decided to mess up the movie, just to tick off the Chinese company.

I didn't really enjoy sitting through the length of this movie. I've read a lot of reviews prior to watching this film, telling me that it's just a really weird, disturbing, messed up movie. Not really. It was just plain bad. I expected a bit more. 3*