Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell

This short film was made during the early period of 90s Japanese straight -to-video entertainment, but never got released until 2012. It's full of campy fun, obvious references to Evil Dead series and the character of "Ash" to a Japanese body builder.

It's also can be been seen as a pre-Grudge (or J u-on) film since the villain is Hell bent on a grudge toward the living! It worth of look, for earl attempts on Japan V-cinema -- at the beginning of directors like Miike.

After learning he's inherited a house, a man and his girlfriend invite a psychic to the house to help her with a story she's writing that details the unique history of the house, but when the ghost of his dad's jilted girlfriend possesses the psychic to kill him sets out to stop it from happening.

There's quite a lot to like with this shot-on-video effort. Among the better qualities here come from the enjoyable and overwhelmingly cheesy setup featured here. The initial introduction here that explains how the house is haunted works nicely enough to provide the reasoning as well as the action showcasing everything. As well, the reasoning to get him and his friends to the house by looking through the place in order to investigate the location as well as get information for the article his girlfriends' writing comes off quite nicely. These scenes are all rather chilling with the remark about being watched and the walk-through shortly afterward providing some chilling moments. That gives the film some rather decent and enjoyable shock scenes of the haunted house coming to life and affecting their trip. The first seance attempts that spell the beginning of the danger as the ghostly limbs are shown behind people unknowingly or manipulate objects to injure those in the room is a rather fun sequence with some chilling imagery. A later attack by the ghost on the medium where she possesses his body to attack him and his girlfriend is even better as it kicks off the frantic final half where the possessed bodies come to life for a series of brutal, high-energy confrontations. Getting to see the cheesy effects work and creative ideas here seeing the way the two battle the disembodied body parts continually attacking them gives everything a great touch and has plenty to like about it. There isn't much to dislike here. One of the few drawbacks here comes from the rather obvious amount of homage and ripoffs this one goes through during the film. The overall setup and approach here are so clearly and plainly taken on from one of the genre's classic entries which carry into some of the other sequences later on. How sequences play out wholesale as well as camera angles and even lines straight from the film come which doesn't hide the influences taken and become somewhat detrimental here. As well, there's also the overall cheap and low-budget look here which comes from the generally obvious effects work that looks cheap and can potentially put some off on the film.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

It's so rare that we get to see independent features from around the world, especially from any time before the Internet made it easier to make one's work widely available. This title readily betrays its nature from the moment we start watching, from the grainy and lo-fi production values, to the small cast and crew that sees filmmaker Shinichi Fukazawa taking on multiple roles himself, to the relatively modest effects. One can see the kinship this shares with similar titles we may have seen, contemporary or otherwise, and while the presentation is somewhat unrefined, none of this is a criticism. If anything, it speaks well to Fukazawa that he made 'Bloody muscle bodybuilder in hell' at all, and that despite limited resources it nevertheless looks as good as it does - this is a lot of fun!

The storytelling is comparatively simple and direct, perhaps, but it's all that it needs to be to provide fuel for a cheeky horror romp, including dashes of clever humor in just the right places and ways. There's a lighthearted mirth seen even in Shinichi Okuda's photography as he lets his imagination take hold, and it's immediately apparent that the cast is having an absolute blast with all the ridiculousness - while turning in performances that are genuinely admirable, befitting the wild tone of the movie. Wearing hats as writer, director, producer, editor, and chief star, Fukazawa was able to exercise substantial creative control to bring his vision to life, and the result is a joyously over the top extravaganza of blood, gore, action, and comedy: everyone is here just to have a good time, and by Jove do they.

Moreover, this wears its influences on its sleeve in most every regard, and the fact of it just makes the picture even more enjoyable. That extends not least to the effects - for while it's undeniably true that Fukazawa was working with limited means to bring this to fruition, it's also obvious how much care went into the blood, gore, and violence. The tale, of a man trapped in a house with a vengeful spirit, provides ample opportunity to see just how bombastic the whole could be within its tenor, and the filmmaker went all out, including even stop-motion animation amidst the reverie of crimson and viscera. Even at their most low-grade the effects only ever embrace the vim and vigor of the project, and it's impossible not to get swept up in the silly, freewheeling carnage.

One could easily nitpick, and stand this beside big-budget monstrosities and show the insufficiencies - but to do so is entirely missing the point. 'Bloody muscle bodybuilder in hell' is an exercise in genre film-making purely for the raucous joy of it, and there's no disputing the earnestness and hard work that went into it, nor the skill and ingenuity that are constrained only by how much cash Fukazawa had to make it. The name alone is eye-catching, the premise is promising, and I assumed I'd like it, but when all is said and done I'm sincerely impressed. We can quickly catch onto the type of feature this represents, and it has no illusions about being anything more than it is and is happy to play in that space. With all this in mind, the enthusiasm of those involved is handily passed on to the audience, and 'Bloody muscle bodybuilder in hell' becomes a fantastic, endearing horror flick that deserves much more recognition. If you're a fan of horror, you owe it to yourself to check this out!

I'm checking out Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (2012) purely because of the catchy title and how the movie marketing itself out to be The Japanese version of Evil Dead so naturally, as a big fan of low budget horror movies like I am this movie seems like it right up my alley and after 60 minutes I can tell you guys that this movie freaking deliver what it promises. The movie makes me smile every time I see a homage scene to Evil Dead 2 and how deadpan the characters look when they see how crazy stuff happen but not one time that I think it just a cash-in on the Evil Dead name because the movie doesn't force the slapstick comedy down your throat so when it needs to be tongue in cheek it works and when it needs to be creepy the movie can legit make your heart jump with the distorted Image of the ghost and the old VHS look of the movie. The practical gore effects are there and it may look low budget some time it still very impressive in my opinion

Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (1995) is a Japanese Evil Dead remake that I recently watched on Shudder. The storyline follows a body builder whose father committed a gruesome crime long before he was born. When his father dies he is left an old house he never knew about. The body builder and his girlfriend visit the house where they become trapped and haunted by the sins of the body builder's father's past.

This movie is written by, stars and is directed by Shinichi Fukazawa, in his directorial debut. This also stars Masaaki Kai, Masahiro Kai and Aki Tama Mai.

This is a movie that's obviously low budget, doesn't take itself too seriously and is much more entertaining than it is "good." However, there are some awesome horror elements. The background music is tremendous and reminded me of an 80s/90s video game. The horror elements are all over the place with some great blood splatter, gore, action scenes and special effects. I enjoyed the use of claymation for some scenes (much like the original). There are some really bad scenes, like the message from the dad; but coverall, this is a lot of fun. I would score this a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.