Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell

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!

Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder in Hell (Originaltitel: Jigoku no chimidoro massuru birudâ) - 1995 (This Film Rates an A ) A man stabs a woman to death and her blood gets soaked into a metal necklace. He attempts to bury her in the floorboards, but she comes alive. Flash forward to a bodybuilder named Shinji and his ex-girlfriend who is into photographing haunted houses. They get together with a psychic and visit abandoned and seemingly haunted houses. The three visits one in particular, it was owned by Shinji's father. The psychic senses something is watching them. He tries to summon a woman's spirit and starts having horrific visions. All does not go as planned of course and its all-super bloody fun from here. The gore isn't extensively realistic but there is plenty of good spurting blood scenes. Its satisfying even if over the top in so many ways. The comedic moments are very funny and effective (28 min mark, 43 min mark. 52 min mark) and are often followed with lots of blood. You'll laugh but you'll love. The soundtrack is good and has some creepy moments that enhance and highlight the scenes (12 min mark, 18 min mark, 27 min mark, 28 min mark, 33 min mark). No T&A. The overall film quality isn't there but what's present is artistically fantastic in that Japanese WTF sort of way. Plus, he said "groovy".

Bloody Muscle Bodybuilder In Hell definitely deserves more attention. It feels like a bunch of collage students watched the first two Evil Dead films and collectively thought "we could do that' and they did. The film starts with a wife trying to kill her husband. The husband gets the upper hand and kills her only for her to return from the grave. The film cuts to thirty years later were a body builder, some sort of physic priest and a news reporter are visiting the old house were the events took place thirty ears earlier. From 12:48 to 23:17 some of the shots of empty hallways, rooms and staircases are generally unnerving before every thing kicks into a fun and cheesy gore fest. The blood, guts and gore of the film looks like its made of play dough and red jello but it still has lots of low budget charm. The low quality camera only adds to the fun and adds a grindhouse type quality to it. There is a lot of fun stop motion in this film that reminded me of Basket Case. In conclusion Bloody Muscle Body Builder In Hell should be more recognized for its low budget charm.

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.

This is exactly what you'd expect from a movie called Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (AKA Japanese Evil Dead).

The first half drags a bit, but the second half is so much fun. Never has a movie felt so much like it got incrementally better as it went along, as quite literally every scene was better than the last.

There are obviously technical flaws and limitations aplenty, but most add to the charm of the movie. And while the first half is comparatively show compared to the second, at least it doesn't stretch those tamer 25-30 minutes to 45-50 in order to get this in the more traditional 80-90 minute range.

I hope Sam Raimi's seen this, too. He'd probably really like it. And while it is derivative of Evil Dead 1 (and 2!), it does just enough to make it feel like its own thing. And being filmed before Ringu, it did a creepy scene with a tv first.

Also: the very last shot was surprisingly kind of unnerving.