Samurai Princess

Kengo Kaji, who wrote Tokyo Gore Police, both wrote the story for and directed this new gore-fest from Japan. Yoshihiro Nishimura handled the make-up effects, as he did for Tokyo Gore Police. So if you loved Tokyo Gore Police - which I really did - you'll probably like Samurai Princess. It's a sci-fi kind of thing that's set in an alternative Japan. The Samurai Princess is the sole survivor of a group of young women who are raped and murdered. She becomes an android to avenge their deaths. There's also a white haired Buddhist nun, with lovely white eyelashes and white fingernail polish(?!), who shows up from time to time. The story may not make much sense, but who really cares? It's a fun and hilarious splatter-fest of gore. Not quite up to the level of Tokyo Gore Police, which had a much better story-line, but still quite enjoyable. Some upper frontal female nudity, but not a lot.

This movie actually surprised me by not being too bad. In fact I found it rather enjoyable. I admit that I usually stay away from the Japanese gore movies. I find them to be too much verging on being ridiculous, disgusting and simply going for gross outs. I picked this up simply because of the title. Unlike the others of the gore genre this one isn't too over the top it its gross outs. There is actually a story, there are funny parts, no overwhelming gore and the lead is pretty. There isn't the "this is just sick and disgusting" feeling. Don't expect award winning acting. But if you don't mind watching a B movie with gore and bad special effects. This one is not bad.

In case you didn't know, Japanese Horror has changed since the earlier parts of the last decade. Sure, there were films like "Ichi The Killer" and the ongoing wave of Japanese Zombie flicks, but in much of the last decade, the country was largely known for it's supernatural creepfests with long haired ghost girls and mounting dread. While that was fun for a while, it eventually went the way of many fads/sub-genres of horror-yesterday's news. You can only see a pale supernatural force so much until you get bored.

So what's the new-wave of Japanese Horror at the moment? Splatter Comedy flicks. Movies that owe largely to the likes of old Troma movies, Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers" and the like than they do old Japanese Urban Legends and haunted TV's or whatever. Flicks such as "The Machine Girl", "Tokyo Gore Police" and the upcoming "Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl" have defined this new era, and Kengo Kaji's "Samurai Princess" is one of the latest in this new trend.

The plot takes place in an alternate universe Japan, in which a our titular heroine (adult film actress Aino Kishi) was one a normal girl. That is, until a group of rapists had their way with her friends and left her for dead. Oh, and a mad scientist has fused the souls of her dead friends, implanted them into her, and turned her into a vengeful cyborg. Wackiness and arterial spray ensues.

From the get go, "Samurai Princess" is utterly bug-f#@k insane. It has chainsaw legs, wacky villainous sidekicks (the mad scientist has a gaggle of fan girl types following him wherever he goes-it's actually a lot funnier than it sounds), evil monsters, a pair of breasts that double as grenades (yes, you read that right), a man wielding a guitar that doubles as a sword and a chainsaw, and so much more. It's also shockingly funny as times, with some amusing gags thrown in, as well as the non-stop insanity making sure that you never grow bored. It also helps that the gore never wears out it's welcome-quite the contrary in fact, as each set piece is bonkers and all around entertaining.

Yet, the whole thing ends up feeling kind of like the sum of it's parts. One major flaw is the production values. While I normally don't complain about poor production values in genre fair, the Shot on Video style left me feeling a little let down, as it would have benefited from better editing, camera work and whatnot. Also, the performances are really hit and miss, with Aino Kishi being a bit bland as our heroine (though the fact that she's willing to disrobe doesn't hurt the least). The biggest flaw though, is the poor fight choreography. Films like this need fight scenes that can hold up with the movie, and here they just can't.

In the end, it's a flawed movie, but for rainy weekend fair, "Samurai Princess" makes for a fun time. If Troma made a "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" episode, it would probably resemble this.

If you liked Tokyo Gore Police, which was written by Kengo Kaji, the writer and director of this film, then you will probably enjoy this blend of sci-fi and horror.

There is more gore in the opening than most movies have in their entirety. It doesn't quit, but keeps getting stronger. Stacks of bloody body parts appear throughout.

You just have to give up trying to make sense of this movie, and enjoy the ride. It will amaze you with special effects, weird weapons, and buckets of gore.

Don;t know about that ending.

There's something about this new, ultra-violent, insanity laced, splatter genre from Asia. I've seen a few of these types of flicks now, and with each passing one, I keep asking myself why I'm not going ga-ga over them. I like them, sure. They're the most creatively violent flicks coming out these days. But movies as a whole, they're just bloody messes. I feel like I should be persuaded to just scream joy from the roof-tops because of the ridiculousness of the ideas and blood, but I guess I've seen enough films, enough bloody weird films, to form this opinion.

Based on this lil blurb, I don't think I have to explain myself for the reason why I'm not telling you about the intricacies of the story. But just to help a tad, it revolves around "mecha's" (sp?), revenge, and absurdity. Which are all cool aspects to a film in my book. But again, when intertwined in such a bizarre way, any type of emotional aspect to the film is lost. And that's where these films go awry. There are slow parts where it seems you're supposed to give a flying sh!t about the story. But the thing is after that scene where the dude is literally turned into a 'fountain of blood', my mind is totally checked out, and I'm only looking for more grue and of course, nudity.

Which brings me to another aspect to this crazy genre; the lack of sleaze and nudity is disappointing. Fortunately for Samurai Princess, the lead actress is/was (?) an A/V actress, so lucky for us, there's a sex scene with nudity. But besides one other nip scene, and of course the boob-weapon, there's nothing. You would think with all the amputated limbs, geysers of blood, brains, alligator legs etc. etc. the sub-genre would exploit other areas than just the red stuff. But again, good job to this flick for delivering a nice 'n cutesy sex scene.

I feel like I have to repeat myself when I say, I like these films. But not really as films, but as a kind of gore highlight reel, with hot Asian babes prancing around doing high-kicks. I'd love to see a film with this type of gore done in a more traditional way. Maybe a werewolf flick, that just showers the viewers with blood during scenes of attack. Something more simple that's still enormously violent, could be something that really works. I feel that's just useless wishing, as it seems these films are slowly beginning to reach a wider audience, so we'll probably continue to watch this sub-genre of film for a wee bit longer. Not that I really have a problem with that. It's just feeling a tad played out already. Also, moar bewbs, plz.