Wolf Guy

If you like Sonny Chiba, you will enjoy this movie. It has a slice of literally everything that made 70s movies cool: martial arts, action & stunts, horror with gore, crime/detective mystery, revenge, Yakuza, and even a bit of X-Files. Imagine R-rated Blade mixed with Shaft, starring Sonny Chiba and made in Japan. It is wonderfully weird and unapologetic.

Everytime you think you have this movie figured out it throws you a new curveball.

The fight scenes are classic Sonny Chiba, hard hitting and realistic. Whoever in the special effect department that was in charge of blood was working overtime.

And the viral "Sonny Chiba eating a steak" video ain't even the tip of the iceberg.

Composer Fukamachi Jun was having an absolute ball. With keyboards, theremin, and juicy electric guitar all over the place, the music both atmospheric and upbeat distinctly recalls contemporary Pink Floyd in all their psychedelic, meandering glory, with some additional influence from funk and otherwise prog rock. Why, I wouldn't mind tracking down a copy of the soundtrack here for my collection, and I barely listen to music any more. Yes, the tunes in 'Wolf guy' are a blast. And that's good, because the first impression that this flick makes is that the music will be the most consistent highlight. That's hardly to cast aspersions on the remainder, but the direction feels a tad loose from the outset, and the cinematography overzealous in a manner seen all too often in subsequent years that's intended to swap out the earnest impact of stunts and effects for, if you'll pardon me, "Whoa-oa-oa! Look at this camera, just flying all over the place!" Plot development is also decidedly brusque and clunky, and sometimes all but incohesive, accentuated by that moment when our first female character is abruptly introduced and then, oh, I guess we're in a sex scene now. When the progression does come across as a tad more lucid, it's almost as if the filmmakers suddenly realized in the midst of the shoot that there was an actual narrative they were supposed to be imparting, too.

Don't get me wrong, I know what type of film I sat to watch. Or at least, I understood very quickly after I pressed "play." I've seen the exploitation flicks and low-budget, low-grade fare churned out by the likes of Jesus Franco and Jean Rollin; I've seen one-shot OVAs that just forged ahead and told their story, nevermind judicious sense or care. Director Yamaguchi Kazuhiko, cinematographer Nakajima Yoshio, writer Konami Fumio, producer Yoshida Toru - well, they were just here to have a good time, weren't they? This title cares about flavor and style, not function or substance, and by Jove, if you're in the audience, you had best be on board with that ethos. A lot of action violence, something something supernatural, and all the stunts, effects, blood, gore, and physical, spirited acting you could want to bring these to bear: and that's a movie! Sure, there's a plot here, too, and apparently it's an adaptation of a manga. And it's fine. But the plot is almost beside the point in this corner of the medium, isn't it? Likewise for characters who are only here either to die, or to be painted with broad ideas. The plot is duly compelling such as it is (if not completely satisfying as it presents), and the scenes are vibrant in providing the fuel for the cast and crew to bring the seedy tableau to life. Maybe, after all, this is all that 'Wolf guy' needed to be.

If you want action, you'll get it, including one brief late sequence that's straight out of Eon Productions' James Bond franchise. If you want skin, you'll definitely get some. If you want a sordid tale of crime, violence, drugs, and women, you'll get it. If you come here for the suggested element of horror, you'll sort of get it, in scattered bits and pieces, and of course more so as the length draws on. For the record, though, the name of the piece, and a supposed core trait of Sonny Chiba's protagonist, doesn't meaningfully come into play until late in the runtime, and even then, not in the way one would assume from the outside looking in. In fairness, taken in and of itself the story is solid, and there are excellent ideas in here ripe for genre cinema. It's just that this feature, as it exists, is far less concerned about that story than it is about the violence, gnarly imagery, and rip-roaring entertainment for which the foremost ideas could be a vehicle. And it shows, again and again. Perish the thought of balance or earnest, careful plot; exactly how much one will get out of the viewing experience will vary greatly from one person to the next. For my part I did enjoy 'Wolf guy,' and I think it's worthwhile on its own merits even if it didn't really meet its full potential; it's also likely best left to watch on a quiet day when you're having a hard time deciding on something else. Take that as you will.

Wolf Guy was a vehicle for popular Japanese action star Sonny China. I'm pretty much a novice concerning Japanese cinema, only have seen a handful of movies. This film in particular is more of a action piece than horror. Wolf Guy moves along pretty fast with some nice kung fu action, naked chicks and blood. A lot of blood! Sonny China has some nice Wolverine type of pork chops and hair like Mr. Brady. Wolf Guy was different than I expected and for a horror/action hybrid that is 90 percent action works on its own terms. As I stated before I have only seen a few Japanese movies and maybe 2 of those were Sonny China flicks. In any case, I thought Wolf Guy was cool and I will definitely watch it again.

Wolf Guy (1975)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Sonny Chiba plays a detective who also happens to be the last member of a family of werewolves. On the force he uses his wolf senses to help solve crimes but the latest group of murders he's trying to solve won't be easy. People are screaming into a madness talking about a "tiger" when the next thing you know their bodies are being ripped apart. It's up to Chiba to try and figure out exactly what's going on.

WOLF GUY is a film that pretty much came out of nowhere to me. I'm a fan of Arrow Video so when they announced it most people were scratching their heads as to what it was. If you're looking for downright bizarre and surreal movies then you've got exactly that with this thing. It's part horror movie, part gangster film, part crime, part sci-fi and just about every other genre out there. You've even got long running stretches where the plot deals with syphilis as if this was one of those nutty sexploitation movies from the era! There's a lot going on here but sadly the film runs out of gas before it's over but more on that in a bit. There's still plenty of great stuff on display here so recommending the film is easy.

For starters, you get some outrageous and over-the-top gore scenes here that will have any gore hound screaming in joy. The scenes of the bodies being ripped apart and blood spewing everywhere certainly would have gotten the film a X-rating had it been released in America. If you thought Chiba's THE STREET FIGHTER was violence you ain't seen nothing' yet! Of course, Chiba is martial arts master so there are a great number of scenes where he has to battle a variety of men. The stunts are well-done and there's no doubt that they add some extra entertainment value. The film also offers up a lot of nudity and some bizarre sex story lines.

As you can tell, WOLF GUY is pretty wild on all exploitation levels. With that said, the film's third act does run out of steam and there's a great stretch of running time where the violence stops. It's really too bad they didn't keep up the pulp level but at the same time there's no question that the film deserves to be better known.

This film is completely demented. It starts with great flourish, violence, gore and excitement with only a hint of just how over the top it will become. There is a semblance of story at the beginning, however, strange and there is a mystery for us to work out and much extreme violence to deal with.

As the film progresses, though, it begins to get a little bit silly and gradually story and suspense give way to increasingly stupid and facile action which would not have been out of place in a comic. So stylish at the start it is a crime that in the end bombs are being tossed about in some disused quarry.