It's been more than 10 years since the original Flesh for the Beast was made, a movie that I enjoyed a great deal. I consider it somewhat of a classic among independent erotic horror cinema and I've been waiting for someone to come up with a sequel. Strange that it has taken this long.
Initially, I thought that someone just bought the rights to the FftB name and slapped it on Tsukiko's Curse considering that it is not a film but a TV miniseries of a few 30-minute episodes and has none of the original actors. To my surprise, Tsukiko's Curse was made by the executive producers of FftB one of whom was the special effects guy as well.
The story centers on a trio of paranormal investigators made up of a guy, Parsons, who's all about science; a girl, Fortune, who's fun and up for any experience/experiment and on the first episode at the recommendation of a professor, a powerful Japanese medium, Tsukiko, joins. Fortune's first question to the professor is whether Tsukiko is hot. No she isn't in the least, although the filmmakers think so. During the intro credits, Tsukiko tells us that she's the daughter of a woman and a demon and to save her soul she has to sacrifice someone to the beast, every day.
In episode 1 the team helps a woman who wants to marry her dead boyfriend. Tsukiko will help her manifest the spirit. Great idea, but not a strong episode.
Episode 2 has the team going after a pair of vampires terrorizing a town. A blood-sucking tree is involved and Countess Bathory makes an appearance. This time around, Tsukiko does take a victim at the end. Great chance to show gore and skin, but it doesn't happen.
In episode 3, the good professor asks the team to look into some fake faith healer/exorcist so Tsukiko pretends to be possessed. Or does she?
Episodes 4 & 5 (IMDB lists them as one) are two short 20-minute episodes of our team going after a group of satanists that aim to revive Aleister Crowley.
With episode 6 finally we get a main story. Recently deceased female corpses are disappearing from the cemetery. The culprit is a bit of a surprise as he in a poignant story reveals what he does with the bodies and why. This person also receives the Necronomicon for the purposes of unlocking its secrets. But Tsukiko also needs the book to solve her curse.
Episode 7 continues the story of ep6 as Tsukiko gets ready to perform the most important of all ceremonies so she can face her demon. But she needs someone to perform a mysterious musical piece contained in the Necronomicon.
The series then is somewhat of a compendium of all things horror: zombies, vampires, shape-shifters, seances, satanists, countess Bathory, Necronomicon, etc. It's a B-series with lower budget and no fancy effects. The acting by the main actors playing Parsons, Fortune, the professor is good. But while FftB was unabashedly fun, filled with gore and nudity, Tsukiko's Curse is lackluster. I'm not sure if this was ever broadcast on TV, but it looks like they were aiming for a very prude network. There is no gore. There is a bit of nudity occasionally, but the camera guy and the editor do their best not to show any skin, going even so far as to turn the lens out of focus when a naked woman is on screen.
The first episodes were disappointing but the last 3 episodes were better and I got into the story. A lot of effort went into writing the script. They even throw in some musical theory as Tsukiko auditions some violinists to play the wicked musical piece. I appreciated that part. The main problem I have with this series is the Tsukiko character and actress. I see that the guys behind this series have made a turn to the East doing some Asian-inspired movies but here it just doesn't work or add much.
It's in the last episodes that the series bothers to make some quick connection to FftB but it's nothing essential. So it's best to think of Tsukiko's Curse independently of FftB, then it's an alright independent horror B series. If you think of it as having anything to do with Flesh for the Beast, you will be greatly disappointed.
