Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell

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

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.

I'm not sure where or why people really compare this to Evil Dead, that is a comparison that raises expectations way too high in my opinion. It's a short little movie that feels like a group college aged horror enthusiasts put together in a weekend.

2 younger people end up trapped in a Japanese(aka really small) house where a demon tries to kill them. They fight back resulting in several "It's dead, it's all over" moments only for the exact same demon to return for them to fight.

The effects and gore are mostly pretty low quality. As is the filming and shot quality. Lots of super close ups since every room was 6 foot by 8 foot at largest. You can blatantly tell it was put together by a bunch of horror fans wanting to have a bit of fun making the whole thing a bit charming though all around unremarkable.

I don't exactly recommend this one but at least it is short which makes for a decent draw on a bad movie night where you will likely talk over it.

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 Body Builder In Hell calls itself 'the Japanese Evil Dead', because it's Japanese and it shamelessly rips-off The Evil Dead (and EDII). Seems reasonable enough to me. And like the Evil Dead, it's a total blast once director Shinichi Fukazawa begins to pile on the excessive gore and splat-stick comedy.

The film starts off relatively restrained, with a prologue set in Tokyo, 1978, that sees a man, Naoto, killing his wife and burying her body under the floor of his house. Years later, Naoto's son, bodybuilder Shinji (who still has a long way to go before rivaling the likes of Schwarzenegger), inherits the property, and takes his girlfriend Mika there so that she can write an article about the supposed haunted house. A psychic accompanies them on the trip.

Once inside the house, the psychic examines all of the rooms, detects an evil presence, and begins to see ghostly apparitions, and soon after the fun really begins...

Mistaking Shinji for his father, the vengeful spirit of the murdered woman possesses the psychic, and Fukazawa lets loose with the craziness, piling on the blood and guts, missing no opportunity to give his own interpretation of key scenes from Raimi's horror classics: the possessed man pops up to provide shocks, but is decapitated with a shovel; the body is chopped up, quivering parts scattered all over the floor; these pieces suddenly have a life of their own; Mika is bitten and becomes possessed herself; and Shinji arms himself with a shotgun and utters the Japanese equivalent of 'Groovy'.

It's all totally devoid of originality, of course, but the whole bloody shebang is imbued with such energy and a clear love for Raimi's films that it's hard not to like. 7.5/10, happily rounded up to 8 for IMDb.