The Machine Girl

The producers (or whatever) of Meatball Machine and Death Trance, have teamed up again to make another Japanese splatterpiece in order to rocket their names into the greats of cult cinema. Well, they just might have made their mark. The Machine Girl's trailer debuted on the Internet and instantly fans began to gobble it up. Fans of Tsukumoto will indeed see some clever depictions of his creative ideas.


Ami is a popular high-school basketball star who is raising her younger brother by herself. When his brother is a casualty of bullying, she takes revenge to the next level and dons a machine gun attachment ala Ash from Evil Dead. Throughout the casual hour-an-a-half run time, Noboru Iguchi does pull out all the stops and steals the limelight from other absurd bizzaro Japanese films.


The film follows the rough-and-tough paper thin stereotype of having a stronger sister. Her brother is a kind-hearted wimp who bows down to the average feminist. This in turn, leads to his pitiful death and her family's name squashed even more. The current Japanese cinema loves to portray their citizens as crazed perverts who all overact to the point of slow retardation. This being the only real problem i had with the film.


With that in mind, that is the only concrete problem i have with Asian cinema. In example, that really annoying "HWWWWWUUUUHHH" noise they make whenever they are surprised before death. This is evident in Battlefield Baseball, Versus, Meatball Machine, Death Trance, etc. etc. This sound effect is demonstrated many time in The Machine Girl.

The effects in this film, as you might have seen in the trailer, are crazy, out-dated, and juicy. Various assortments of weapons are displayed including arm-chainsaw, machine gun, cyber shurikens, poles, rods, and the bland katana. Needless to say, the film owes much of its charm to its incredible cast of crazy characters. A team of high-school ninjas resemble the Power Rangers in the movie.


The social commentary is a bit annoying and is about as redundant as was presented in this years Rambo. Preening school girls and socially inept parents declare their pacifism and are later seen attempting to slice and dice our poor anti-hero. Indeed, she is a murderer, but she is a damn sexy one at that.

A word of advice; Don't get attached to any certain limb in this film. I mean, you can express your adoration for a leg, but don't let it get too sincere. I promise you, that specific body part will be ripped or cut off in some crude way. The Machine Girl is the most fun i have had with a film in a long while. A messy biopsy couldn't be this much fun.

-mAQ