I decided to check this out on Netflix last night, not expecting much. Generally, I'd like to think a film with a title like Tokyo Gore Police is as good as it sounds but generally, that's not the case. However in this case, it was. This one just completely floored me. It's also the first Japanese movie I've seen since actually going to Japan so I had a blast identifying with the iconography.

The plot is pretty simple. An officer of a new breed of cop (the now legendary Eihi Shiina, Asami from Audition) is sent out into the streets in search of engineers, mutants that can transform bodily wounds into weapons and considering the kind of wounds that get dished out in this film, there's more than a few pretty sick battles ahead of her.

This is one of the few Japanese films I've seen that's as ridiculous as most Americans think Japanese films are. Ironically, most of the influence seems to come from non-Japanese films. As the title would suggest, Tokyo Gore Police is in nonstop full on splatter mode. If Peter Jackson were still making movies like Dead Alive and Bad Taste, he'd certainly have met his match. Still, the film is able to maintain a wacky, cartoonish Japanese style and the blood is of the same orange-red straight-shooting geyser variety the Japanese are known for, especially thanks to Kill Bill.

There's also a fair share of Cronenberg influence as is evident by the very premise. Videodrome seems like the most apparent influence. Still, the flavor is Japanese. A lot of sick, anime-style mutations with a certain pervertedness attached. Two girls grow crocodile jaws in this movie only neither grow them on their face. Nuff said.

The look of the film is also full of pizazz. It's the kind that movies like Crank try to emulate yet fail miserably. Everything is fast paced and full of color yet not incoherent and nausea-inducing.

So what can I say? The Audition chick as an ass kicking cop fighting Cronenberg mutants in a Peter Jackson-tinged Japanese universe. Awesome! Best Japanese movie I've seen since Ichi the Killer. This flick is full of laughs and wow! moments and even more so with blood and sickness. It's almost impossible not to enjoy. I wouldn't imagine anyone who hates it to look for fun in their movies. That or they hate subtitles.

Watch it!

Hee hee!  I was just watching Machine Girl the other day -- this sounds like a good follow-up.

I have to admit that, much to my surprise, as I've grown to the ripe old age of 21 my interest in/tolerance for excessive gore is already starting to drop.  However, I suspect that for the most part that's driven by the current state of North American horror.  Machine Girl was a blast and I'm sure this would be too.

I'll have to check out Machine Girl next. These two seem to be the most compared over at the IMDB boards. As for gore, it's usually the most fun when it's inventive which is something the North American scene seems to be lacking. This one's got creativity to spare.

I have seen both Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. I love both, but I prefer Machine Girl. The small problem I had with Tokyo Gore Police was that it was sometimes a bit too dark. Machine Girl was a B-Movie that knew it was a B-movie. Tokyo Gore Police kinda didn't know what it was. Overall, they are both great fllms.

I'm gonna have to double-recommend this movie even though I've already pimped it out ad nauseum. I showed it to some friends a few months ago, along with The Dark Backward, and every time they went off on an unrelated conversation, they would snap back to the movie within two minutes. Nobody could keep their eyes off the screen because there's something fucked up going on practically every minute.

Quoted from usaking I have seen both Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. I love both, but I prefer Machine Girl. The small problem I had with Tokyo Gore Police was that it was sometimes a bit too dark. Machine Girl was a B-Movie that knew it was a B-movie. Tokyo Gore Police kinda didn't know what it was. Overall, they are both great fllms.

The Machine Girl is apparently Play Instantly on Netflix so I'll probably check it out at some point today.

Out of curiosity though, which parts were too dark? There was a dark vibe at times but the whole thing felt way too extreme to fully enter that territory. I suppose the darkest parts were the police killing everybody, especially with all the epic music and such, but those parts were so insanely gory, the tone didn't come through as much as it could've. I thought the commercials were hilarious and as far as Japanese culture goes, they probably hit the closest to home. Like I said, just curious.

I haven't seen Tokyo Gore Police in a long time, so I don't remember all the dark parts. Two parts I remember that were way too dark was at the beginning of the film when Ruke (the lead character) is on a building with some weird creature/man thing. The creature was just out of place (IMO). It reminded me one those monsters on the low budget films shown on the Sci-Fi channel.

Another part that seemed too dark was at the beginning, when the dad is waving and all of the sudden his head explodes. I'm sorry, I have nothing against gore, but if you are going to show gore, do it right. Don't just make it blow up and come out of nowhere.

I think the problem is that I watched Machine Girl before Tokyo Gore Police, so I was expecting a much lighter and funner film. To enjoy these films, people have to go into these films realizing that one is very light and funny, and the other is much more dark and serious. I did love the commercials, they were very funny. But a lot of the film seemed to change from light hearted fun, to cold hearted fun.

Just saw The Machine Girl. Don't feel like writing a review for it but I see what you're saying now. Machine Girl was a lot more intentionally funny. I mean, there were honest to God jokes. TGP was funny too but whenever it was, it was either satirical or just ridiculous as well. I think Machine Girl was a lot more normal of a film too. The influences were yakuza and ninja films which are a lot more normal than Cronenberg and Peter Jackson. It also wasn't as relentless as TGP. In the end, I liked TGP more. It's more my taste but Machine Girl was still tons of fun. Honestly, if you pay homage to two Fulci films in the same kill scene, you're doing pretty good for yourself.