"Naked Blood is one of the greatest extreme Japanese films of all time!" -horrorexpress.com
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A young scientist named Eiji (Sadao Abe from "Uzumaki") decides to follow in his father's footsteps to help humanity by developing a drug that converts pain into pleasure. To test it out, he secretly adds his drug to a contraceptive that his mother has been performing clinical trials on with three young women at a local clinic. Of these women, one is enamored with eating, one is obsessively narcissistic, while the third has one seious case of insomnia.
Eiji begins following the three unsuspecting guinea pigs to see their reaction to his new creation, covertly videotaping them and methodically recording the results. Things start to get out of control when the women realize that the more pain they inflict on themselves, the better it feels! Eiji is unable to contain the womens' obsession with pleasure and his own obsession with one of them.
Cult director Hisayasu Sato (Rampo Noir) examines the detriment of a culture absorbed with superficiality and consumption. He does so with some of the nastiest, most over the top and sure to be discussed scenes ever shot on film, including the infamous coochielicious culinary delight, fish fry fingers, and the "pretty pretty" school of piercing!
Unfortunately disappointed I didn't know what to expect going into this, other than there was going to be gore.
Well, there was, and it was, to say the least, interesting (I laughed a few times at the sheer audacity of it), but in the end it just left me feeling cheated. Maybe that's not the right word; it left me feeling unfulfilled.
I can appreciate the effort put into it, I really can, but the end product just didn't do much for me.
I'll admit, there's more artistic merit to it than to something like Entrails of a Virgin or Evil Dead Trap, but that's not saying much.
And, really, is violence that loud? I'm sure the sounds of mutilation were amplified to make people feel uneasy, but I simply thought the whole idea was, for lack of a better word, goofy.
WHAT...WHAT Naked Blood (Hisayasu Sato, 1995)
I spent the first forty-five minutes of Naked Blood wondering why it had been so highly touted to me. I then spent the final thirty cowering in the corner, crying for my mommy, wondering if that distant, fading light in front of my eyes was actually my sanity. When this flick switches gears, man, it forgets it has brakes at all. Not to say it doesn't have its flaws, some of which are fatal, but gorehounds will likely be extremely impressed with a few scenes here.
The story opens with Eiji (The Great Yokai War's Sadao Abe in his first big-screen appearance), a brilliant high school student who, taking after his scientist parents, has developed what he believes to be the perfect painkiller-- a drug that, instead of introducing new elements into the recipient, pumps up the body's production of endorphins. Can't go wrong with the all-natural, right? Lacking test subjects, however, he decides to try the drug out by slipping a few drops into an experimental contraceptive that his mother, Yuki (Masumi Nako), is in the final stages of testing. He hides across the street and videotapes the test through the window, resolving to observe all three of the suspects afterwards to see if there are any ill effects. One of them, Rika Mikami (Risa Aika), catches him the next day, however, and the two of them end up so besotted with each other that they forget the other two. We, however, are not as easily spared. And side effects? Oh, yeah. There are side effects.
Compared to American horror films, Naked Blood is about as good as you'd expect from the Asian horror market, which has a baseline far above that we're currently locked into in this country (which explains the recent rash of Asian horror film remakes glutting the American market). Compared with other Asian horror flicks, however, this one leaves a lot to be desired. It does have the usual, and quite welcome, traits of very strong character development, excellent atmosphere, and over-the-top special effects; that said, the well-developed characters are still shallow (two are so stereotypical we never learn their names, but are only called in the credits by their stereotypes), screenwriter Takitoshi Watari tried to work in a mystery subplot as a seeming afterthought that's predictable enough for a half-blind ten-year-old to solve about ten seconds after he realizes there is a mystery plot, and the acting ranges from the barely competent to the unintentionally hysterical.
I cannot call Naked Blood a good movie by most standards, but it's like a particularly ugly train accident: you just cannot look away once it explodes. And you will not be able to dodge the falling body parts. I've been a fan of extreme horror cinema for a long, long time, and there was one scene in this movie that even I couldn't bring myself to watch. If that's the metric by which you rate a film, Naked Blood gets top marks. ** ½
Pleasure in pain This is a great story about the needle of science trying to rethread the very fabric of our existence. Many believe there is a delicate microcasm holding our total being in balance. Any tampering threatens our very nature in a dangerous way. The results can be catastrophic. In Splatter:Naked Blood, an ambitious young scientist completes his masterful experiment--an antidote for pain. This drug allows the brain to instantaneously release extra endorphins to neutralize or counteract anything that harms the body. In essence, pain feels good. Too good in fact, as the subjects delve deep into a horrific spout of self-mutilation. I won't give away any details, but it is some Super sick stuff! The last 20 minutes of this film are pretty unsettling. Not for the timid viewer by any means. If Saw or Hostel upset your tummy, definitely skip this one.
This movie gets 5 stars from me, it has excellent acting, an incredibly original script, and extreme gore(plus nudity). That's a rare combination. It also has a relevant point that is not far-fetched at all--Be careful when messing with Mother Nature.
Metaphores and gore. This is a Japanese flick like no other. If you were to throw Takashi Miike and David Cronenburgs styles into a blender, youd get something like Naked Blood. Its about a boy who discovers a drug called Myson that turns pain into pleasure. He experiments with the drug on three unsuspecting girls and watches their every move as they find out how good pain feels. Lots of gore and some really great self mutilation scenes involving girls who like to eat their own private parts......very sexy. The story does get confusing though, almost every scene is a metaphor for something else. Honestly I cant say I understand every aspect of the movie, but there is definitely an underlying message about the meaning of life......just havent figured out what it is....but its there. I sure do look forward to watching it again (and again) to try and figure it out though. Highly recommended.
The Pleasure of Pain Let's face it, you're not here for a story. Yeah there is one, with a deep message about excess. But you're here for the blood. And when it rains, boy does it pour. If you're freaked out by self-mutilation, give this one a pass. I personally had to pause this movie a number of times to make it through. It takes a while for the gore to get going, (there is a story here after all) But once it does, grab your umbrella.
Here's what it's about: Eiji infects his mothers 3 patients (all women testing out a new contraceptive) with the ultimate pain-killer, A pain-killer that turns pain into mounting pleasure. This in turn, has disasterous effects. One pateint is obsessed with eating Another patient is obsessed with beauty And the last suffers from extreme insomnia. (She hooks herself up to a cactus, in order to sleep. Why? I have no idea)
***GORE SPOILER*** In this flick you'll see: - one woman eat herself alive (hands, eyes, nips, and bajingo) - another pierce herself to death (and I mean pierce) - & a guy crawl into a woman's open chest cavity.
Sound up your alley?
MORAL OF THE STORY: The pain of life cannot be masked by excessive pleasure. It will consume you.
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