The Machine Girl (2008) Review

After watching and loving Tokyo Gore Police this film was then recommended to me by most on social media. Luckily the missus bought me it on DVD for me Birthday, so what better way to celebrate turning 35 than to stuff my face with cheese and potato pie whilst watching some crazy over the top Japanese gore film!

Director: Noboru Iguchi

Writer: Noboru Iguchi

Stars: Minase Yashiro, Asami, Nobuhiro Nishihara

Run Time: 96 minutes

The film is done very much in the same style as Tokyo Gore Police, I’m almost certain if you liked that then you’ll also enjoy this one. The story is a fairly basic revenge story, when Yu Hyuga and his his friend Takeshi borrow money from the son of a Yakuza boss things go very wrong for them.

Unable to pay the cash back the sadistic Sho Kimura and his goons beat the boys up but when they fight back he kills them. This leads Yu’s sister Ami to take up a revenge mission, she turns out to be tougher than you could imagine.

Beautiful, Deadly and she’s got a fecking machine gun for an arm

However her toughness is not enough and the Yakuza boss along with his wife and other goons capture Ami, torture her and chop her arm off. She manages to escape and is found passed out by two mechanics, they fix her up and replace her arm with a machine gun because why wouldn’t you?

With the help of the mechanic Miki, Ami sets out on a brutal and bloody revenge mission to murder those responsible for maiming her and killing her brother. When I say bloody I really mean bloody not Hollywood style kills but limbs and blood squirting all over the place by the gallons.

The two women on a revenge mission combined with the gore really make this film great fun

It all eventually leads to a show down with the Yakuza boss and his wife and son. Obviously I won’t spoil things for anyone who hasn’t seen it but the end battles are brilliantly fun to watch.

The Good

• Minase Yashiro as Ami and Asami as Miki are both great at playing the main characters seeking revenge.
• There’s some really creative deaths.
• The pace of the film is great, opening with some bloody action before building up the reasons for revenge then going all out bonkers.
• The villains were over the top and fun to watch, the main Yakuza man looking like a younger version of Master Pain/Betty from Kung Pow.

Ouch!

The Bad

• I could see why people would think some of the fight choreography is dodgy, it’s fun with all the blood and guts but the real fights aren’t that great.
• Some dodgy acting outside of the main two women.
• If you don’t like stupid over the top deaths and immense gore then don’t watch!
• There’s a scene where some blokes try to rape Ami which just seems completely pointless serving no real purpose.

The Brilliant

• Any regular readers of this blog will know by now I love me some gore, this delivers on so many levels I have to mention it in it’s own right!

Overall this is a fantastic film and I’m positive I’ll be checking out some of the director’s other films. Asami seems to have a list of things I’d like to watch judging by her imdb page. As I mentioned a few times if you want an over the top gorefest with silly deaths and silly action then this is a must see.

Overall Rating – 9/10