Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1988)

Summary: A metal fetishist does some surgery on his own leg but cutting it open and inserting a metal bar. He gets scared by his own actions and runs off, only to be run over by a salaryman. Shortly afterwards, the salaryman starts to have terrible visions and and gradually starts to see change sin his physical body as metal starts to spring forth from his flesh. But the fetishist isn’t dead yet and now he wants to battle his enemy for supremacy!           Overall: This is a weird film. It’s 67 minutes long, in black and white and basically just a visual experience. Little dialogue other than people trying tog raps what their bodies are turning into it. It’s sort of the idea from the “Creepshow” skit where everything Stephen King touches got contaminated by the alien gook. Here, everything that gets touched by the “salaryman” gets “metalized.” Depending on who you ask, the theme of this movie can vary. One suggested that it’s just a step up from today’s world of body piercings and physical transformations, another suggests it’s about loneliness and alienation, a 3rd says “technology molds us and shapes us in ways that we both desire and despise but the process is inevitable” and finally, another says that “flesh represents the downbeaten self, which is engaged in a war with machinery.” Not sure the film was really aiming for any of this or else just one guy filming a nightmare the writer had one night. I do know that we have a demon woman using a metal pipe to anally violate our main character. I do know that he in turns uses a 6 foot long whirring drill-dildo to kill the same woman later on. I think that the film is trying to show us possible where society is going and how scary this might be. Are we really that ok with machine, technology that we might one day start merging the two together? Are we really ok with the fact that our society depends on this stuff? Hell, take a look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Much of the problems that exists there was the lack of communication. Cellphones, walkie-talkies, etc. did not work. We are so dependent on it then when it vanishes or ceases working, we know of nothing else to do.           Anyway, this is a weird film...most common term is “cyber-punk.” So folks, it’s a Japanese film from 1988 and it’s “out there.” It’s got tremendous visuals, nice filmmaking.           Comparison: Lawnmower Man meets Superman

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