Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nobu Kanaoka, Sujin Kim, Hideaki Tezuka, Tomoo Asada, Iwata, Keinosuke Tomioka | Written and Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
After kickstarting his career with 1989’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man, writer/director Shinya Tsukamoto returned to the Japanese body horror series 3 years later with Tetsuo II: Body Hammer – an unconnected sequel which takes its own journey regarding a man’s transformation into machine. The opening moments show the camera acting as an unseen character’s perspective, stalking an unnamed salaryman who gets killed after the unseen character holds out his index finger like a gun and fires it.
The story then cuts to Taniguchi Tomoo (Tomorô Taguchi), a married salaryman with a young son named Minori. Adopted as a child, Tomoo questions his unknown past and the reasons for his recurring nightmares. His world is turned upside down when two men kidnap Minori and inject the father with an unknown substance.
After kickstarting his career with 1989’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man, writer/director Shinya Tsukamoto returned to the Japanese body horror series 3 years later with Tetsuo II: Body Hammer – an unconnected sequel which takes its own journey regarding a man’s transformation into machine. The opening moments show the camera acting as an unseen character’s perspective, stalking an unnamed salaryman who gets killed after the unseen character holds out his index finger like a gun and fires it.
The story then cuts to Taniguchi Tomoo (Tomorô Taguchi), a married salaryman with a young son named Minori. Adopted as a child, Tomoo questions his unknown past and the reasons for his recurring nightmares. His world is turned upside down when two men kidnap Minori and inject the father with an unknown substance.
- 10/26/2023
- by James Rodrigues
- Nerdly
Stars: Tomorô Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka, Shinya Tsukamoto, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka | Written and Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
After spending his youth creating short films and entering experimental theatre, Shinya Tsukamoto made an indelible mark on Japanese horror cinema with his feature debut, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The writer/director/producer/editor also appears on-screen as a metal fetishist, setting the tone for this bizarre work as his character inserts scrap metal into a self-inflicted wound in his thigh. The sight of maggots within the wound causes him to run in fear, resulting in him becoming the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
The story then focuses on a salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi), who discovers a metallic thorn sticking out of his cheek while shaving. While he later waits in a subway station, a woman infected with metallic tentacles begins chasing him. This begins a campaign of terror upon the salaryman,...
After spending his youth creating short films and entering experimental theatre, Shinya Tsukamoto made an indelible mark on Japanese horror cinema with his feature debut, Tetsuo: The Iron Man. The writer/director/producer/editor also appears on-screen as a metal fetishist, setting the tone for this bizarre work as his character inserts scrap metal into a self-inflicted wound in his thigh. The sight of maggots within the wound causes him to run in fear, resulting in him becoming the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
The story then focuses on a salaryman (Tomorô Taguchi), who discovers a metallic thorn sticking out of his cheek while shaving. While he later waits in a subway station, a woman infected with metallic tentacles begins chasing him. This begins a campaign of terror upon the salaryman,...
- 10/11/2023
- by James Rodrigues
- Nerdly
“Tetsuo II is neither an abandoned child, nor a child smothered in love. He’s kind of a cynical, a child with mixed feelings.”
(Shinya Tsukamoto on “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer”)
After his debut feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” had gained him a reputation among independent film circles internationally, Shinya Tsukamoto had become one of the most interesting artists coming from Japan. 1989, the year of the film’s release, as well as the following years, would be a busy time for the director who received numerous offers for other features, and for music videos along with the opportunity to work abroad. However, the director was more interested in perfecting his style and the themes he had begun including in the first “Tetsuo”-film, and while the first entry was still in production Tsukamoto was already planning a possible sequel to the film.
Although the notion of making...
(Shinya Tsukamoto on “Tetsuo II: Body Hammer”)
After his debut feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” had gained him a reputation among independent film circles internationally, Shinya Tsukamoto had become one of the most interesting artists coming from Japan. 1989, the year of the film’s release, as well as the following years, would be a busy time for the director who received numerous offers for other features, and for music videos along with the opportunity to work abroad. However, the director was more interested in perfecting his style and the themes he had begun including in the first “Tetsuo”-film, and while the first entry was still in production Tsukamoto was already planning a possible sequel to the film.
Although the notion of making...
- 9/5/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“You are a failure, so you shouldn’t make this film.”
(Kazuo Tsukamoto to his son’s plan for making his first feature)
If we take a look at the history of Japanese cinema, Shinya Tsukamoto stands out as one of the most provocative and original voices. Beginning with his first feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” authors like Tom Mes and Jesper Sharp acknowledge the relevance of his work for the Japanese film industry which had not played a significant role internationally. Tsukamoto, along with colleagues such as Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike would be the most important voices, and while both of these have been following mainstream and better budgeted film, Tsukamoto has managed to maintain most of his independent roots.
At the start of his career, taking a film camera in his hand again was unthinkable for Tsukamoto, who had been a member of several...
(Kazuo Tsukamoto to his son’s plan for making his first feature)
If we take a look at the history of Japanese cinema, Shinya Tsukamoto stands out as one of the most provocative and original voices. Beginning with his first feature “Tetsuo: The Iron Man” authors like Tom Mes and Jesper Sharp acknowledge the relevance of his work for the Japanese film industry which had not played a significant role internationally. Tsukamoto, along with colleagues such as Takeshi Kitano and Takashi Miike would be the most important voices, and while both of these have been following mainstream and better budgeted film, Tsukamoto has managed to maintain most of his independent roots.
At the start of his career, taking a film camera in his hand again was unthinkable for Tsukamoto, who had been a member of several...
- 8/27/2018
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
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