HIRUKO THE GOBLIN (1992)
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
Starring: Kenji Sawada, Naoto Takenaka
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Running Time: 103mins

Rating:

Coming Soon.

From Shinya Tsukamoto, director of Tetsuo, Tokyo Fist and Bullet Ballet the last thing you'd expect would be a conventional studio produced horror film. And while Hiruko The Goblin was certainly labelled as that on its release, there can be no denying that despite the film having absolutely no social commentary (as is expected of his recent outputs of ever emasculated protagonists) visually it is still very much a typical Tsukamoto film. Made between Tetsuo and Tetsuo II : Bodyhammer, Hiruko The Goblin was a commercial failure for Tsukamoto, it flopped badly, due in no small doubt to the fact that it failed to connect with the cyberpunk fans who hailed his surrealist mechanical debut. To them, Hiruko was a far cry from the nightmarish vision of body horror that the incredible "Tetsuo: Iron Man" had executed so brilliantly.

And so - after dwelling upon my fears of how bad this until now lost entry into Tsukamotos filmography was going to be I sat down and pressed play with gritted teeth. However, I have to admit that I enjoyed the hell out of it. Coming across as a horror/comedy/adventure, Hiruko it seems was simply too much of a departure too soon.

A twisted love child of "Amazing Stories", "Tales From The Crypt" and Junji Ito (Hiruko's deep cavern feels like it jumped off the page from Uzumaki) while not the best film in the world - and certainly not Tsukamoto's finest hour - it is still undeserving of the criticism it was given.

Now, I'm not one to fall for visuals over content, however, Hiruko manages to shine simply because it is nothing more than a horror adventure with absolutely no pretensions at all and more importantly no delusions of grandeur. It's simply a fast paced entertaining, hyper-kinetic, screwball, horror comedy that presents a simple concept that purely and simply entertains. The cast play for laughs with Kenji Sawada (more recently seen in Takashi Miike's Happiness of the Katakuris and Seijun Suzuki's Pistol Opera) camping it up as an archaeologist with a logic defying array of devices at his disposal. From Goblin radars, to Goblin traps, all strapped to the front of his….bicycle we are never in any doubt that this film is far from the body horror and perverse humour of Tetsuo and much more in the realms of B-Movie horror matinee's.

So much of Hiruko seems inspired by B-movie cult horror, with the cavernous dwelling of Hiruko herself a lovingly re-created polystyrene and papier-mâché set. It's a creature feature without a difference, taking influences from John Carpenter's The Thing (yes those spider heads are as cheeseball as you'd expect) to Sam Raimi's Evil Dead (with some stunningly frenetic goblin POV shots). Hiruko is a carnival ride of a film that aims for as much laughs as it does scares, granted it falls short somewhat on the scares (it's unlikely to send shivers down even the most sensitive of viewers) however it hits gold with the laughs from absurd slapstick to unimaginably (yet intentionally) awful "direlogue". The tongue is so firmly in its cheek you'd expect it to burst right through.

It's fun, it's messy and simple viewing. Just switch your brain off and giggle your way through the ensuing carnage. Don't go in expecting taut scenes of building tension a la "Ring" or you will no doubt be disappointed, if however, you approach the film with an open mind and a sense of humour (essential) you will be pleasantly surprised by how charming the film is regardless of it's flaws.