Organ

Organ Directed By Kei Fujiwara, starring Kenji Nasa (1996).
It starts off with a theme of rebirth or "light returning to light", later on there's a dream of a giant pulsating larvae that cracks open and spews out a dripping human woman. Kei Fujiwara, who co-starred in Tetsuo, The Iron Man directed this, like that pile of fascinating imagery with twisted metal and bursting blood vessels, its all surface level pretty on the outer layer, but inside very hollow and empty. The critics went overboard for Tetsuo, which I partially enjoyed, but like all cyberpunk and most Anime, I found it repetitive and uneventful.

Weekend At Bernies 3

   This film has that kind of Japanese stylization over substance, that gives me a migraine and I've tried to watch Organ several times, If you read the Pete Tombs synopsis in Mondo Macabre (a must own book that I constantly reference), you'd punch out your own mother to get a copy, in order to receive that fix of Japanese madness and gore (thankfully, now-a-days, you don't have to because Fandor is streaming it)! When I read that review, I thought maybe I had missed out on something, but having re-evaluated Organ, unlike Flesh For Frankenstein, its a different case all together.
   This time, I hadn't missed anything, Organ is just as dull and overly flashy as I remembered it, with a weak subplot, that often times I had to refer to the Tombs book to figure it all out, generally if I need to over think and its not easy to follow, I'm going to give up. Synapse owns the rights to this and many other shocking Asian films, I'd been curious about it ever since I saw it included in the Deep Red Catalog.

I'm not familiar with this other Yoko you speak of

    So, here's what I pieced together for one of the least rewarding Japanese horror flicks in recent memory. In Tokyo 1996 organ harvesters run the streets, one's with slicked backed hair, Hawaiian shirts, eyepatches and hazmat suits. They hang out in a dingy alley called "The Slaughterhouse" some giggle as they snip out human spleens and livers. A cop named Numato shows up to replace one of their syndicate associates and they immediately recruit him to haul bodies around for them. He's there to bail out his partner, who is alive but catatonic. The gut slicing from still breathing humans reminded me of the Monty Python sketch where door to door organ removal surgeons show up and rip out Terry Gilliam's liver!

Smother me in Ranch dressing and enjoy

   One particularly gruesome specimen looks what I can only describe as a "Cenobite Salad", a green and red splattered man with a greyish face. All the hazmat suits in an unclean room with jagged surgical tools plunging away at vital organs is creepy and interesting. One eyed Yoko (played by the director) shows enough promise to hold your interest for a short while as a decent villainess.
   Two detectives, Numata and Tosaka try to infiltrate the organ chop shop, one falls victim to human experiments and can't escape, because his legs were amputated and he's stuck in an over-sized terrarium, kept alive by the blood of captured school girls. It all sounds better than it is and though Organ has its own dedicated cult following, you won't find me tossing any livers at the screen for midnight movie gatherings.
   The decent soundtrack is synth-wave industrial. One semi-alarming moment has a girl who gets sexually excited over smelly green turtles (As far as I know there's no fetish too demented for the Japanese)! I'm glad that Fandor bought this title, so I can confirm how dull it is without having to go to extreme lengths to find a copy (Skunkape remains my number one source for all films reviewed on TOG). I hope that Fandor acquires more titles from Synapse because they are an incredibly vital DVD company! Go for the gusto Fandor, while you're at it, buy titles from Blue-Underground, that would monumentally improve your underground street cred.
Skip it and watch a classic Skinny Puppy video instead     

Care for a human cannoli?

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