Machine Girl is the latest in a long blood-soaked line of Japanese gore movies that have recently been an obsession for me. Given the fact that it stars a Japanese schoolgirl (naturally) with a Gatling gun for an arm, how could I possibly pass this one up? There are not many surprises to be found while watching it, however, there were some great moments during this film.
This movie begins with the story of a brother and sister struggling to make ends meet and make it through the day without parents. Ami’s brother Yu is getting picked on by a Yakuza boss’ son Sho, and is in debt to him. When Yu tries to pay Yoshie back what little money he has, Sho and his Yakuza friends kill Yu, and his friend Takashi. When Ami finds Yu’s diary that has a list of “People I want to kill” in it, she realizes that Sho was bullying Yu, and more than likely killed him. That is about the only normal part of the movie. From there EVERYTHING gets really strange and ridiculous.
Ami then goes to the police chief’s house to talk with him about his son’s involvement in Yu’s murder. The son denies it, naturally, and his parents literally FREAK OUT. His father attacks Ami with a golf club, seemingly out of no where, and the wife deep fries Ami’s hand in tempura batter and hot oil. Of course, Ami comes back later and ends up killing the entire family in some of the most gruesome and disturbing death scenes I have seen in these movies. Ami stabs the mother in the back of the head with a kitchen knife, which apparently is cause enough for her to literally throw up her intestines. That is just the first of many bloody fights, and NOT where Ami loses her arm.
Next up, Ami confronts none other than the big boss of the Yakuza and his family, which is probably not the best of moves. She is tied up and tortured by both the boss and his wife, who cut off her fingers and let her bleed for a while. Then they lop off her left arm, right around the elbow. That wouldn’t make for a very good ending so, of course, she escapes. Ami stumbles her way to the house of Takashi’s parents. Takashi’s mom [Miki] is none to happy to see her, blaming her for her son’s death, and even though her husband [Suguru] sews up Ami’s arm, Miki wants her out. What’s next? Why not challenge Ami to an arm wrestling match? Sure, I guess. Long story short, Miki helps train Ami to be an efficient killer and Suguru creates the Machine Gun arm that Ami later wields. Then it’s time for them both to take on the Yakuza family and their minions. Lots of crazy battles, lots of blood, a few laughs, and a large body count later, Ami comes out on top. Her lust for revenge has been quenched.
This is another movie that I really can’t tell if it is taking itself seriously or not. Unfortunately, the version that I watched was dubbed and not subtitled, which could have changed the dialogue a lot. I found this film hard to read. There was definitely a lot of blood, geysers of blood even, and some fake body parts, but something was just…off. I can’t put my finger on it.
I can’t say that I was surprised to see that they have already made a sequel to it, since they have made one for just about every movie I have seen so far, though I have no idea where the story could possibly go from here. However, it was bloody, it was funny, and it was entertaining. Nonetheless, I am not sure who I would really recommend it to, unless (like me) you really like to watch these types of films. If that is the case, then I highly recommend this movie be added to your collection.
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