Rating: 
Summary: A horror film about being gay in Japan...
Review: First of all, let me state something that nobody seems to want to say explicitly; this is one unnerving movie with some of the most unpleasant scenes I've ever seen, and that includes Cronenberg. Also, there's an undeniable homoerotic subtext to the whole thing (and I'm not inferring; it's pretty clear, despite the lousy subtitle job Image subcontracted out.)As far as comparisons go, this is a lot like the work of Jan Svankmajer, in terms of effects and narrative feel (and I suspect Tsukamoto knows the work of Svankmajer well.) But the material is about as far from Svankmajer's social concerns as you can get. I don't claim to know Japanese society that well, but I DO know it wasn't (and still isn't) nearly as tolerant as the US, and "Tetsuo" is a strong reflection of that. The main character is a man who is torn apart by guilt over a crime he has committed, and also for his failure to conform to societal standards. He is terrified of women, and he also resents them (epitomized in two extremely gory and unnerving scenes.) And because, one feels, that he's told that he's unnatural and inhuman, he BECOMES unnatural and inhuman, literally an iron man. This is not a upbeat story; this is a story about a man who has destroyed himself and achieves the power to take the society that caused it down with him. Even finding love isn't enough for him. This is a movie about a man who is twisted and warped by society, and who will destroy everyone thanks to that society. Personally, I found it fascinating, but unless you've explored Jan Svankmajer, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, and others extensively, I would be careful about approaching this. Put it this way; if you weren't bugged by "Crash" but found it interesting, "Tetsuo" won't be too much for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Movie, I Just wanna know WHAT'S GOING ON?
Review: First off, this is the strangest piece of celluoid I've seen in all my years of movie viewing. I don't know what kind of audience the director is aiming at or what he's trying to prove, but man, whatever he wanted to do he must have done it well because this is also one of the most entertaining things on celluoid I've seen as well. Clocking in at about 70 minutes, this movie doesn't waste it's time with nuisances like color, diagloge, or even a plot. Here's what I picked up at least I think this is what's happening. There's this crazy nut and he puts a screw through his leg or something and decides to talk a walk. (Best time to take a walk is right after you stab yourself in the leg) So he walks around and gets run over by another guy. The guy who killed him doesn't do much, apparently this is acceptable in Japan. But he probably wishes that he didn't do that now, because he now has...a metal whisker. I kid you not, his ironic payback is A METAL WHISKER! WHY? But on a more important note, what do you do when you have a metal whisker? Pull on it, of course. That wasn't a good thing cause now he's squirting blood all over the place. When will those nutty japs ever learn? This doesn't effect him too much, he doesn't even care when some lady on a subway turns into a metallic zombie for no apparent reason and trys to get with him. No, the tale isn't over yet, next thing he knows his wang is replaced by a giant rotating screw. Naturally, this pleases his wife and she wants to test it out immediately. Big mistake, cause know she's squirting blood all over the place. Them japs, them crazy, crazy japs. But blood isn't enough, she also needs to turn into cottage cheese and form into that crazy metal zombie. OOOOKAY! Bad clay animation follows and the two love birds form a metal beast that wants to destroy the world. That's basically it, speechless huh? Well, if you were shocked by this review then you shouldn't see the film. Otherwise grab some Ovaltine and start yer watchin'.
Rating:
Summary: A must-see for all film students!
Review: High creativity on low budget. Very creative and imaginative film produced with obviously little money. The stop motion animation and time lapse sequences are particularly noteworthy. I don't know what the fuss is about it being "shocking". It's no more shocking than EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (similar idea, too).
Rating:
Summary: A feast for the eyes
Review: I gave this film 4 stars mainly because I don't like to say anything is perfect. This is one film that anyone interested in disturbing cinema should see. Unlike any post Erasure Head film by David Lynch, this film is not wierd for wierds sake. With very little dialogue this Black and White film is a visual overload. Simple to follow, and at times almost unwatchable. It is a halucinatory trip through the mind of a madman slowly and involuntarily turning into a machine. A must for anyone interested in the strange side of Asian Cinema. Thank goodness the movie is only 60 min long. It will leave you with a gut punch that you will not soon forget. I wish they still had drive through theaters so that it could be a double feature with Erasure Head. Beware of the Sequel Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer. Its not as good of a story and it loses something with the addition of the color. The VHS version comes with a short entitled Drum Struck, another delightful little gem. Highly recomended for those who like this sort of thing. Kinda like a Nine Inch Nails video but without the...soundtrack.
Rating:
Summary: Required viewing by videphiles
Review: I use this video in my popular culture class. It is a serious cult film in Japan much like Rocky Horror is in the USA. It portrays the conflict between human/machine from a Japanese perspective. The violence serves much the same function as does that found in much ANIME. It is a profoundly disturbing film. As disturbing as the cyborgization of humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Tetsuo defines the difference between a film and a movie
Review: I'm a film scholar myself and its harder to describe things in words as you can with pictures.. Some described this one as "Fellini on mescaline". Actually, I'd say "Salvador dali meets general electric". Its only 30 minutes long but seems much longer due to its non-linearity and art film quality. I have the version with the short film Drumstruck at the end. The guy that does the music for this and tetsuo 2 also did the music for Terminator 2. This movie is best watched with a good sound system. The music and sound effects are really much better on a good system. Or watch with earphones. This is a great film if you cut your teeth on older fellini, salvador dali and other surreal black and white film makers. The 30 minute film is actually broken up into 2 parts with a barely perceptible pause between sets. Watch the timer on your video and take a break after the first 15 minutes. It will make the 2nd part much easyer to deal with. All I can say is I cant wait to see Tetsuo 2!
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, frenetic, a bit self-indulgent
Review: If this were a student film, it would rank among the best ever made. Powerful, wild, inventive, great driving noise soundtrack, it gets a bit self-indulgent in the last half -- it's probably ten minutes too long. But it is definitely worth seeing, far better than Tetsuo II. It will make you shiver and howl.
Rating:
Summary: Japanese film noir at its best.
Review: In a world becoming overrun with technology, one man struggles to keep his humanity. This film provides a barrage of spectacular imagery along with a surrealistic storyline that keeps you wondering. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a grim look at the future portrayed with exquisite cinematography.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok.......
Review: Lemme see here. You have some weird guy shove a piece of metal in his leg, he sees maggots all over it (ICK) runs out into the street gets hit by a car, then thus the driver turns into.... An iron man basically while the dude who got hit by a car is planning his death or something. Man this film is one hell of an acid ride through his transformation into this iron man. Very bizarre and twisted with the constant slash off to the heavy pumped industrial score while you try to focus on what's going on, many times I thought this was to absurd and wanted to turn it off but I wanted to see where it was going. It's visually breathtaking and not a very pleasant thing to sit through, but I can't give this five stars because quite frankly I don't know who would. This is followed by equally messed up sequel "Body Hammer" but that one made no sense really.... This is made by Shinya Tsukamoto who is a very good director and actor as well, if you've seen Ichi The Killer he's in there as a character, I want to check out his movie Tokyo Fist but I'm kind of scared too...... This is worth checking out only if you handle it.
Rating:
Summary: violence is a little over the top, but a real experience
Review: let me start out by saying that most people should not see this movie or even try to. if you think that you can just turn it off when it gets disturbing and forget about it, you're sadly mistaken, because when you've seen just one sick part you'll be pretty revolted for a good amount of time even if you shut it off that second. this is only for people who enjoy art that is basically a shot at convention and a sort of revelry in surreal and disturbing imagery without necessarily needing a coherent or logical storyline, and if you're not among those people, stay far, faaaaaar away. for film students and people inclined to surrealistic/philosophical/absurdist art, this is an absolute necessity. the thing i loved about 'tetsuo' is that after the whole admittedly odd film, i came away with a feeling of having really aesthetically experienced something:a descent into the bizarre and the taboo that i felt concluded on a note of vitality and defiance that is touching. "we can put an end to this...world!", one of the 'metal men' screams to the other. it is not a pointless exercise in gore or depravity, but a frantic and urgent exhortation to fight against the dehumanization that is inevitable in a mechanistic, nightmarish, high-tech civilization. in a sense these two unfortunate victims of an insane and impersonal society do something positive with their horrendous fates, in that they set aside their petty personal battle and heroically turn what has destroyed and mutilated them against itself and thereby become more human than when they were both simply flesh and blood. of course, this is only my individual interpretation, but i feel pretty certain that the message of this movie is along those lines. one the other hand, i did feel some of the scenes were needlessly disgusting and that the director inadvertently made a lot of the movie so repugnant that what could have been a real, universally recognized cult classic will only be accessible to the toughest and most philosophically sensitive people out there, which are few indeed--too few for 'tetsuo' to ever gain even the slightest notoriety or communicate it's worthy message to the majority of viewers. even lynch, who i also have a great deal of admiration for, knows that while he can get away with a great deal of scenes that are utterly perverse and sadomasochistic because of his incredible flair for the surreal and mysterious, he has to let his viewers come up for air every once in awhile and take that unfortunate but absolutely necessary reversion to the mundane without which the subtlety indispensable to a great film is lost. but for those who love the artistic creation of really disturbing but beautifully artificial realities, this movie will be a gem and certainly a must buy. so in that sense, 'tetsuo' is one of the best movies of our time.
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