Rent Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Like No Other - Tetsuo: The Iron Man review by CP Customer

This low budget Japan indie kicked up a right storm upon its release. Amazingly energetic, it took no prisoners with its insane pace and inventive use of metal. Only Japan would even consider such a fusion of metal and human to horrific effect. Not since Videodrome had the human form been twisted in such a way to provide entertainment. Shot cheaply, the grainy B&W handheld approach is an ideal match for the Japanese industrial setting with a metallic soundtrack. Much better than the full blown sequel that followed.

Eraserhead and Videodrome, Welded Together in a Tokyo Scrapyard - Tetsuo: The Iron Man review by griggs

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is like being hit over the head with a scrap metal pipe—repeatedly—for 67 minutes. A Lynchian migraine of a movie, it’s gritty, grotesque, and filmed like someone strapped a 16mm camera to a blender. There’s barely a plot, just chaos: body horror turned up to 11, all sweat, wires and stop-motion squirming. Think Videodrome meets Eraserhead, spliced together with rusted bolts and psycho-sexual angst.

Shot in a Tokyo flat, it’s pure DIY punk—Tsukamoto doesn’t so much direct as detonate. It’s messy, angry, and kind of brilliant. Flesh merges with machine, guilt oozes from pores, and the soundtrack drills straight into your skull. The whole thing feels like a violent panic attack about identity in a mechanised world.

Not for the faint-hearted, and definitely not for everyone—but if you like your horror transgressive, experimental, and absolutely barking, this little metal monster is worth a watch.

Maximum Klang. - Tetsuo: The Iron Man review by Steve

Extreme Japanese body horror which looks like a live action Manga strip. This is a homemade, low budget project from writer-director-factotum Shin'ya Tsukamoto, who basically did everything in his workshop, and also co-stars. He has helpfully outlined the intended plot, though there isn't an obvious linear narrative...

We mainly see two men suffer trauma, who transform into grotesque metal machines. This is more about the style, with the beat up, grainy b&w expressionism and the gloomy kling-klang of the industrial techno soundtrack. It is a demented, gross-out sci-fi/horror with heavy use of prosthetics and animation.

There's obvious thematic content about the impact of technology on human evolution and post-Hiroshima fear of apocalypse. This is an immensely Japanese monster story which reflects their embrace of avant-garde automation. But is also spookily reminiscent of European surrealism from between the wars.

The relentless chaos is brutal- at least the blood/oil and the flesh/metal is in b&w. And its weird futurism is impressive and peculiar. There may be a limit to how much of this anyone would want to see, but as an isolated, 67m hallucinatory experience, it's a must-see for viewers with an interest in experimental cinema.