Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell — Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (Blu Ray)
From the mid-1990's Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell is a Japanese straight-to-video horror film, which shifts from eerier haunted house shenanigans onto deranged 'n' bloody stop motion madness. Here from Visual Vengeance, the retro low budget/ SOV label of Wild Eye Releasing- is a new Blu-ray release of the film featuring two commentary tracks, a new director’s interview, and much more.
Released in the year 1995 Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell (aka Jigoku No Chimidoro Muscle Builder, The Japanese Evil Dead) was written, directed and also staring Shinichi Fukazawa. This is his one and only credit, save for an acting role in the wonky suicidal drama-come-dark comedy splatter film Violator (2018). The film slides in just over the hour mark- and for the most part, it's entertaining in its slipping from haunted house chills to bonkers demonic gore fest- though the pacing is a little bit off here and there.
The film kicks off with a flashback to the 70s- where we see a young couple arguing, by accident the woman is stabbed. The boyfriend coolly and calmly pulls up the house's floor- pushing her blood body under, clutched in her hands the necklace he gave- with her final breath she lurches forward promising vengeance. We then fast forward to the 90s, where we meet Shinji- played by the film’s writer/ director Shinichi Fukazawa- he’s somewhat of a geeky/ bumbling guy who has recently taken up bodybuilding. He meets up with his ex, who is a journalist fascinated by haunted houses- he mentions that he’s recently been left his father's house, which he thinks might be haunted. The pair team up with bespeckled & gel back hair stern paranormal investigator/ scientist heading off to the house.
When arriving they find the single-story house filled with foreboding and eerie vibes, with the dusty and shadowy place filled with all manner of creepy fare. For the first half or so, it plays like low budget/ slightly bumbling take on The Legend of Hell House (1973). Then one of the number gets possessed, and we shift tone.
In the film's second half we are very much in the wacky and gory possession side of things- with a very heavy influence from the first two Evil Dead films, which at points it wholesale rips off. At points, Fukazawa even does a full-on Ash impression, with even the trademark ‘groovy’ spoken. There are certainly some impressive enough low-budget effects on display- be they deranged gory- like hand and leg joined together, or a head on a scuttling hand, or splatter stop motion. And a few of the set-ups are wholly original to the film.
Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell is a charming enough shift between haunted house horror & wacky splatter-ness. Yes, in its second half, it does often play like an unashamed rip-off of the first Evil Dead films, which lessens its impact somewhat- but I guess if you go into this expecting that you won’t feel too short-changed, hell it is widely known as The Japanese Evil Dead.
Moving onto this region-free Blu-ray release, and we get a good enough selection of extras on the disc. We get two commentary tracks- one is with featuring US directors/ horror geeks Adam Green (Hatchet series) and Joe Lynch (shudders Creepshow, Mayhem), and the other is with Japanese film historian/ author James Harper. I played the second of the tracks, and this was most worthy. Harper starts off talking about the comparisons with the Evil Dead films, and Fukazawa's very Ash-like look. He briefly touches on the history of scorned lover films both in Japan and the west. He informs us that the film was captured on 8mm film, then edited on video- with the director paying tribute to the popular straight-to-video film. He discusses the film's other influences like the Scary True story Series, which appeared in Japan in the 90s. He talks about the film's main location, a fairly typical 60s/70s suburban home. Later on, he chats about the film's use of non-professional actors. He discusses the way Japanese splatter films were often western finance- and while the film to had has had numerous western DVD releases, it’s yet to get a release in its own country. He talks about the stop monition effects & gore, and much more
Otherwise, on the disc, we get an onscreen interview with the film's director (4.08), outtakes (2.24), special effects video(2.06), two trailers, a behind-the-scenes gallery, and an image galley. Also, the disc has a great selection of wacky animated menus- which take in some of the film's key effects.
The packaging is worth a mention too- as we get eyeball pulled out art slip. The case features double-sided artwork, we get linear notes by Matt Desiderio of Horror Boobs, a set of retro VHS stickers, a vintage-style laminated video rental card, and a mini poster.
This is a really great first release from Visual Vengeance, with a good eye for presentation/ and neat extras. And I look forward to seeing what the label puts out next. If you enjoy straight-to-video spatter madness/ and or SOV terror ‘n’ cheese- then this is a label you most certainly want to keep your(severed) eye firmly on!