The Guard From The Underground — The Guard From The Underground (Blu Ray)
The Guard From The Underground is an early 90’s Japanese film- which puts slasher tropes in a quirky mystery comedy-come-satirical setting. It’s a decidedly tonally unbalancing affair, which switches between the quirky & playfully camp, and the brutal & unnerving – with a few moments of the downright creepiness. Here's a Blu-Ray Ray from Third Widow Films- as part of their Director's Company Collection, which focuses on the legendary 1980s Japanese production company. It features a digitally remastered print, a commentary track from Japanese film expert Tom Mes, and a few other extras.
The Guard From The Underground (Jigoku no keibîn) was made in the year 1992. The film was directed & co-written by Kobe, Japan-born Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Between the late 1970s & present day he has thirty-five feature-length credits to his name- these go from comedy-drama Kandagawa Pervert Wars (1983). Onto the gory & stylish haunted house film Sweet Home(1989) which is seen as key influence on the survival horror genre. He made the crime comedy Yakuza Taxi (1994), there was sci-fi horror thriller Door III (1996), and ghost making their way through the internet horror/ mystery Pulse (2001).
The film's lead character is Akiko (Makiko Kuno) a flowery clothes-wearing, largely bright, if inquisitive twenty-something woman. We first meet her when she starts her new job at Department Twelve - which is seemingly unknown to most of the large corporate/ government buildings it’s set in.
Also, just recently employed is a mysterious, huge, lumbering & yellow garden gloved-wearing security guard. As she settles into work we get both quirky comedy touches, as well as general office satire. With the film utilises very upfront in the mix synthetic orchestra and percussion cues- that very many nods back towards the films of the 1940s & 1950’s.
As she makes her way around her building Akiko starts getting freaked out & scared- first by shadowy figures & rattling doors, later by seeing the lumbering figure of the new security guard. She starts to believe that he may be a recently released sumo wrestler who murdered his whole family. And as the film progresses the guard starts killing off the staff in Department Twelve. It builds up to a finale that finds a group of folks stuck in the nighttime office.
To start with The Guard From The Underground is very much focused on the quirky comedy/ satire side of things- and to be honest I found much of this rather trying & largely unfunny- but that just might be me, as I’m fairly picky when it comes to that side of things.
As we move on the slasher/ mystery elements start to kick in- the guard has a rather stiff and unstoppable stance, bringing to mind a mix of Micheal Meyers & Frankenstein monster. When he attacks, he either batters or breaks the limps of his victims, as well as putting a few victims in a locker to be squashed- with blood pouring out the lower grills. Mixed in with this we get moments looking down eerier corridors, rattling & banging doors and similar. And thankfully in this part of the film, the overbearing cues are largely pared back.
The film comes in at a fairly standard one hour and thirty-six minutes mark- and to be honest I found the first half or so of the film was rather drawn out & contrived. When the horror/ mystery elements started to sink in/ take over I enjoyed the film more, and more. I think ideally, you’ll need to be a fan of both quirky comedy & slasher/ mystery genes to really take in & wholly enjoy The Guard From The Underground.
Moving onto this new region B Blu-Ray, and we get a new digital remastering of the picture- this looks nicely bright & well-defined, with even the darker/ shadowy shots full of clarity & depth. On the extras side, we get a commentary track from Japanese film expert/ writer Tom Mes- and as always with Mr Mes it’s a very well-informed & interesting track. He starts by talking about the opening shot of inside a car- this type of shot would appear in the director Kiyoshi Kurosawa later work, and become a trope of his filming style. He talks about how Door III- a later film from the director's filmography, used a similar office setting. He discusses how the corridors, rooms, and space in the office very much create the film's own world. He points out actors as they appear- going to discuss some actor's notable roles. He points out another trope of the director's style the use of plastic sheeting to break up spaces/ rooms, and how this creates a feeling of the uncanny- as well as how this trope would be used later in the J Horror genre. Later on, he discusses The Director's Company- which ran between 1982 and 1992, talking about why it finally folded shortly after this film was made. He talks about the clever & atmospheric use of shadow & silhouettes in The Guard From The Underground. He talks about the horror trope of characters doing unwise things, and of course much more.
Otherwise, we have two interviews- the first is with director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (30.06) this was filmed on stage in 2022, shortly after the film had been shown. The second is with producer Takashi Ikoma (35.07) and sees him being asked a set series of questions- firstly about The Directors Company, then regarding the film to hand. So not a bad selection of extras really.
The Guard From The Underground sits in a rather tonally unbalancing place between comedy/ satire and horror. So as a result, it’s going to appeal more to those who enjoy genre crossbreeds. This new presentation from Third Widow Films looks very good, with a nice enough selection of extras to seal the deal.