Tôkyô zankoku keisatsu

Plot synopsis:
The film is set in a near future chaotic Japan. A mad scientist known as "Key Man" (Itsuji Itao) has created a virus that mutates humans into monstrous creatures called "Engineers" that sprout bizarre weapons from any injury. The Tokyo Police Force has been privatized to deal with this new threat of engineers, so a special squad of officers called "Engineer Hunters" are created to deal with them. However, unlike the average police force, the Engineer Hunters are a private quasi-military force that utilize violence, sadism, and streetside executions to maintain law and order.
Helping the police force is Ruka (Eihi Shiina), a troubled loner who is very skilled in dispatching the Engineers. Along with helping the police, she is looking for the killer of her father, an old-fashioned officer who was murdered in broad daylight by a mysterious assassin. Ruka soon receives a new case to hunt down Key Man, but once she encounters him, he infects her by inserting a key-shaped tumor into her scar-riddled left forearm before disappearing. Meanwhile, after an infected police officer massacres the main precinct, the Tokyo police chief (Yukihide Benny) orders a city-wide crackdown on Engineers — indiscriminately executing anyone suspected of being one.
While continuing her investigation, Ruka visits Key Man's home, where he reveals the truth about their past. His father was a police sniper who resigned after a sniping operation gone wrong. Desperate to keep his family out of poverty, he was paid to assassinate Ruka's father, who was leading a rally against the privatization of the police force. But shortly after gunning down Ruka's father before her eyes, he was murdered by the police chief — the real mastermind of the assassination — in front of Key Man. Swearing to avenge his father's death, he injected himself with the DNA of several infamous criminals, mutating him into his present form. After realizing that she and Key Man are seeking vengeance on the same man, Ruka slices him in half with her katana before heading back to the precinct. On her way, she witnesses the police force brutalizing civilians accused of being Engineers. When her bar owner friend (Ikuko Sawada) is drawn and quartered, Ruka's left arm mutates into an alien-like head with razor-sharp claws before she beheads the officers behind the execution. During her rampage, she is shot in the right eye, but her body quickly replaces it with a cybernetic eye. She confronts the police chief, who admits to her father's assassination, but explains that he raised her to become the perfect Engineer Hunter as atonement. Following a grueling sword fight, Ruka dismembers and eventually decapitates the police chief — effectively bringing down his reign on the police force.
During the end credits, it is revealed that Key Man is still alive, having mended himself back into one piece with the help of one of his test subjects.

Tags: comedy, cruelty, murder, violence, flashback, absurd, satire, revenge, sadist

Review:
And on top of this the filmmakers have an incredible design conceit that allows for limbs, once torn off or exploded or shredded or whatever, to spring back crazy appendages that range from heat-seeking missiles to crocodile jaws to genital "restructuring." There is no other movie quite like it.It's also, not so oddly enough, a rip-off in part of the Paul Verhoven RoboCop/Starship Troopers style of putting in advertisements and PSA's in honor and exquisite mockery of the police-state the movie is set in (thankfully, the director, Noshihiro Nishimura, is just as brilliant at these as Verhoven, especially when doing bits like "Cutting yourself is cute!" and "Don't commit Harakiri!"), not to mention the bubbly little Japanese girl ala Battle Royale communicating to the public.
What's important with Tokyo Gore Police is the daring to just go and do whatever the f*** is possible within this scope of total abhorrent violence and death and blood and guts and limbs sometimes stacked in piles ("No, no, the *right* hand!" is a great throwaway line).Basically, if there's any other movie aside from possible Dead-Alive that can contend with it, this is the goriest movie ever made outside of the US.
Eihi Shiina (of Audition) as the hero of the story comes across so much craziness with the "Engineers" as they're called, who face off against the militant police in a dire battle, that by the time the end credits roll we can't keep up with the final body count.In short, this is the kind of movie that Patrick Bateman or Alexander De Large would rent about 300 times.
A movie like this can easily become repetitive and thus boring, but the true worth of Tokyo Gore Police comes from its endless inventiveness.
Combine a Paul Verhoeven-style dystopian vision of the future (of the kind seen in Robocop and Starship Troopers) with the body-shock horror of David Cronenberg, throw in absolutely tons of OTT cartoonish gore ala Peter Jackson and some outrageously twisted horror of the kind that only the Japanese could imagine, and then add every last shred of bizarre Anime-inspired imagery that you can think of, and the result may look something like Tokyo Gore Police, a completely bonkers, gore-drenched epic from director Yoshihiro Nishimura.Since it would take me forever and a day to try and catalogue every last moment of gore and depravity in this film, and even longer to try and describe the plot (beyond mentioning the fact that the story sees a young woman seeking revenge for her father's death), I'm not going to bother; suffice to say that gore-hounds who seek out this freaky film will be treated to continuous stomach churning images of bodily dismemberment, S & M themed grotesquery, and scenes of complete random violence from start to finish, and the fact that the story makes very little sense (at least until the very end, when plot threads finally start to come together) should not matter in the least.Ironically, though, it is this relentless approach that stops me from giving Tokyo Gore Police a perfect 10/10.
After watching the 5-minute trailer (quite possibly the best trailer ever made, IMO) in early spring of this year, "Tokyo Gore Police" ("TGP") became one of the most highly anticipated films of 2008 for me personally.
This anticipation was accentuated even more after these same filmmakers treated us to the wildly entertaining piece of bloody insanity known as "The Machine Girl" (2008), which convincingly showed that these guys give the viewer exactly what they want.In TGP, Eihi Shiina (of "Audition" fame) is a special division of a privatized Tokyo police force who is called into action when her comrades run into "engineers"  genetically modified supercriminals who can transform open wounds into flesh-metal weaponry.
And if you seriously think "Tokyo Gore Police" is more cynical than some random action blockbuster just because it shows actual violence on screen, you need to rethink your moral values.Seriously now, it's a wonderful splice of pure Japanese splatter, that doesn't takes itself seriously, but is actually pretty smart and inventive monster of a film.
Dystopian future Japan's specialized privatized police force, complete with samurai sword wielding hot Asian girl, hunts mutant "engineers" who manifest biological/functional machine weapon parts when wounded.
But there is more to Nishimura's first film.Nishimura gained fame for being responsible for the graphical effects in The Machine Girl so it didn't take long for people to catch on to Tokyo Gore Police.
Of course this film splurts blood like a genuine pro but compared to The Machine Girl, Tokyo Gore Police isn't all that more violent or bloody.
Tokyo Gore Police is more filmic, has a more serious undertone and mixes all the weirdness with a slice of social comedy very reminiscent of Verhoeven's work in Robocop and Starship Troopers.The intermezzo commercials are simply hilarious, praising first class harakiri swords, messed up recruitment videos for the police force and one particularly hilarious scene where Japanese high school girls are praising designers wrist cutter knifes.
Even though these interludes might miss their effect as grinding social commentary in a film like this, the result is as amusing as can be.Visually Tokyo Gore Police is a serious step up from The Machine Girl too, with much more attention paid to the camera work, good and atmospheric use of color and some snappy editing from time to time.
The movie isn't bad, it isn't good, it's kind of just there, if you want to see bucket loads of gore and really bizarre creature people then by all means watch.
I guess I was just expecting a bit more from this movie and it didn't deliver everything that I thought it would with such a high score on this website.Gore fans will probably like it but in comparison to other Japanese horror or splatter films such as Koroshiya 1, it just didn't deliver..
The engineers all turn out to be surprisingly cool and effective, and even though a lot of their weapons just totally grossed me out, I have to admit they were still awesome and were certainly different from a lot of other deadly weapons I have seen in films.The movie has amazing actors and actresses who capture their characters remarkably and make them fit well into the story.
The sexual innuendo and grisly images give it it's edge along with being a completely astonishing film in the production, direction and overall execution of the story and characters as well, and every single aspect of this film just mixes together perfectly to give you this beautiful action film that is still able to utterly disgust you in every way to the point where you drool out the mouth at how insanely wonderful it really is.Everyone who has seen and enjoyed this film knows what feeling I am talking about, but for those of you have not seen it, make sure instead of shutting your mind off actually open it up and you will be astonished at how well this movie manages to capture your attention and entertain.
The unexpected shocks like a gun penis and alligator vagina are really the only things that people might find a bit too much, but in the end I ended up completely enjoying Tokyo Gore Police for the over the top, brutal, shocking, brilliantly created movie that it is..
This is one of these movies, that in my belief can only be rated as "love it or hate it", there is not an in between.There is plenty of gore, lots of sick stuff and violence but also you can find some very nice cinematography and funny criticism on society.I don't want to call this movie "deep" in any way, but it has its very satirical points and the violence shows some very unique fantasy.If you are into over-the-top gore, comicesque trash movies, Asian shockers like "Itchie" or "The story of Ricky", this is definitely a must watch, that'll keep you entertained and will stay in your head for a while..
Set in a future-world vision of Tokyo where the police have been privatized and bitter self-mutilation is so casual that advertising is often specially geared to the "cutter" demographic, this is the story of samurai-sword-wielding Ruka and her mission to avenge her father's assassination.OK, so?All this movie proves is that the Japanese are truly insane.There is a huge problem inherent with the directing of this film:All the gore is filmed in super close up so you have no idea what you are supposed to be seeing!Who thought that one up?
Now, I have seen a lot of Japanese crap, and I love most of it, my favorite gore one is "Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl", which is original, funny, senseless, with cheap effects and a lot of energy put into it; Tokyo Gore Police fails at all of those things, one thing is doing a gore movie with a plot always developing, and another thing is doing a gore movie with random blood at screen for a ridiculous amount of time, the plot stops suddenly for more than 10 minutes to show random flashbacks that don't make sense, violence sequences that can last less than a minute but instead they last more than 5, characters that suddenly appear, you don't know who they're and "oh, he is dead.
You may not understand it all, because it's screwed up beyond belief, but if you're renting or buying a film called "Tokyo Gore Police", I think you have a good sense of what you're getting into..
I don't know about most people, but I just like a minimum of structure, logic and sense and, if that's also for you the case, then Tokyo Gore Police (and by extension the entire repertoire of weirdo Yoshihiro Nishimura) probably isn't the best choice to watch.
As a fan of Japanese cinema i had to check out Tokyo gore police,it is on google video in all its gory,but dubbed into English which is OK.from the moment it starts there's blood splattering action.it is kind of like robocop meets blade runner meets shogun assassin,yes all rolled into one,a young woman police officer is out to find the fiend that killed her policeman father,there are obstacles in the form of genetic mutants called engineers that have freakish powers,this is non stop action from japan,probably one of the goriest movies ever made.its comic book like in design and very original.i think the Japanese version is also on google.i really enjoyed Tokyo gore police,i give this gem 10 out of 10..
Yoshihiro Nishimura, who did the makeup and special effects on The Machine Girl, seeks to raise the gore level in Japanese films beyond Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer, Graveyard of Honor, Bodyguard Kiba).Forget the Texas Chainsaw massacre.
I love Japan cinema take on every genre sometime it can be deeply disturbing and thought-provoking like Takashi Miike Audition or sometime it can be over the top and batsh*t crazy like this movie Tokyo Gore Police.With the plot just as much crazy this movie will may sure to satisfied any gorehound fan while watching the bloody journey to revenge of a female cop named Ruka played by the lead actor of Audition Eihi Shiina.The practical effect in this movie is top notch with any insane idea you can imagine in a body horror movie.Non of the characters are normal so the line between good and evil is very blurry.Don't think while watching this movie or else your brain may hurt just sit back and enjoy the wild experience Tokyo Gore Police give you.
This is one bizarre, insanely disturbing and funny film filled with sprays of blood, tons of gore, mutated body parts into creatures and weapons which I truly enjoyed and loved.
Still, TOKYO GORE POLICE has its moments with some truly outlandish special effects work typically involving body modification and extreme blood sprays.
I'll try.A mad scientist has developed a virus that mutates humans into hideous killing machines, and a special paramilitary squad, lead by the sexy and ice cold Ruka, is working hard to maintain order in the streets of futuristic Tokyo.It is over the top to the max with absolutely all the disgusting gore, blood, guts and violence you could ever wish for.
Great Fun. I've only seen a couple of Japanese "techno-horror" movies before this one, and have always found them a bit confusing, but I thought I'd give this a try and I found it to be really good fun.Tokyo Gore Police is intentionally extreme and sensational in its use of blood and gore.
This special type of criminal is infected with a parasitic tumour that enables the host to turn wounds into weapons, therefore it isn't long before the screen is full of outrageously mutated characters who sprout knives, chainsaws and other killing tools from their own twisted flesh.The movie starts as it means to go on with a shock gore effect pretty much within the first two minutes, and it barely lets up for the entire running time.
In the near future Japan the Tokyo police force has been privatized and turned into a group of brutal and unforgiving soldiers.Their rivals are so-called engineers,who are infected by some strange virus.They are able to regenerate and mutate into terrifying creatures with the ability to turn their bodies into weapons.Ruka is one of an Engineer Hunters and she certainly enjoys self mutilation and dismembering mutated criminals with her sharp samurai blade.She's hunted by the Key Man-the leader of abominable engineers."Tokyo Gore Police" has to be seen to be believed.It's one of the bloodiest horror films I have ever seen as it easily surpasses "Braindead" when it comes to gore.As the action moves swiftly the geysers of blood are becoming an ocean and there are some grotesque Cronenbergian mutations including chainsaw arms,monster vaginas and a penis rifle.So if you enjoy watching severed limbs and bloody butchery you can't go wrong with "Tokyo Gore Police".Eihi Shiina of "Audition" fame looks fantastic covered with blood and guts.8 out of 10..
Just look at the juxtaposition in the scenes, the editing...it's sexy as hell despite all the gore...(which tends to get a little boring, to tell the truth...How many shots of limbs cut followed by the cameras lense getting sprayed by blood do a movie really need?!)Now, i don't blame him; she is gorgeous in all her scenes (no doubt because the director shot it like this), doing a good job at portraying a character we can believe in in this mess of a story...come to think of it, maybe this movie exists because of her?
It fulfilled my expectations, but only half as much as I thought it would.Yes, it's a Japanese movie (so anyone who can't watch a film with subtitles might as well move on right now) and it's set in a futuristic Tokyo where the police have been privatised and catching criminals is big business.
TOKYO GORE POLICE might make a fine double bill with MACHINE GIRL (TGP director Yoshihiro Nishimura did the special effects on the latter)..
Briefly, the story involves a near-future Tokyo where the police force has been privatized, fighting homicidal maniacs called "Engineers" who, upon being seriously injured, sprout Cronenberg-like "flesh weapons" to seriously ramp up the death and destruction before they are killed.
Into the mix is a woman who's job is to go out and kill the engineers and who is looking for the man who killed her father.One of the genre of gore films from Japan that exist purely to watch the blood and body parts fly.
They are amusing time killers for people who like things sprayed with fake blood.As the gore films go this is one of the best looking and one of the dullest I've seen.
TOKYO GORE POLICE is a great gory over the top Japanese homage to the 80's & 90's Sci-Fi films made by Paul Verhoven, especially ROBOCOP & STARSHIP TROOPERS that satirize the near future and it's effects on Law Enforcement and the Military.
Made by the same team that made the outrageous THE MACHINE GIRL( the Japanese Special Effects man on that film Yoshihiro Nishimura, is the film director for TOKYO GORE POLICE), it stars Eihi Shiina of AUDITION as Raku, the top female police agent of the TOKYO GORE POLICE in a future where the Tokyo Police are a private corporation(just like the future Detroit cops in the ROBOCOP series) She hunts down "engineers", which are genetically mutated humans, who can regenerate their lost or decapitated limbs into brutal weapons, During the film, we get outrageously satirical TV commercials on seppuku, samurais who cut themselves with their own swords and Japanese teens cutting on their own wrists as well as over the top gory Tokyo Police recruitment TV commercials( just like as in STARSHIP TROOPERS) But the focus is on Shiina's character, who must deal on her trauma of seeing her own policeman father brutally killed by an assassin and finding out that the people responsible may be in her own police force.
I stated at the end of that piece: "Yoshihiro Nishimura, costume designer and special effects technician, recently directed Tokyo Gore Police following his work on this film.
Tokyo Gore Police owes much to that film and, like its influence, is perverse but strangely entertaining.Part three of this unofficial series of reviews will be Samurai Princess in which Mr. Nishimura was in charge of effects only.
The next time, she finds herself face to face with the original "Engineer" "The Key Man" who makes her change in ways she may or may not be ready to face."Tokyo Gore Police" is not for the faint of heart or let alone anyone who doesn't want there mind twisted up and shot out of a penis gun.