Tomorrow, Yoshihiro Nishimura’s latest splatterific feature, Helldriver, hits home entertainment stands across the country thanks to the good folks over at Well Go USA. Helldriver is Nishimura’s follow-up film to the incredibly zany Mutant Girls Squad which he co-directed with Sushi Typhoon alums Noboro Iguchi and Tak Sakaguchi.
A meteorite crashes into Japan, releasing a toxic ash that turns inhabitants in the northern half of the country into bloodthirsty zombies. Some time later, with the north now walled off from the rest of Japan, a young woman (Yumiko Hara) is charged with leading a group of ragtag soldiers into the infected region to kill the “zombie queen” (Shiina) – who also happens to be her homicidal mother.
If you know anything about Nishimura then you know that his films are for a certain type of individual, one who throws his/her inhibitions out the window for some blood soaked over-the-top B-rated Japanese horror/comedy while consuming large amounts of Sapporo. While I personally haven’t seen any of Nishimura’s directorial efforts (excluding Mutant Girls Squad) I can say that the man is gifted when it comes to the make-up department and making some of the nastiest looking creatures in cinema. His talent truly flourishes in this extremely crazy zombie adventure to a degree which I can’t describe.
To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan of the first half of this rather long splatter film. At 114 minutes there is a lot of unnecessary dialogue, cuts, and other ‘stuff’ that just wasn’t needed for a Sushi Typhoon film. Additionally, there was no consistency as to how the undead functioned. Some were brain dead and slow moving, others could talk and move extremely fast, and others were like people except disfigured and cannibalistic. I don’t expect a lot out of these films but I was hoping for more of a classification when it came to the zombies.
While I should have watched it the right way, with a beer in hand and with a group of people, I only started to enjoy the film when Kika and the gang try and rescue no-name’s sister and she first encounters her uncle as a zombie, which is about 45-60 minutes into the feature. That battle includes a car made from human body parts, a woman with a baby attached to her via an umbilical cord (both are zombies), and a naked woman who, after being cut up, reattaches herself with ten arms and wields ten samurai swords in battle. When the extremely long but entertaining fight finally ceases, I found myself sitting there stunned. It was probably the biggest “WTF just happened” moment in cinematic history, I shit you not. I challenge anyone to drink every time someone gets cut, you’ll black out with a good 40 minutes to go while you watch the zombie version of a legos movie.
Another enjoyable aspect of the film is the constant references and cameos from Sushi Typhoon actors, directors, and even businessmen (I’m talking to you Marc!). You’ll see names pop up, cardboard cut outs of Nishimura, and a ton of fun little Easter egg insertions.
By the end of this crazy feature I found myself enjoying it a bit more than I thought I would. It is still my least favorite of the Sushi Typhoon titles thus far and has a much longer run time than it should but, despite all of that, it fulfills its promise of reinventing zombies, a high body count, gallons upon gallons of blood, and Japanese people yelling at each other in the comedic way us sadistic viewers have come to love. If you like Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police then I think you’ll enjoy Helldriver as well.
As for the features, the Blu-ray comes with 120 minutes of bonus material including three short films [‘Helldriver Dokata,’ ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ and ‘Bailout!‘], an interview with Yoshihiro Nishimura, “The Making of Helldriver” featurette, the various trailers, and a “Sushi Typhoon: Tokyo Invasion” Featurette. The three short films are of varying degrees of quality but give you an opportunity to see what else is going on in the minds of these Japanese filmmakers. The interview gives you an opportunity to hear what Nishimura has to say about his work and the Tokyo Invasion is a mixture of interviews and footage from the Sushi Typhoon label launch in Japan, and that is actually a lot of fun to watch. Well Go USA has outdone themselves with this combo pack and its the bonus features that really make this Sushi Typhoon release one to own.
Rating: Not his best, but still an extremely bloody and entertaining Nishimura film that’s worth a buy. Pairing with Alcohol is highly recommended. (?/10)
Helldriver will be released on Blu-ray + DVD combo pack on November 22nd
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