Machine Girl

Machine Girl is a strange beast. I mean… it’s a Japanese exploitation revenge flick, so the movie is automatically in the “fuckin’ crazy” category. I’m not even sure if it really qualifies as a horror film at all, but the over-the-top blood and gore really help move it into that category.



The premise of the film is insane. School girl Ami is left to take care of her younger brother Yu after their parents’ suicide after false murder allegations. Unfortunately Yu and his best friend Takeshi are bullied to death by the son of a Yakuza/ninja criminal and his friends. Ami takes the law into her own hands and tries to avenge her brother’s death with disastrous results. She’s found by Takeshi’s grieving parents minus one arm. Takeshi’s mother, however, blames Ami for Takeshi’s death, but that is all settled via an intense arm wrestling match. The next thing you know Takeshi’s father has fixed up a badass machine gun arm (and chainsaw arm for the Evil Dead fans) to facilitate her revenge. Ami and Takeshi’s mother then bring the battle to the Yakuza family in a spectacularly bloody finale with super-commando grieving parents, a flying guillotine, and a drill bra (I shit you not).



Any attempt to actually critique this film is pretty much useless. The film is way over-the-top and purposefully campy. Director Noboru Iguchi delivers on the promised buckets of blood and gore in a humorous way (this is played for laughs though I’m guessing most “regular” audiences would by a bit horrified by its excessiveness). I found myself laughing quite a bit at the crazy gore moments. As for the acting, Iguchi mostly hired Japanese porn stars for the film. It works. They are so excited to be in the film that they put their all into it.



Machine Girl was pretty fuckin’ rad. It had laughs, action, and tons of gore. I see Machine Girl becoming a cult cinema legend. If you’re looking to kick back and drink a few beers while watching a movie, Machine Girl won’t disappoint. I mean really… who could hate a Japanese school girl slaughtering criminals with her machine gun arm?