17. VIDEO STORE DAY: This is the big one. Watch something physically rented or bought from an actual video store. If you live in a place that is unfortunate enough not to have one of these archival treasures then watch a movie with a video store scene in it at least. #vivaphysicalmedia
If you spent the past — or maybe even now — digging through dusty rental boxes or trading fuzzy nth-generation bootleg tapes, you know that Japan’s V-Cinema (direct-to-video) boom was an absolute goldmine of pure, unadulterated madness. Freed from the constraints of theatrical releases, young directors took whatever budget they could scrape together, bought gallons of fake blood and latex and let rip. Enter Jōji “George” Iida, who made his directing first salvo this 52-minute slice of low-budget splatter-punk that feels like David Cronenberg and John Carpenter doing black tar heroin and frotting together before bleeding all over one another in a Tokyo garage.
The setup hits us with a heavy, dystopian premise: environmental pollutants and toxic contaminants have caused a surge in hideous human mutations. Most die young, but a few survive into adulthood. Doctor Keiichi Takozawa and his protégé Takamori (Kazuhiro Sano, Entrails of a Beautiful Woman) are obsessed with these mutations, believing they represent the next phase of human evolution. To make life bearable for these subjects, they’ve developed a specialized cell-therapy that creates an artificial outer skin, allowing mutants to pass as normal humans.
One such secret mutant is Takamori’s younger sister, Miyuki (Mayumi Hasegawa). But when her best friend is brutally abducted and murdered under suspicion of being a mutant, the psychological stress causes Miyuki’s hidden abilities to erupt through her synthetic skin. Meanwhile, a hulking, sunglasses-wearing one-eyed mutant named Sonezaki (Kai Atō, Lady Snowblood) is stalking the streets. Armed with muscle and malicious intent, he colludes with a fringe group of rogue researchers conducting desperate embryo-implantation experiments, hunting down a host to bring forth the ultimate mutant child.
Cyclops still manages to be a slow burn for its first half hour. The narrative is scattered, conversations can feel oddly detached and the low-budget sci-fi lab equipment looks like it was scavenged from a yard sale. Iida and co-writer Hisashi Saito scatter lore in fits and starts, making the plot feel a bit like connective tissue meant purely to drag us toward the climax. But here’s the thing about this movie. When it erupts, it erupts. Special effects artists Shuichi Kokumai (Guzoo: The Thing Forsaken by God – Part I) and Yuichi Matsui (Rusted Body: Guts of a Virgin III) go completely off the rails and a scene inside a hospital elevator gives you enough gore for the rest of your life.
This is why Visual Vengeance is one of the best physical media companies out there. Not only do they bring American SOV to us, but they’re branching out into V-Cinema, all while giving these movies the kind of care Criterion could only dream of. I mean, would they give you stickers?
There’s a new 2K transfer from original 16mm film elements, as well as extras including commentary with Justin Decloux of The Important Cinema Club and Patrick Macias, author of Tokyoscope: the Japanese Cult Film Companion; a new interview with director Joji “George” Iida; a video essay on his films and the Japanese DTV market of the mid-80s; an image gallery; a sketch gallery; trailers; a folded mini-poster featuring original pressbook art; a reversible sleeve featuring original Japanese VHS art; “Stick Your Own” VHS stickers; Not In The Way Your Expect: The Films of Joji “George” Iida – Video Essay; The Creation of Cyclops – 16-page liner notes booklet; A (Short) Horror Trip – 8-page liner notes booklet and limited edition slipcase art by The Dude. You can get it from MVD.
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