If there was any country that could make bloodletting an art, it would be the Japanese. Even in their earlier days of black and white cinema, movies and television shows directed by the likes of Kenji Misumi (Zatôichi and Lone Wolf and Cub) and Akira Kurosawa (Ran) featured glorious amputations with geysers of blood spraying everything in sight. I'm not exactly sure why they feel that blood needs to spray out of the body like a commercial sprinkler system but it does make for some amusing deaths. Tokyo Gore Police is no different in this regard and for those of you into gallons of blood-spraying cinema (I should say hundreds of gallons), this will be your cup of tea.

I actually found Yoshihiro Nishimura's movie quite amusing, albeit a little monotonous. While satisfying the gore hounds, Nishimura does include some character development to move the story along. He could have just given us a very simple storyline and just let the gore take it over. While the gore is the best seat in the house, the conflict between the protagonist, "Ruka" (Eihi Shiina), and the antagonist "Key Man" (Itsuji Itao), drives the convoluted plot and reveals an even deeper conspiracy that involves past evils.

Speaking of gore, there is plenty to go around even within the first few minutes of the movie! Nishimura also does the special effects and makeup and it's quite good, though not on the same level as the Italians or Americans. Over the top martial arts mixed with lots of swordplay (and other weapons of mutated design) create this comedic chaos. The fighting isn't crisp but when heads and appendages are constantly lopped off and chainsaws jammed down throats, who cares? The special effects were quite effective from afar, but during close ups, it does look a little latexy [yes, I make up my own words sometimes] and boy are there lots of closeups. The blood didn't look that real, but when you've got to make hundreds of gallons of the stuff, the cheapest route is reasonable...quantity over quality.

Rarely does this movie take itself seriously. Silly spots of a commentator (she may have even been the police dispatcher) prancing around spewing nonsense reminded me of the dream sequences in David Lynch's Twin Peaks. The police chief is seen walking his armless/legless bondage-outfitted female pet on a chain (her role later on in the film blew me away!) While the Engineers (the mutants) are able to regenerate lost limbs into weapons, this leaves the door open to some outrageous special effects (I thought Austin Powers was the only movie to show tits as weapons!) Even a few of the fight scenes were WAY over the top and too unreal to comprehend! Although about 80% of it involved gory showdowns between the Tokyo Police and the Engineers, the remainder of this movie fills us with developing the story. These two ingredients do compliment each other but for the most part I was left laughing and chuckling at every fountain of blood that sprayed onto the camera lens.

While a fun jaunt into goreland, this fast-paced romp is better characterized as horror comedy. Coming in at around 2 hours, it does become a little less effective and could have been a little bit shorter. However, to the point of self-deprecation and mockery of Japanese media, Nishimura presents a fun splatterfest for those of us that can appreciate this kind of stuff. If you especially like Japanese cinematic silliness, Peter Jackson's Braindead, Dan O'Bannon's Return of the Living Dead, and Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, you've got bliss. Enjoy!