Board 8 > Board 8 Watches and Ranks 80s Horror - The Rankings

(+) Yeah! (+)

Dangit divisive makes me think Tetsuo again but I won't switch this time.

To be clear I was guessing Tetsuo lol.

Bitto posted...

I'll guess Fright Night.

Ah, fuck it. Let's change to Gremlins.

I'm sticking with Creep Show, because the description of "top sixteen" is still a large range.

24. Childs Play (1988 / 253 points)
Directed by: Tom Holland / Screenplay by: Don Mancini, John Lafia, & Tom Holland
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fae812ad.jpg
Why Its Significant - It spites Johnbobb.

*ahem*
I mean, through a combination of fear, dark humor, and social commentary, Childs Play introduced what is perhaps the most unique slasher in the mainstream canon - Chucky. Chucky's one-liners and sardonic wit lighten the mood while never diminishing the threat he poses, his small stature and innocent appearance making him unpredictable and nigh-indetectable in the right circumstances. Meanwhile, the film subtly critiques consumer culture, the relentless marketing of Good Guy dolls reflecting a society obsessed with possessions and branding. Child's Play spawned a successful franchise, with six sequels, a remake, TV series, two short films, amusement park attractions, video game appearances, and has been endlessly referenced when theres even a slight hint that a doll might be alive in a piece of media.

The Rankers
Inviso - 6
Fortybelowsummer - 12
Jcgamer107 - 13
Snake - 13
Plasmabeam - 16
Evilordexdeath - 20
Bitto - 21
Mythiot - 21
Lightning - 23
Karo - 26
Johnbobb - 27
Rockus - 27
Seginustemple - 28

Inviso - I went into this movie fully expecting it to be exceptionally dumband in a way, it was. But in a way, it was one of the better slasher films Ive seen on this list, if only because the writers had a concept fully formed in their head, and they made it a reality. They justified almost every single choice in the film, and maybe some of those justifications are really insanebut at least they MADE them. I mean, the general concept of this film is that a serial killer received voodoo training so that when he gets cornered by the cops, he can stow his soul in the body of a child-sized doll. Even BEFORE the slasher element, thats insane, yet Im FULLY willing to accept that as a plot because the movie bothered to give a shit about explaining it to me.

I was initially going to give Childs Play shit about how the first section of the movie has Chucky solely from a first-person perspective, almost like theyre trying to tease the fact that maybe Chucky ISNT the killer and its REALLY Andy. But that gets dropped surprisingly early in the film. Like, the scene where the mom realizes Chucky never had batteries put in him to justifying talkingyoud expect that scene to come in the climax of the film. Im picturing it now: the whole movie has been hinting that Chucky is evil, and even though its pretty obvious, they keep everything to those first-person shots. And the endgame arrives and Andy is being accused of being a psychotic murderer, so the mom is at their apartment and begging him to tell the truth. This all leads to her trying to throw Chucky out, and she finds the batteries. Then the ending plays out how it did.

That would have been fine, and its what I would have expected from this kind of movie after those first couple kills. But instead, the film actually gives the audience what it came to see, and you have Chucky calling the mom a bitch and biting her before fleeing into the city. He tries to kill the lead detective, and eventually DOES kill his voodoo teacher (which againis insane, yet amazing as a plot point) before learning that he has to possess Andy as soon as possible to maintain his immortality or something. This leads to a climactic battle where Chucky gets fucked up ALL kinds of ways, yet he keeps coming. Hes like the goddamn Terminator in the form of a childs plaything. Hell, even after it seems like hes dead, he gets one last jump scare where he bursts out of a vent to strangle the detectives partner, who still doesnt believe Chucky is really alive. Its campy and goofy and amazing.

Kill-wise, Ive gotta give credit as well, because I feel like it could have been so easy to just have a slasher that stabs everything. Hell, Chucky gets a knife from the voodoo house later in the film. But in terms of kills, we get: hammer to the face to knock Maggy out of a window; turning on the gas so Eddy blows himself up when he shoots his gun and sparks the gas; attempted strangulation and just general vehicular manslaughter on Detective Norris; stabbing a VOODOO DOLL of Dr. Death; and then forcibly administering electroshock therapy to Dr. Ardmore. That is an eclectic collection of kills from a movie that could have done a lot less.

Finally, I have to give this movie props for its uniqueness. There arent a lot of children on this list; its largely adults, or more often teenagers in slasher films. And I myself dont tend to care for children in movies, because theyre either obnoxious brats, or precocious bratsboth of which are given far more leeway than they deserve. Yet hereas much as Andy exhibits some annoying traits early on (during that first sequence when it felt like the movie was going to go all in on the Is it really Chucky, or is Andy evil? plot twist), he really steps up in the back half of the film.

This is a child who, despite being six years old, manages to escape Chucky, get home, barricade the apartment, and arm himself with a bat before Chucky unfortunately manages to get the best of him. And then when it becomes a tag team effort from Andy, his mom, and the detective, Andy delivers an amazing one-liner as he sets Chucky ablaze. This IS the end, FRIEND. Even though Chucky still isnt dead after that, its still fucking awesome to see a little kid after to riff one-liners in a horror movie, and the fact that hes actually in danger is an added bonus, since most movies wouldnt dare risk a child like that (or write one into the story to begin with). Im just generally stunned at how much better this movie was, across the board, than I ever anticipated.

Fortybelowsummer - Mount Rushmores are all the rage on board 8 right now so Ill submit that Chucky has a case for being on the movie slashers Rushmore. I would probably give the nod to Ghostface over Leatherface for that fourth spot, but the Chuckster is right up there. I honestly think Ive heard of more people being scared of Chucky than any other character. Mention Childs Play and inevitably someone will say Oh, so-and-so is terrified of that doll! Anyway, this is where it all begins when a Good Guy doll comes to life after becoming the vessel for the soul of a serial killer through a spur of the moment voodoo ritual. This is a case where the original remains the best even after numerous sequels. They all have something going for them (except the 2019 remake, we dont talk about that one), whether its on the more sinister side or the sillier side, but Childs Play is Chucky at his foul-mouthed violent best.

Jcgamer107 - 6/10

Snake - Definitely one in the canon of films that freaked me the HELL out when I was a kid. As a kid, it really doesnt get any more terrifying than a toy, especially one youre attached to, one, being alive, and two, trying to ruthlessly murder you and possess your body no matter what. Even as an adult now, Brad Dourif's voice acting sells it as terrifying rather than goofy even if the film threads that thin line mightily carefully. I love Chuckys jerky movements, sudden head snaps, but then surprisingly agile attacks, theres a real kinetic energy to Chucky that keeps him sold as a threat throughout the run time. I like that the film doesnt rely so much on kills as much as other slashers do. The murders drive the plot here and then the rest is built on this quite solid foundation of psychological tension, especially in the strong parent-child bond between Andy and his mom Karen, Andys desperate attempts to convince adults of the situation becoming a quite sobering and harsh reality check. So, a great horror film if you ask me, and kicked off a franchise with more surprising hits then you would expect.

Plasmabeam - Simple yet fun, and the characters all serve a meaningful purpose.

Evilordexdeath - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/c2b5e706.jpg

Bitto - Rating: C-

The movie tries really hard to convince me that the kid could be doing the murders and that it's crazy to think that Chucky is alive. Of course, we live in 2024 and we all know Chucky as a mascot. But even without that...it just seems really obvious, especially with the cold open? Even if you remove that, the clues seem pretty obvious, especially Chucky just...outright admitting that he's a serial killer to the kid after the coworker dies. That said, once Chucky is out and about, it gets good. I really liked the scene of Chucky trying to kill the detective in the car. I feel like if you're going for a "evil mundane object" story, you need to make use of that fact and the car scene feels unique in that aspect. Also...Chucky's trying to take over the kid's body, right? So...why is he trying to kill the kid at the end?

Lightning - Hi, Im Chucky. Wanna play?

One of the most iconic and influential movies of the 80s, spawning a huge franchise of campy horror films, Childs Play is mostly a relatively straight psychological horror for a lot of its runtime, not even fully revealing the living doll until most of the way through the film. It is here that the film is at by far its most effective, when it is playing on that tension of what you cant see. Once Chucky is revealed in a bravura sequence, it does lose a little bit of terror.

There are some great sequences and like Fright Night this is well directed by Tom Holland (not that one, or that one, or that one). I do wish it had kept the mystery going a bit longer, it tips its hand too early with the opening sequence and showing you parts of Chucky moving before the full reveal. Also, all the voodoo parts of this are fairly weird and rooted largely in stereotypes.

For me though the big flaw of this film is something I usually try to not worry too much about in horror movies. This was the only movie on the list where I actually got frustrated with the actions of characters in the movie. Everybody was constantly leaving Chucky unattended despite knowing he was a threat, not aiming for the heart when they knew they had to do that, and not taking the care to fully destroy the doll at the end. It just broke my connection with the movie at a certain point. I dont want to be too harsh though, because the film is genuinely tense in the first half and has some good laughs too like Chucky in the lift. It is just the kind of film thats decent, but you cant help but make it better in your head.

3/5

Karo - A shootout in a toy store leaves a serial murderer mortally wounded, but because this criminal just randomly seems to know black magic, he implants his soul into one of the dolls. A sketchy peddler sells it to an unsuspecting family and much stabby time was had.

Seriously. someone was tasked with making a backstory for an evil doll character and this shit is the best they could come up with? Ugh.

The movie is a dull and predictable affair featuring loads of unconvincing child acting, and some truly shoddy and half-assed writing. Run down abandoned houses generally do not have active gas service, but you do you, script.

All throughout the movie I was like please Chucky just kill the obnoxious kid and generic cop and let this be over. It's just not good, and is emblematic of so many of the problems with 1980's cinema.

Johnbobb - Don't think I don't see what you're doing here, Snake. I know you're gonna say something like "oh, Child's Play is essential to have on an 80s horror list, Chucky is one of the biggest horror icons to come out of the decade and is still relevant 35 years later." But that's not why this movie is here, it's here simply to spite me, the same reason Chucky movies have been in the last two horror lists. I'm on to your game. But joke's on you, the original Child's Play isn't quite as terrible as its sequels. The kid actor is surprisingly not terrible and I do like the general gaslighting paranoia aspect. But I still don't fuck with living dolls

Rockus - Ive never been a huge fan of the Childs Play franchise and probably get more out of them with later installments when they lean more into just how campy the franchise would become. Chucky is still a great villain with a lot of personality though, but his attitude works even more for me in the later films where they can have more fun with it. But one highlight from the first film is you get to see Brad Douriff in it as more than just the voice of Chucky, whom Ive always thought was really underappreciated. An interesting but ultimately kind of novel horror movie, but Im glad they kept making more of them because of how much I like the character.

Seginustemple - This is why you do background checks before teaching high-level voodoo incantations to people. I had the same annoyance with this as I did Fright Night (the other Tom Holland film on the list) which is that it dedicates so much time to the characters failing to convince anyone of the crazy thing that's happening to them, and it comes off as a narratively weak obstacle that drags the story out. I suppose I like my horror to play up the environmental obstacle instead, where the characters can't even waste time with all that 'please won't someone believe me' nonsense because the setting itself cuts off outside communication - arctic base, deep jungle, cabin in the woods, that sort of thing. Anyway, Chucky is certainly an inspired villain with surprisingly intricate animatronics, and Brad Dourif owns the role. I can see the concept being a clever hook in a pre-Seth MacFarlane world, but nowadays the foul-mouthed doll isn't enough to carry the movie for me.

Absolute boo. Child's Play was astonishingly fun and deserves to have outlasted all the unpleasant artsy horror movies on the list.

This coming in low was honestly a HUGE shock for me. I thought it would've been mid-tier for sure.

I gotta say, I was a bit surprised to see people guessing Fright Night and not the lesser received Tom Holland film. I agree with this placement and am glad others seem to share my issues with it!

Blaziken posted...

Absolute boo. Child's Play was astonishingly fun and deserves to have outlasted all the unpleasant artsy horror movies on the list.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/6d98fa707551cb43e0faccbf5df6d307/tumblr_o3hcflfNuz1tjydheo2_400.gif

Outlier
Fortybelowsummer - 79
Jcgamer107 - 60
Inviso - 58
Karo - 54
Seginustemple - 42
Evilordexdeath - 38
Johnbobb - 33
Bitto - 30
Plasmabeam - 28
Snake - 28
Rockus - 26
Mythiot - 25
Lightning - 22

Forty still on top with minor shake-ups at the bottom - you can't keep a good outlier down

aww phooey, child's play is fun

Child's Play is another one I want to watch mostly because Chucky is a well known horror character.

It looks like we eliminated all the movies from my bottom 5. Honestly, pretty much everything from here on out is some degree of enjoyable.

I'm not super surprised Child's Play went out, since Chucky always seemed to be the black sheep of iconic horror villains.

...Honestly, are there even a lot of artsy movies on this list? I can think of 3, maybe 5. Granted, they're all in, but I don't think any of those are truly beloved. Tetsuo will drop any minute now....any minute now.

Snake5555555555 posted...

This coming in low was honestly a HUGE shock for me. I thought it would've been mid-tier for sure.

I'm shocked and stunned. It's not a masterpiece, but it's pretty much the killer doll movie, and inspired a great Treehouse of Horror segment.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/3/3bc349f9.jpg

I would consider The Shining, Possession, Henry, Tetsuo, and maybe Phenomena & Videodrome as artsy movies, though some or perhaps all are very debatable having that moniker!

Artsy is a bit of a loaded term in this topic series lol

80s horror
artsy

LMAO

Snake5555555555 posted...

This coming in low was honestly a HUGE shock for me. I thought it would've been mid-tier for sure.

You and me both. I thought Child's Play was a lock for the Top 20. Oh well. Time to build another casino.

VEGAS ODDSBOARD:
+600 Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
+700 Re-Animator (1985)
+800 Creepshow (1982)
+1000 Possession (1981)
+1000 Phenomena (1985)
+1000 Fright Night (1985)
+1250 Gremlins (1984)

+200 Any Other Movie (+2000 if guessed correctly)

Current Leaderboard:
1) Inviso $1750 (Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
1) Exdeath $1750 (Friday the 13th 500, Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600, Sleepaway Camp 650)
2) Lightning $1650 (Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650, Basket Case 500)
3) Johnbobb $1150 (Friday the 13th 500, Sleepaway Camp 650)
4) Seginus $650 (Sleepaway Camp 650)
4) Bitto $650 (Sleepaway Camp 650)
4) Karo $650 (Sleepaway Camp 650)
5) jcgamer $600 (Killer Klowns From Outer Space 600)

The House Won On:

• +1000 Pet Sematary (1989)
• +1000 Prince of Darkness (1987)
• +2000 Childs Play (1988)

redrocket posted...

80s horror
artsy

LMAO

I mean there's a reality where I load this up with art horror movies from the 80s - Santa Sangre, Anguish, In a Glass Cage, The Appointment, The Territory - just to name a few. I'm not a fan of the notion that a particular decade in a genre can't be considered artsy or that mainstream horror movies can't be art in their own right.

I like the artistic implications of the drill penis in Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

Evillordexdeath posted...

Artsy is a bit of a loaded term in this topic series lol

Yeah, I mean, every Carpenter movie and every Cronenberg movie on the list are still "artsy"

Like, we might find the premise of Christine rather silly but that thing is shot incredibly well, and that's craft, and that's an art.

I feel like when people say one of these films is "artsy" they just mean it's a little different in its style than what they're use to.

Snake5555555555 posted...

Why Its Significant - It spites Johnbobb.

I knew it!

I should've gone for big money there

I'll jump back on gremlins

Okay Child's Play caught me by surprise but this time it's gonna be Fright Night...FOR REAL

Sorry to all the Child's Play lovers. To be honest, outside of like 2 films on this list I kind of like everything to some degree so it's a shame that some of them have to be in the 20s.

I'll keep guessing Creepshow

I'll guess Creepshow because I just hope it's Creepshow

After that drops everything else should be fine.

Not the most on-topic but did we ever do a ranking that included Indiana Jones movies?

Im going to change to Creepshow.

Gonna guess Creepshow again.

LinkMarioSamus posted...

Not the most on-topic but did we ever do a ranking that included Indiana Jones movies?

I'll save you the suspense

1 > 3 > 2 >>> 4 >>>>>>> 5

More on-topic, I gather that relative to most decades the '80s were dominated by lower-budgeted franchise slashers regarding the horror genre? Then again you could similarly argue the late '90s were dominated by Scream copycats and the late '00s by "torture porn" and remakes (often produced by Michael Bay to boot) I guess.

I also wonder how Deep Rising would have done in the '90s horror ranking, although I suppose it wasn't important enough to include. Was The Relic included on that list? Don't remember tbh.

Yes, thats absolutely right, but they werent always low budget. Slasher franchises had a huge wave in the 80s then slumped until the late 90s and Scream. Then they slumped again after the wave of mostly bad remakes in the 2000s until a few years ago. Of course there were many more non-slashers and franchise films, and Im glad were only doing one per franchise here to make more space.

Now theyre bringing back Scary Movie, so weve come full circle.

To go back to earlier discussion, when I talk about Artsy movies with disdain, it has always been in terms of movies that feel like the director cared more about making something that showcases them as a filmmaker or an auteur, than creating something fun and entertaining for the audience to enjoy. This isnt to say that a movie cant be both entertaining AND artsy (Id argue that my top two from the 2010s horror list are both), and in fact that often elevates a film above something like a Childs Play or a Killer Klowns, but there are a lot of films on this list that feel like theyre just trying to smell their own farts in an extremely unenjoyable fashion.

Mentioning John Carpenter is actually perfect for this, because we have multiple Carpenter movies on this list, and one has already been eliminated, while others have not. And it stands out that Prince of Darkness, the Carpenter movie where hes trying to make some philosophical plot about science and religion and the devil while forgoing quality plot and character writing, is the one we collectively liked the least.

Guess I will jump on the Creepshow bandwagon

Also, upon looking up their filmography, its interesting to see Carpenter and Cronenberg referred to as artsy directors, because in terms of the list itself, they have very similar records. Both have three films on the list: a Stephen King adaptation, a remake of a 50s B-movie, and an original idea inspired by their life experiences. And spoiler alert for my list, but I feel like they are best when applying their directorial intent and vision to a property that already exists. Yes, Cronenberg WROTE The Fly, but he was using the concept from the original film as a baseline. Meanwhile, their two original ideas are both confusing nonsense throughout the runtime.

rockus posted...

Sorry to all the Child's Play lovers

I'm not

I dont see whats so confusing about Prince of Darkness, its just bananas.

At the end of the day its all art. It doesnt really make sense to call art artsy as positively or negatively it implies that some films are not art or are more art than others. I mean when you look at The Fly its basically concerned with the same issues Videodrome is and making the same artistic statements. Without getting into spoilers my list has a very avant garde film near the top and another one near the bottom!

LightningStrikes posted...

I dont see whats so confusing about Prince of Darkness, its just bananas.

At the end of the day its all art. It doesnt really make sense to call art artsy as positively or negatively it implies that some films are not art or are more art than others. I mean when you look at The Fly its basically concerned with the same issues Videodrome is and making the same artistic statements. Without getting into spoilers my list has a very avant garde film near the top and another one near the bottom!

I strongly disagree with the latter assessment. In terms of theme and messaging, I can see a similarity between The Fly and Videodrome. Both share a theme of modern advancement being bad and leading to the loss of humanity. And in both cases, the main characters goal at the start of the film is to advance himself by finding the next big thing, but his life goes off the rails as a result, leading to his downfall.

In The Fly, however, the plot is far more well-executed. First off, Jeff Goldblum is presented as a scientist who is working on a major breakthrough. Its his desire for fame and glory that leads to his obsession and sloppiness, and ultimately his downfall. The arcs in the movie make sense.

In Videodrome, first off, James Woods being a network exec trying to find new, more explicit shows to draw in viewersalready youre starting with a less rational premise. But then his transformation is weirdly supernatural, and while I can accept the concept of Videodrome creating a brain tumor, the body feels completely forced and unnecessary. Even if its a hallucination due to the brain tumor, the movie treats James Woods weird chest wound as a real thing that he uses to hide a gun. And then the movie turns into a weird plot about a shadowy cabal facing off against a light cabal and its just utter nonsense. Its too focused on visuals and theming to create the films framework of a solid plot first.

I don't want to dive into list spoilers, but I will say that "Did I enjoy the movie?" is the primary driving criteria for where I rank it. And yes, I agree with you that some movies can get too artsy, in the sense that they sacrifice enjoyment for other concepts. I don't like those movies either. I put Pet Sematary at #30 and Sleepaway Camp at #29, because while Sleepaway Camp is way more problematic and offended me, at least it was enjoyable for at least 50% of the movie, while I couldn't think of a single upside at all to Pet Sematary.

That said, sometimes my immediate reaction differs significantly to when I actually start ranking. I cool on certain things, I think about the movie in a different way, some things get better or worse with time, etc. I rate every movie on a grade and that helps too. To me, the C- movies are all...pretty much bunched together, which means a movie at #18 is really not all that different from a movie at #24, even though that's a 6-point gap.

I think Child's Play is at the tail-end of C- for me. Enjoyable, but when compared to other C- movies for me, I just put it lower. Remove the opener (seriously, why is it even there?) and it could have been more on the top-end of a C+ for me. As I mentioned in my write-up, I feel like if you do a "mundane object becomes evil" concept, you have to sell me why the mundane object would be interesting. Having the child match the overall physical profile of Chucky was interesting...but I had literally no reason to believe that because of the intro. And it's not like the rest of the movie was subtle about Chucky being possessed either!

Next one coming up very soon

I'll go for Creepshow.

23. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989 / 245 points)
Directed / Written by: Shinya Tsukamoto
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/8/8bd3cd7d.jpg
Why Its Significant - Shinya Tsukamoto's 1989 cyberpunk nightmare transcends mere horror movie status. It's a genre-bending assault on the senses, a low-budget explosion of body horror and social anxieties that redefined horror for a new generation as it left the 80s behind feeling prudish in comparison. Decades before films like Martyrs or Antichrist pushed the boundaries of bodily violation, Tetsuo reveled in the grotesque as flesh contorted, metal erupted, and the line between human and machine blurred viciously and without mercy. Tetsuo's raw energy and unapologetic violence of course paved the way for the wave of Asian Extreme horror to come too, notable examples of its influence seen in films like Audition or Ichi the Killer. Tetsuo: The Iron Man isn't horror for the faint of heart - it forces you to confront your anxieties about the human condition in the face of a technological future that may be coming sooner than we think. It received two sequels and is commonly included on lists of the best Japanese films ever made.

The Rankers
Seginustemple - 5
Evilordexdeath - 6
Rockus - 6
Johnbobb - 7
Mythiot - 11
Snake - 18
Bitto - 24
Jcgamer107 - 24
Plasmabeam - 27
Lightning - 28
Inviso - 29
Fortybelowsummer - 30
Karo - 30

Seginustemple - This is what happens if you put a tape of Eraserhead into James Wood's chest cavity from Videodrome. It's bonkers and I adore it. Could I explain the plot if I had to? Hardly. I'm all about the aesthetic. High-velocity body horror rendered in starkly contrasted black-and-white imagery with a kickass industrial soundtrack, hyperactive editing, bursting with expressionist sets/costumes/performances. It's kinetic to the point of exhileration and exhaustion, eventually smothering its subjects as well as the viewer under heavy metal chaos. Also features a great drillbit penis gag.

Evilordexdeath - Easily the most "wtf did I just watch?" film on the list. Believe it or not, this is considered a highly influential movie in Japan, though I'm not a huge enough weeb to name drop any later films it inspired except maybe a couple shonen anime of all things. There's a part where the main character boots around town on rocket skates fused to his body which made me wonder if this movie is where the idea for that one guy with glasses from My Hero Academia originated, and while it's more of a reach the very memorable scene where the guy's dick transforms into a drill reminded me of the part of the hot spring episode of Gurren Lagann where they make Simon's drill-shaped necklace grow bigger and hang lower to cover him up. Of course, in its turn Tetsuo was inspired by Akira, whose anti-hero its name comes from, and Akira is one of my favorite movies so I always wanted to see this one, but you have to look pretty hard to find similarities between them. Tetsuo actually makes Akira seem like a slow-paced and straightforward narrative in comparison. There is almost no dialogue, it cuts around like crazy on the timeline and abruptly fades in and out of dream sequences that aren't much more surreal than the stuff that actually happens, and there's basically no story. A salaryman runs over someone called "The Metal Fetishist" who curses him to gradually transform into a metal body horror monstrosity. Then he gets pegged by a dancing woman with a hose around her neck and has fatal sex with his girlfriend because his penis transforms into a drill. There's a lot of really weird shit in this movie.

What is reminiscent of Akira is that the latter half of the movie is mostly just two guys yelling and fighting each other. The metal fetishist comes back to life as another part-mechanical mutant and they fight for a while and then fuse into one being, declare their love for each other, and set out to take over the world by turning everyone else into a metal mutant. Now, Akira works because the characters are complex and there's a sense of emotional conflict. Yes Tetsuo and Kaneda spend half the movie yelling each other's names while fighting, but they've known each other since they were kids and they love each other. Kaneda remembers the shy kid he was a big brother to and wants to be the one to stop him because he feels its his responsibility as the leader of the Pills. Tetsuo doesn't squash Kaneda like a bug with his psychic powers even though he probably could and does to many others because deep down he still thinks of Kaneda as his friend and protector. A lot of his toxic macho posturing comes from wanting Kaneda to be proud of him and think he's cool. That's why the climax of the film where Tetsuo mutates into a weird monster and then Kaneda jumps into that singularity thing to try and save him is so powerful - when it really comes down to it, their true feelings for each other come out. Tetsuo: the Iron Man doesn't have complex characterization or emotionally resonant moments like that. The salaryman and the metal fetishist barely know one another. If you want to get into interpreting it you might say that the salaryman is victimized as a sort of underclass revenge fantasy because the metal fetishist seems like a way more punk kind of guy. It works because it's really, really weird and funny. A deeply strange Japanese movie like this made a great change of pace after watching so many samey American horror flicks.

Rockus - A surreal gonzo body horror film thats wholly original and unforgettable. A testament to what ingenuity and a visionary auteur voice can accomplish on such a small budget. Theres really nothing like Tetsuo or the rest of Shinya Tsukamotos work. The gnarly production design, black and white cinematography, and fantastic sound design come together to make Tetsuo such a blast. Bizarre and darkly funny, its a cinematic experience like no other, and it might have the best opening title sequence of the decade. It goes so hard.

Johnbobb - https://imgur.com/HWS3i7n

Snake - Yeah, a film pretty much just based entirely on atmosphere for me. And its sick nasty. I just absolutely dig grimy, filthy, industrial shit like this, always. Its like my favorite aesthetic. I dont think this film lets up for a single second. Reading between the lines, its so evident that as the Salarymans body contorts and metal takes over, it becomes a metaphor for anxieties about technology's increasing hold on our lives. Its genuinely something I think about all the time as we hurtle towards a future where the line between human and machine blurs entirely, our eyes fused with screens, our hands with phones, our bodies to factories, trapped forever as we become one giant, pulsating organism in an increasingly emotionally cold, inhospitable, numbing world. But, the beauty of Tetsuro is that it doesn't belabor the point. Its gone in a flash, offers no respite from the pounding score, the flickering black and white, the constant sense of unease, the gruesomeness of it all. Its maybe the idealized version of what horror should be - sickening to consume and like suffering through a nightmare.

Bitto - Rating: D+

Yeah, that certainly was a movie. There's some good stuff in here. I think the movie being in black-and-white is pretty neat. When blood spills, it's black so it kinda looks like oil spurts instead. There's some...oddball WarioWare-esque humor in here, like the woman laughing on TV or the choppiness of the chase scenes or the sound effects. It actually works kinda well. I want to like this movie more. It's just really difficult for me to care about anything when it's this abstract. Like, the guy's girlfriend dies after getting on his drill penis. OK? Did she actually die? I don't know! If she did die, am I supposed to care? I don't know anything about this woman, other than she enjoyed having sex with this man and she makes metal noises when she eats.

Jcgamer107 - 3/10

Plasmabeam - Its wild and visually electrifying, but who cares? Nothing about the story or its characters did anything for me, and despite the brief run time, I was begging for this one to end.

Lightning - That sounds interesting.

Oh boy, where to start with this one. I suppose that this is a film where I fully recognise a lot of the craft and meaning behind it, as well as appreciate some of the style. Unfortunately I found it pretty unpleasant, almost nauseating, to actually watch. That is likely the purpose of the film but maybe it works a little bit too well.

There are a lot of interesting aspects here, and it does seem to be making the same kind of commentary that Videodrome and The Fly are about the melding of humans with technology. As technological advances increased pace in the 1980s so too did commentary on what it does to our lives. There are also a lot of nice stylistic touches here. In particular I was quite fond of the way the car collision near the start was shot and set to gentle, jazzy music. David Lynchs influence here is obvious. The story is very simple but told in a way that makes it difficult to comprehend but also satisfying to think about. The effects and the low-fi look make the whole thing more effective.

Unfortunately those gnarly effects and images are what made me mostly just wish for this film to be over. It was all a bit too much, and I think the lack of colour and detail only lets your mind add to it. There is definitely something here for people who are into films that are both incomprehensible and nasty. Overall however this was not one of the best on the list.

3/5

Inviso - I have not had the greatest success when it comes to these horror lists and Japanese movies. I have managed to sit through almost every movie on the list thus far (Tetsuo being the last one I watched) without feeling squeamish at the grotesque amount of gore and body horror on display. But this one managed to gross me out in the first five minutes. Its just a never-ending sequence of metal being inserted into people or welded onto people, and something I think Ive learned after watching this film and a few othersI REALLY dont like seeing human faces makeupped into part of a larger whole. Seeing the guys face sticking out from this mass of metallic shrapnel made me more squeamish than some of the outright blood and guts this movie has had to offer.

Beyond that though, this movie is a mess from a technical standpoint. Theres a ton of shaky cam and a bunch of seizure-inducing quick cuts to obscure the stop motion I guess. And then you have the score, which is just ear-raping metallic and electrical noise. Not music; just NOISE. And its so loud and it goes on (along with pained screaming) throughout the majority of the film. Nothing about this movie was enjoyable, and the one thing I will give it credit for is that the plot seemed simple enough? Guy has a car accident with someone turning into a metal monster, and he gets infected and starts transforming himself. In the hands of a better filmmaker, this could be good (particularly since we had several superior transformation horror films on this list), but I did not enjoy this even at a paltry runtime of sub-seventy minutes.

Fortybelowsummer - You know the Side Eye Chloe meme? I feel like thats what my face looked like the whole time I was watching Tetsuo. Ive never seen anything so experimentally raw, jarring, and bizarre. If youre looking for the plot here, its going to be difficult to decipher because its far from conventional. Basically, its two guys that cross paths and theyre turning into metal and then they merge and try to turn the world into metal \m/. I believe its about industrialization and mans relationship with technology. I respect the imaginative sound design, the originality, and the Lynchian-cyberpunk visuals, but is it an enjoyable experience? Overall, no. Even at a little over an hour it felt like an assault on the senses that was going on for too long. By the end I felt like Id been worked over by a giant penis drill, and Im not knocking it if thats what youre into but its just not for me.

Karo - Far as I can tell, this is about a japanese salaryman accidentally running over a metal demon and getting cursed or something to all his body parts slowly turning mechanical?

This nonsensical and headache-inducing mess feels weird just for weird's sake and is not helped by a cameraman who keeps having a seizure on set. I cannot understand half the movie, nor do I even want to understand it and its carnival of mindless grotesquery that has about as much to say as your average porno.

It's not even exceptionally scary because one, it is very hard to tell what is going on thanks to incompetent cinematography and editing, and two, it has a penchant for out of place silliness. When the penis drill happened I just couldn't take the movie seriously any more, I mean come on are you fucking 12 or something.

Tetuso is one of the most thoroughly unpleasant experiences I've ever had watching a movie, and even though it had the shortest runtime in the project it was still way too long.

There it is

Thank God for that. Holy shit it is insane that a movie managed to almost be as bad as Basketcase, but Tetsuo defies logic.

Of course the moment I stop guessing Tetsuo it makes the list.

Yeah this is a film that is not bad by any means, but it made me feel physically ill. I get if you like that sort of thing.

I didn't even hate it per se but like you could give that shit to the guys at Guantanamo Bay and have them torture terrorists with it.

Outlier
Fortybelowsummer - 86
Inviso - 64
Jcgamer107 - 61
Karo - 61
Seginustemple - 60
Evilordexdeath - 55
Johnbobb - 49
Rockus - 43
Mythiot - 37
Snake - 33
Plasmabeam - 32
Bitto - 31
Lightning - 27

*machinery grinding noises*