Mutant Girls Squad – Preview of next week’s US DVD release
The legend goes that Mutant Girls Squad came about when friends Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl), Yoshihiro Nishimura (Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl), and Tak Sakaguchi (Versus) decided that since they like to drink together, they should direct a movie together–not an anthology but more like a jam where person takes a segment. But are the filmmakers violent drunks, funny drunks, or emotional ones? It turns out they’re all of the above in spades.
The saga of the sisterhood of mutated and persecuted Hiruko more closely recalls that of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants than the X-Men, but warped by the twisted erotic manga of Go Nagai (Devilman, Mazinger Z, Cutie Honey) and filtered through the B-movie SFX of Frank Henenlotter (Basket Case, Frankenhooker). Yes, it’s that cool. And although one might think that such a project would be a cluttered mess with so many cooks in the kitchen, the effect is actually the opposite. The pace is brisk with each of the directors packing his 30-minute segment with as much action, humor, and guts as possible, leaving no room for filler.
In other words, although you see more than a dozen prosthetic heads explode or get split open, each occasion is unique (i.e. eyeballs popping; brains flying in the air; skulls being chopped horizontally or vertically, in half or even thirds). The mostly analog special effects are realistic enough to be gross but fake enough to keep things fun and not disturbing. Even the most jaded gorehound will be left agog and exhilarated by the fountains of blood, cool weaponry, and severed or extra limbs. As for the stars… they provide pretty good eye exercise, too.
The Sushi Typhoon crew has amassed a small army of freakish followers with their low-budget, hyper-imaginative, hybrid action-and-horror splatter movies, and Mutant Girls Squad might actually be tight enough to cross over to “regular” audiences. There’s just enough character development and melodrama to make the gravure models do more than pose and be likable, highly quotable dialogue and odd supporting characters, and one honestly impressive action scene in which the protagonist offs 15 victims in one take. But best of all is the directors’ back-breaking (and just about every other body part, as well) commitment to provide maximum entertainment though the time-tested elements of insane action, unlimited gore, and pretty faces.
Watching great trash like this on a tiny little YouTube screen is weak sauce. Do yourself a favor and buy the domestic Blu-ray/DVD of Mutant Girls School from Well Go USA or your local purveyors of fine filth starting on May 22. You get a ton of extras (including a prequel) and the theme song by the Noodles sounds great coming out of real speakers. Most importantly, I’ve interviewed each of the filmmakers over the years and they’re all very cool dudes who deserve your economic support.