It’s a wonder how Yoshihiro Nishimura actually finds the time to direct a movie, given the hot demand for his special effects and make-up expertise, which has earned him the kind of instant recognition that often sees his name alongside current prominent figures such as Noboro Iguchi and Sion Sono, both of whom have been instrumental in the development of his career. Nevertheless, despite 2009 being a terrifically busy year for Nishimura, he did manage to follow up 2008’s Tokyo Gore Police with yet another deranged comedy horror, this time with the help of co-director Naoyuki Tomomatsu, who was also responsible for adapting the screenplay based upon Shungiku Uchida’s manga.


Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl, then, is a bit of an ode - albeit a ludicrously violent one - to the horror classics of yesteryear, as a mad scientist (Kanji Tsuda) masquerading as a dopey biology professor, seeks to unlock the mysteries of eternal life in the basement of his daughter Keiko’s (Eri Otoguro) school, with the added help of sexy sex-crazed nurse Midori (Sayaka Kametani). For some time Keiko has been trying to forcefully win the heart of the handsome, though somewhat naïve Jugon (Takumi Saitou), but now with the arrival of a new student her fight is about to become to become a whole lot tougher. That someone is Monami Arukado (Yukie Kawamura), a pretty girl shunned by her classmates and whose only friend is a hunch-backed janitor named Igor (Buu Jiji). When Valentines Day falls Monami offers a customary chocolate and professes her feelings to the boy, whom after biting into the sweet discovers that it’s been tainted with her own blood. Unwittingly Jugon has become half-vampire and must now think hard about entering Monami’s clan, but Keiko is mightily pissed off with all of this and when she confronts the pair on the school roof she’s thrown off during a tussle. Pronounced dead at the scene, it’s not long before her father and his murderous sidekick get their hands on her in an attempt to carry out the ultimate resurrection.


The sheer energy and breadth of ideas from Yoshihiro Nishimura always ensures that his pictures leave many wonders to admire, by drawing inspiration from notable sources and imbuing his works with his own stylized concoction of graphic, yet playful terror. It’s difficult at this point not to acknowledge few of the late sixties to early seventies cinematic abortions that attempted to pit together Bram Stoker’s and Mary Shelley’s fabled monsters, and curiously enough Al Adamson’s bizarre 1971 mash-up for Troma does bare similarities in plotting to the film in review here. It’s perfectly opportunistic and indeed for all its evident low-budget hokey-ness VGvsFG is another wickedly creative ride and every bit as distinctive as you’d already come to expect from Nishimura: entirely soaked to the bone thanks to a never-ending spattering of human sauce, this time it’s amusingly accompanied by a string of pop-delic themes and go-go beats, seeing the feature - which we begin to realize is stuck in some kind of bizarre time warp - descend into madness with its kaleidoscopic hallucinogens and wildly contrasting Crayola patterns.

Sure enough that’s all very entertaining, but unfortunately the problems which beset Tokyo Gore Police return as Nishimura falls back on repetition and overstates a blindingly obvious satire on a young culture’s cosmetic and foreign obsessions. Nishimura introduces us early on to Monami’s class, in which we find a gang of Lolita-fashion aficionados; a devout wrist-cutting sect; and - undoubtedly the most controversial - an extraordinarily grotesque, Bo-Selecta-like realization of the Ganguro (‘Black Face’) fashion trend. Although the latter scene, in which girls would drastically darken their skin and adorn themselves with day-glo clothing to emulate foreign idols was really at its height ten years ago, it’s still relevant enough today to make a valid statement, and sure enough at one point the directors try to rationalize gang leader Afro Rika’s appearance with a jaded lament on not being born into the world’s “coolest race” (in reference to African-American descent). These girls are all but automatons, lost and confused members of society who lack their own sense of purpose and identity; a subject long examined within the Japanese film industry, but one that’s played out here with such unconcerning force that it’s all too easy to stop smiling at such parody and feel a little embarrassed with each passing moment, as if it‘s being controversial purely for the sake of it. Likewise the staging of the wrist-cutting tournaments say nothing new over what the director had previously explored, showing once more that by flogging a dead horse he displays a weakness in not being able to focus on the more important aspects of story and primary players.

In fact this applies entirely to the middle act, much in the same vein as TGP, whereby we realize that Monami and Jugon very rarely leave the same spot on the school’s roof. They stare dizzily into each other’s eyes as the vampire girl tries to convince her potential lover that he’d be better off with her, while the directors dance around their situation, frantically cutting between various other actions involving characters who we shouldn’t ordinarily care about in the build-up to the final showdown (though it must be said that Kanji Tsuda and Sayaka Kametani are delightful in their hammy-ness). Yes, it takes over an hour before we even see the two eponymous monster gals face off. Still, when it happens the picture does manage to claw itself back from tedium and deliver on its title’s promise. An abundance of cheesy CG visuals override Tak Sakaguchi’s wasted fight choreography, yet the battle which takes place atop of the Tokyo Tower affords an imaginative display of comic-book transformations and crimson geysers.

The DVD

A/V

4 Digital Asia’s 1.78:1 anamorphic presentation is mainly a disappointment on account of being a standards conversion. While that doesn’t make it a huge surprise, in the case of VGvsFG its ferocious editing does present an awful amount of ghosting which quickly becomes highly distracting. Edge enhancement has also been thickly applied for some reason and there is a spot of aliasing. Otherwise the print looks fine, having undergone some post-processing. Black levels and contrast is decent, while colours have a generally bubblegum feel about them; skin tones are almost plastic-like, with our leads resembling Ken and Barbie dolls, particularly during day scenes, while overall things look vibrant and poppy, despite the feature’s darker underlining.

Sound comprises of Japanese DD 2.0. It doesn’t make any great use of the home cinema set-up. Action is mainly steered across the central channels, and by its very nature the sound effects and music is extremely OTT in a crunchy sort of way. Dialogue is also handled fine, with plenty of clarity.

Optional English subtitles are included and they offer a solid translation, even providing a couple of cultural notes to place some of the feature’s gags into context. The print used here also seems to have been done for international distribution, featuring English opening and closing credits.

Extras

According to some UK retailers the disc comes with Making of Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (65 mins) and Japanese Release Day Stage Greetings with Stars & Directors (20 mins). My screener copy came only with what looks like a half-finished menu and a theatrical trailer, so I can’t possibly comment any further, and await the rest to be confirmed.

Please help support The Digital Fix by purchasing this title or any others through our affiliate links...

£3.49

£3.49

£5.69

£5.69

Recommend this article to your friends by clicking the link below.

By liking our page you'll get updates posted directly to your news feed so you never miss a thing!


You can also follow us on Twitter at these accounts:
Follow @thedigitalfix Follow @HomeDigitalFix

Comment on this content - sign up for a Digital Fix login, or sign in now Username: Password: Remember: Register now!