CYCLOPS (KIKUROPUSU), a 52 minute Japanese mini-feature from 1987, appeared amid a glut of gross out shorts that included BIOTHERAPY, GAKIDAMA/DEMON WITHIN, GUZOO, DEATH POWDER/DESU PAWUDA, CONTON/JUSIN DESNETSU and the GUINEA PIG/GINI PIGGU series. I say CYCLOPS is one of the most memorable films of the lot due to an amazing final third that shows the debt this film, and Japanese culture overall, owes to THE THING (1982). Getting to that point, though, is admittedly a bit of a slog.
I say CYCLOPS is one of the most memorable films of the lot due to an amazing final third that shows the debt this film, and Japanese culture overall, owes to THE THING (1982).
It begins with a (way too lengthy) textual crawl that details the effects of pollution on humans, how babies can be born with severe physical defects and the pioneering biological research of the late Dr. Keiichi Takazawa. Those things are only tangentially related to what follows, which is extremely disjointed and confusing; I’m not sure who’s to blame for the mess of a script, as I couldn’t find a writing credit (and neither, evidently, could the imdb).
A young woman named Yumiko is kidnapped and subjected to a physical examination, carried out by agents of a creepy scientist looking to carry on Takazawa’s research. These agents mistake Yumiko for her friend Miyuki, who happens to be the adopted sister of Takazawa’s protégée Takamori. The latter is a biologically enhanced human, and the examination to which Yumiko is subjected is supposed to determine the extent of Takamori’s sibling’s “gifts” (even though two aren’t actually related). When the mix-up is revealed Yumiko is killed and her corpse left in a field.
Miyuki is upset by her friend’s death, but not for very long. She has a new problem, in the form of a horrifically deformed shade-wearing fellow named Sonezaki, who’s aware of Takamori’s true motives (which aren’t too pure) and seeks to terminate his research. In the meantime Takamori’s pregnant wife is residing in a hospital room, where she’s set to have an “unusual” birth—whose product Sonezaki is determined to kill.
This was the first film by director Jôji Iida, who’d go on to helm the comedic BATTLE HEATER/BATORU HITA (1989), the RINGU sequel SPIRAL/RASEN (1998) and ANOTHER HEAVEN/ANAZA HEVUN (2000). In CYCLOPS he demonstrates an unfortunate tendency to leave out pivotal bits of information and cut scenes off before they’ve reached their logical endpoint, due most likely to a paucity of funds. It’s quite probable that BIOTHERAPY was intended as a full length feature, and that a great deal of expositional footage was never filmed.
Yet the final 13 minutes very nearly redeem the dullness and incoherency of the preceding 39. Featured is a splatterific joyride with slimy tendrils, festering boils, arterial sprays, mutating flesh and an ALIEN-inspired mutant birth, in a spectacle that rivals the climax of Brian Yuzna’s SOCIETY. That, my friends, is high praise indeed.
Vital Statistics
CYCLOPS (KIKUROPUSU)
Grafis
Director: “George Ikdia” (Jôji Iida)
Producer: Iyo Suzuki
Cinematography: Toshihiko Uryu
Editing: Kenichi Takashima
Cast: Mayumi Hasegawa, Kai Atoh, Kazuhiro Sano, Nobuo Takahashi