There's a quiet, lovely scene in
Hiruko the Goblin in which the camera lingers on the face of a
beautiful young woman singing a lullaby as she floats in a lake,
gazing up at the night sky with serene mists rising around her.
It's such a lovely, peaceful scene that you might forget for a moment
that her head is no longer attached to a body. These days it's
getting around on spider legs.
Similarly the
film's cheerful goofiness, pastoral scenery, and stock plot specifics
(family legacies, hidden portals to Hell, prophecies and the like)
might make you forget that Hiruko the Goblin was directed by the guy
who made the hyperkinetic Tetsuo: the Iron Man. In fact, Shinya
Tsukamoto's second feature film is not his own material, and he
consciously chose to lend it very little of his own style. Tsukamoto
was hired by the studio to direct, and thought it best to take a more
standard approach. Instead of monochromatic gritty psychoscapes we
get some beautiful shots such as an early scene of a girl bicycling
past rolling green fields on a Summer's day. That's not to say
Tsukamoto's touch is entirely missing, but I'll get to that.
Hiruko the Goblin
concerns a prophecy about a portal to the Goblin underworld situated
on a school's grounds. The secret is stumbled upon by a number of
people: Professor Yabe, who quickly goes missing; Yabe's son Masao,
who pines for fellow student Tsukishima (it's her head in the lake,
now embodying the loosed title Goblin); and underdog archeologist and
inventor Hieda, once a family friend of the Yabes. Hieda was loved by
Masao's Aunt, who died on an expedition with him. Masao has never
forgiven Hieda, but the two will find a common bond in grief for
their lost loves.
Never mind,
Tsukamoto isn't too fussed with that and you shouldn't be either..
He's far too busy having fun chasing our heroes around the school
with scuttly severed heads and creepy janitors who know more than
they let on. This is where Tsukamoto's hand becomes recognizable as
he lets loose with more Sam Raimi-inspired camera inventiveness, and
where the movie is at its most enjoyable. Mind, the similarities to
Evil Dead end there, Hiruko's scares are of a good-natured,
family-friendly spirit but for some amount of blood. Quirkiness and
oddities abound. Like Tsukamoto, Hieda loves to conjure thingamabobs
and whirlygigs out of household goods, then employ them in battle
against monsters out of a mad toddler's dreams. Meanwhile, Masao
suffers burns on his back in the likenesses of the goblins' victims.
Hiruko the Goblin is a slight movie and not one of the director's
signature works. I'm sure there';s material I could mine and this is
admittedly a superficial look at it...but that's what comes across.
Even so, it's an amusing little diversion - a light comedy with
arterial spray.
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