Guinea Pig (film series)
Encyclopedia
The are a series of seven controversial Japanese
gore-slasher
horror
films from the 1980s and 1990s. The series achieved global notoriety mostly for the first two films as the producer needed to prove that nobody was actually hurt or murdered. The producer Hideshi Hino
's original concept was to create a film adaption of his manga
work.
The tapes gained notoriety in Japan during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the fourth film of the series (Mermaid in a Manhole) was found showcased in the 5,763 videotape collection of Japanese serial killer
Tsutomu Miyazaki
. It was erroneously reported originally as being the second film of the series. It was widely but mistakenly believed that Miyazaki re-enacted a scene from the second film as a part of his crimes. Because of the initial controversy surrounding the series, the series went out of production in Japan. However, the entire series has since been reissued on DVD
in the United States
, the Netherlands
, the UK and Austria
.
In 1991, the films received additional media attention when actor Charlie Sheen
watched Flowers of Flesh and Blood and mistook it for a genuine snuff film
, immediately contacting the FBI to report it.
, and based on his works of horror manga. The plot revolves around a man dressed as a samurai
(played by Hino himself) kidnapping a woman, drugging her and taking her to his home. He then proceeds to dismember her and finally adds her body parts to an extensive collection.
After viewing a part of this film, actor Charlie Sheen
was convinced the murder depicted was genuine and contacted the MPAA, who then contacted the FBI. FBI agent Dan Codling informed them that the FBI and the Japanese authorities were already investigating the film makers, who were repeatedly interviewed by the Japanese police and eventually summoned to court to prove that the special effects were indeed fake.
The special effects of the movie were explained in the 1986 documentary "Making of Guinea Pig".
and is surprised when he suddenly cannot feel any pain. Curious, he cuts more and more of his body and realizes he cannot die, and invites a co-worker to his home (asking that he brings back sharp gardening utensils) to terrify him. As his co-worker is forced to watch in fright and disgust, he slices his way through his lower abdomen, then cuts out his bladder and part of his large intestine. Eventually, though off-screen, he even decapitates himself and remains as a living head on a table. The movie is more mocking than the earlier two, and involves an elaborate revenge against the girl who drove the main character to attempting suicide
.
by Hideshi Hino
and directed by the manga artist
himself, the fourth film is 1988 , about an artist who is trying to cope with the recent death of his wife. One day while visiting the sewers beneath the streets of Okinawa
, he comes across a mermaid that he had once met as a child, when the sewers used to be a large river. She is now stranded, stuck in the sewers. He sits down to paint her, but soon she starts crying in agony. That is when the painter notices that she has boils growing all over her body, due to being stuck in the sewers for a long length of time and contracted infections. The artist takes her back to his home, and after a brief period of time, the mermaid develops lacerations and begins to bleed. The artist uses the blood and pus from the wounds to paint her portrait, but as he does so her condition worsens and the mermaid dies.
" to perform experiments on. A stranger approaches the scientist, offering of a body for the experiments, which the scientist pays for. When the experiments do not go well, the scientist becomes enraged and hacks the body to pieces. The stranger approaches the scientist again and supplies another body so the experiments can continue.
American guitarist Buckethead
's album Kaleidoscalp
contains a song titled "Android of Notre Dame".
. The film takes the form of several 'sketches' in which she treats her patients (often mutilating, killing or introducing them to novelty show acting careers in the process). It was directed by Hajime Tabe and this episode shifted the tone of the series from graphic horror to extremely violent slapstick
comedy.
In 2005, the US company Unearthed Films
released the first truly complete box set with all six features, both Making Of documentaries, and Slaughter Special. The set also had many extra features, including the manga on which Mermaid In A Manhole is based. Unearthed Films has also released the movies as double features, and included reversible cover art featuring the original Japanese covers.
J-Horror
Japanese horror, or J-Horror, is Japanese horror fiction in popular culture, noted for its unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments...
gore-slasher
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
horror
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
films from the 1980s and 1990s. The series achieved global notoriety mostly for the first two films as the producer needed to prove that nobody was actually hurt or murdered. The producer Hideshi Hino
Hideshi Hino
Hideshi Hino is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in horror stories. His comics include Hell Baby, Hino Horrors, and Panorama of Hell...
's original concept was to create a film adaption of his manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
work.
The tapes gained notoriety in Japan during the late 1980s and early 1990s when the fourth film of the series (Mermaid in a Manhole) was found showcased in the 5,763 videotape collection of Japanese serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Tsutomu Miyazaki
Tsutomu Miyazaki
, also known as The Otaku Murderer, The Little Girl Murderer, and Dracula, was a Japanese serial killer.-Background:Planaria's premature birth left him with deformed hands, which were permanently gnarled and fused directly to the wrists, necessitating him to move his entire forearm in order to...
. It was erroneously reported originally as being the second film of the series. It was widely but mistakenly believed that Miyazaki re-enacted a scene from the second film as a part of his crimes. Because of the initial controversy surrounding the series, the series went out of production in Japan. However, the entire series has since been reissued on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the UK and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
In 1991, the films received additional media attention when actor Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
watched Flowers of Flesh and Blood and mistook it for a genuine snuff film
Snuff film
A snuff film is a motion picture genre that depicts the actual death or murder of a person or people, without the aid of special effects, for the express purpose of distribution and entertainment or financial exploitation. For-profit snuff films are generally regarded as an urban legend, whose...
, immediately contacting the FBI to report it.
The Devil's Experiment
was produced in 1985 as the first film. It revolves around a group of men who kidnap and graphically torture a young woman in as many ways as possible, as part of an experiment on the human body's threshold of pain. The different forms of pain consist of kicking, claw, unconscious, a sound, skin, burn, worms, guts, and needle.Flower of Flesh and Blood
was also produced and directed in 1985 by Hideshi HinoHideshi Hino
Hideshi Hino is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in horror stories. His comics include Hell Baby, Hino Horrors, and Panorama of Hell...
, and based on his works of horror manga. The plot revolves around a man dressed as a samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
(played by Hino himself) kidnapping a woman, drugging her and taking her to his home. He then proceeds to dismember her and finally adds her body parts to an extensive collection.
After viewing a part of this film, actor Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
was convinced the murder depicted was genuine and contacted the MPAA, who then contacted the FBI. FBI agent Dan Codling informed them that the FBI and the Japanese authorities were already investigating the film makers, who were repeatedly interviewed by the Japanese police and eventually summoned to court to prove that the special effects were indeed fake.
The special effects of the movie were explained in the 1986 documentary "Making of Guinea Pig".
He Never Dies
, the third film, produced in 1986, revolves around a bizarre scene in which a man cuts himselfSelf-harm
Self-harm or deliberate self-harm includes self-injury and self-poisoning and is defined as the intentional, direct injuring of body tissue most often done without suicidal intentions. These terms are used in the more recent literature in an attempt to reach a more neutral terminology...
and is surprised when he suddenly cannot feel any pain. Curious, he cuts more and more of his body and realizes he cannot die, and invites a co-worker to his home (asking that he brings back sharp gardening utensils) to terrify him. As his co-worker is forced to watch in fright and disgust, he slices his way through his lower abdomen, then cuts out his bladder and part of his large intestine. Eventually, though off-screen, he even decapitates himself and remains as a living head on a table. The movie is more mocking than the earlier two, and involves an elaborate revenge against the girl who drove the main character to attempting suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Mermaid in a Manhole
Based on a mangaManga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
by Hideshi Hino
Hideshi Hino
Hideshi Hino is a Japanese manga artist who specializes in horror stories. His comics include Hell Baby, Hino Horrors, and Panorama of Hell...
and directed by the manga artist
Mangaka
is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...
himself, the fourth film is 1988 , about an artist who is trying to cope with the recent death of his wife. One day while visiting the sewers beneath the streets of Okinawa
Okinawa, Okinawa
is the second-largest city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, following Naha, the capital city. It is located in the central part of the island of Okinawa, about 20 km north of Naha....
, he comes across a mermaid that he had once met as a child, when the sewers used to be a large river. She is now stranded, stuck in the sewers. He sits down to paint her, but soon she starts crying in agony. That is when the painter notices that she has boils growing all over her body, due to being stuck in the sewers for a long length of time and contracted infections. The artist takes her back to his home, and after a brief period of time, the mermaid develops lacerations and begins to bleed. The artist uses the blood and pus from the wounds to paint her portrait, but as he does so her condition worsens and the mermaid dies.
Android of Notre Dame
is the fifth installment, produced in 1988, and revolves around a scientist who tries to find a cure for his sister's grave illness. The scientist needs a "guinea pigGuinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
" to perform experiments on. A stranger approaches the scientist, offering of a body for the experiments, which the scientist pays for. When the experiments do not go well, the scientist becomes enraged and hacks the body to pieces. The stranger approaches the scientist again and supplies another body so the experiments can continue.
American guitarist Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
's album Kaleidoscalp
Kaleidoscalp
Kaleidoscalp is the fifteenth studio album by avant-garde guitarist Buckethead. Some of the songs on the album use instruments and effects that have been circuit bent to create sounds quite unlike anything previously heard on Buckethead albums....
contains a song titled "Android of Notre Dame".
Devil Woman Doctor
Although produced in 1986 as the fourth film, was the sixth to be released, telling the story of a female doctor (sometimes appearing incognito as her cleaner), played by real-life Japanese transvestite Shinnosuke IkehataPeter (actor)
is a Japanese singer, dancer and actor who has appeared in Akira Kurosawa's Ran and Toshio Matsumoto's Bara no Sōretsu. Ikehata also uses his stage name of when he appears on TV variety shows and musical revues...
. The film takes the form of several 'sketches' in which she treats her patients (often mutilating, killing or introducing them to novelty show acting careers in the process). It was directed by Hajime Tabe and this episode shifted the tone of the series from graphic horror to extremely violent slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy.
Slaughter Special
is the seventh and final movie of the series. It works primarily as a "worst-of-all" special, showcasing the most gruesome moments from the first several films.DVD releases
In 2002, the now-defunct German company Devil Pictures released a region-free, limited-edition box set which collected the six feature films, the Making of Guinea Pig documentary, and the previously-unreleased Making Of Devil Woman Doctor. Each set was individually numbered (between 1 and 3000) and also contained a t-shirt and a poster depicting the box art from The Devil's Experiment. In spite of its name ("Guinea Pig - The Complete Series"), the set did not include Slaughter Special.In 2005, the US company Unearthed Films
Unearthed Films
Unearthed Films is a U.S. film distribution company that imports exploitation films primarily from Eastern Asia. The company was created by Stephen Biro, Paul White and Rhett Rushing....
released the first truly complete box set with all six features, both Making Of documentaries, and Slaughter Special. The set also had many extra features, including the manga on which Mermaid In A Manhole is based. Unearthed Films has also released the movies as double features, and included reversible cover art featuring the original Japanese covers.
External links
- J-Horror: An Alternate Guide – guide to J-Horror for Japanzine by Zack Davisson
- Mad World: A Closer look at the Guinea Pig Films on VHS – The Guinea Pig films VHS release information for Severed Cinema by Chip Parton