Fantastic Fest 2009

Director Yoshihiro Nishimura, Producer Jun Nakajima and Actress Cay Izumi Live in Person!

After welcoming the New Flesh in Tokyo Gore Police, special effects genius and director Yoshihiro Nishimura goes for something decidedly more slapstick with Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl, which he co-directs with Naoyuki Tomomatsu of Stacy, Zombie Self Defense Force and Eat the Schoolgirl fame. Based on a manga by Shungiku Uchida, this moving drama tells a tale of two schoolgirls who pine for the same young lad. Young Mizushima is a handsome fellow with floppy locks who cuts a dashing figure in his school uniform. On Valentine’s Day, new student Monami gives him a box of chocolates that represent life, which is often said to resemble them in many ways. But Monami isn’t just a new student, she is also a vampire, and the chocolates contain her blood, which causes Mizushima to trip balls when he eats them. It is at that moment, when Mizushima is freaking out most mightily, that Monami opens her heart: she wants the two of them to live together forever as vampires. Romantic! But Mizushima already has a girlfriend! Keiko! And she’s pissed! Fortunately she’s got a mad scientist dad, with a secret laboratory on school property, and he turns his daughter into a Franken-Keiko Monster made of bits and pieces chopped from the cooling corpses of her classmates. As we all know, this kind of vampire vs. Frankenstein conflict can only be solved by fighting, beating, stabbing, chewing, clawing and a showdown high atop Tokyo Tower. Nishimura has assembled his usual gang of low budget visionaries for this movie: Tak Sakaguchi (Yoroi Samurai Zombie) does the action choreography and Tsuyoshi Kazuno contributes visual effects. Eihi Shiina (Audition) plays Monami’s mother, and Takashi Shimizu (the director of the Ju-On films) plays a chain-smoking Chinese professor who lectures his students on the importance of the Hollywood remake of his movies. There’re also a gaggle of "ganguro" girls: Japanese schoolgirls who worship African-American culture to the point of offensiveness – dying their skin black, carrying spears and chanting “Yes we can!” at the drop of a hat. Emo-schoolgirls compete in self-mutilation competitions, and the entire film is a big wet raspberry blown at the typical high school love story. Destined to become the best kind of cult classic, you need to come on down, buy a ticket, sit very quietly and let it touch you in a freaky way. (New York Asian Film Festival)