Movie Tasting: Shinya Tsukamoto's HIRUKO THE GOBLIN (1991)

My favorite Tsukamoto film. Out of, you know, the two I've actually seen.

I love Hiruko the Goblin.

This is my third time watching it - I still own the Fangroia International DVD I bought waaaay back in the early 00's. A blu ray has since been released by Mondo Macabro but this seems to be the one Tsukamoto film that isn't on streaming anywhere in North America, and wasn't included in the recent Tsukamoto blu ray box set from Arrow.

Paired With…

This was a tricky one. I drank a 2010 St. Emilion French Merlot/Cab Franc/Cab Sauv blend because I had it open, and it did okay, but wasn’t really clicking with the movie, you know?

So then I tried a tart Tannat/Malbec blend from Paso Robles, and that was pretty on point. I additionally tried a tannic and mildly bitter Orange wine and that also did well. So my suggestion is: find something with a tart and/or bitter edge to it.

Tannat, Aglianico, or Sagrantino works for red wine. A pure Cabernet Franc will likely bring the green pepper bitterness and also work well. Orange wine works if it’s had enough skin contact. And for whites, I’d run with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc - super crisp and tart, lemony and grapefruit-driven.

Back to the Movie

Hiroku is the 2nd feature film by Tsukamoto, after his debut, Tetsuo: Iron Man. He had already begun work on Tetsuo II, but paused to make this horror film based on a manga for a major Japanese studio. In an interview, Tsukamoto said that Hiruko was actually more like the short films he made on Super-8 prior to (and that it was Tetsuo that was a departure from his style at that time). He was inspired by his love for Shonen Drama series, which makes sense: if you told me Hiruko was a condensed "feature film" version of a longer-running Japanese tv show, I'd believe it.

But why do I love Hiruko the Goblin so much? Because it's the perfect melding of 80's Western indie camp horror and Japanese horror manga. There is a touch of the DIY electric eccentricity from Tetsuo, but even more stolen styles of Raimi, Cronenberg, Lynch, Stuart Gordon, and John Carpenter. The special effects are not trying for verisimilitude or anything resembling real-world believability, but are artfully woven into the craziness of the proceedings. The mid-80's synth soundtrack betrays these roots and what the movie as a whole is aiming for. There are also hints of Nobuhiko Obayashi's HOUSE and whatnot, but I largely see Western indie horror of the 70's and 80's vs. Japanese in terms of the visual style.

There are also plenty of stolen stylings from manga artists like Kazuo Umezzo, Junji Ito, and even Berzerk's Kentaro Miura. Of course the story of Hiroku was originally a 1978 horror manga by Daijiro Morohoshi but I admit to having zero experience with his work, so have to note the similarities with his contemporaries (and in Miura's case, the next generation) instead.

The story is structured like a manga - slow burn and very start/stop, moments of stillness followed by absolute insanity in terms of visuals and breakneck violence. As mentioned before, the SFX are all practical and include prosthetics, stop motion, and literal hosings of fake blood. Is it realistic? Hell no. Is it giggle-inducing fun? Fuck yes. I even had a jump scare moment in the scene where the main younger protagonist is sliding a door closed and his crush/love's head suddenly wedges it open and her prosthetic goblin tongue comes shooting out. Fucking A++. The dream picnic scene with the chainsaw is also a hands-down winner.

Thematically the story doesn't really seem to contain much: guilt, wrangling with the past, letting young love go, all of these are "maybes". The only solid theme is: don't bury the past. Don't try to "forget" it. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it. The sins of the old WILL be passed on to the young, etc.

All in all, I just find Hiroku a dizzyingly satisfying ride through early 90's Japanese monster horror, pre-Ringu. I like to say this is "my favorite Tsukamoto" but I've only seen the original Tetsuo and this. I own the blu ray box set with all his other work, but have yet to dive in. I have no doubt a number of those films will trounce Hiroku in overall quality and my enjoyment of them, but I will still forever love Hiroku as a random Japanese horror find, from a time when they really weren't in large supply.