EAT YOUR EYE OUT WITH THE BEST JAPANESE GORE!

A young scientist named Eiji (Sadao Abe, Uzumaki) sets out to help humanity by developing the ultimate painkiller. To evaluate it, he secretly adds his drug to a contraceptive that his mother has been testing at a local clinic. Her studies involve three young and attractive women. Of these women, one loves to eat, one is obsessively narcissistic, while the third has one serious case of insomnia. Eiji begins following the three unsuspecting guinea pigs to observe their reaction to his new creation, secretly videotaping them and recording the results. His experiment spirals out of control when the women discover that pain now gives them a deeply sensual pleasure. The more horrible acts of self-mutilation they commit, the better it feels!

This is not a movie for everyone, not only because of the extreme gore FX, but also because of the deep message underlying the story which is far from conventional. Don't be fooled by the DVD artwork, that looks like an ad for a campy and cheap film, even though the film is indeed "cheap" in the sense of the financial limitations of a "pink" japanese production. However, as proven by so many Hollywood disappointments, money is not the ingredient for an interesting and thought provoking film, which Naked Blood surely is.

Perhaps it is the lack of financial compromise which allows director Sato (like other japanese directors, especially "pink" directors) to present such a complex story (which seems like a simple one, but really isn't), filled with allegories, metaphors, and bizarre but beautiful images which are extreme indeed, but instrumental in the shock to the viewer sought after by the director. I believe that the essence of art is to leave a mark on those contemplating; any kind of mark, not only a pleasant or nice one, and this film really achieves that, by leaving a distinctive impression on the viewer, comparable perhaps to that of "Irreversible" or "Tetsuo", and even that of "Un chien andalou", the Bunuel masterpiece, which also sought to shock and unsettle the spectator. In that sense, Naked Blood is, in its very unusual and bizarre way, a masterpiece.

Starring: Misa Aika, Mika Kirihara, Yumika Hayashi, Tadao Abe Directed by: Hisayasu Sato
Special Features: Photo Gallery, About the Director, Director's Filmography, Trailers, Reversible Cover Art Color - NTSC - Stereo - 76 Min - 1.85:1 Widescreen - Region 1 - 1995 - Unrated