Product Details

• Actors: Renji Ishibashi, Nobu Kanaoka, Naomasa Musaka, Tomoroh Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara
• Directors: Shinya Tsukamoto
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Tartan Video
• DVD Release Date: July 12, 2005
• Run Time: 67 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000FZEQWI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,762 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Shinya Tsukamoto draws on the marriage of flesh and technology that inspires so much of David Cronenberg's work and then twists it into a manga-influenced cyberpunk vision. A man (Tomoroh Taguchi) awakens from a nightmare in which his body is helplessly fusing with the metal objects around him, only to find it happening to him in real life... or is it? Haunted by memories of a hit and run (eerily prophetic of Cronenberg's Crash), the man knows this ordeal could be a dream, a fantastic form of divine retribution, or perhaps technological mutation born of guilt and rage. Shot in bracing black and white on a small budget, Tsukamoto puts a demented conceptual twist on good old-fashioned stop-motion effects and simple wire work, giving his film the surreal quality of a waking dream with a psychosexual edge (resulting in the film's most disturbing scene). The story ultimately takes on an abstract quality enhanced by the grungy look and increasingly wild images as they take to the streets in a mad chase of technological speed demons. This first entry in his self-titled "Regular Sized Monster Series" is followed by a full-color sequel, Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer, which trades the muddy experimental atmosphere for a big-budget sheen but can't top the cybershock to the system this movie packs. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description

Somewhere between a modern-day nightmare and a techno-fetishist's ultimate fantasy is this extraordinary film from Shinya Tsukamoto (Vital, A Snake of June). A young man gradually mutates into a metal-being taking you on a surreal journey into a dark and disturbing world where self-inflicted body transformations and post-human women form the fabric of a strange new reality. Likened to the work of David Lynch and David Cronenberg, Tetsuo: The Iron Man molds explosive violence, bizarre imagery and jet-black humor into a cinematic experience like you've never seen.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars New Tartan DVD sounds great, looks terrible! August 12, 2005

By Ronnie Sortor

Format:DVD

The rating is for the lousy transfer of the new Tartan DVD release. TETSUO is one of my top-ten favorite movies of all time. Purchasing this new release represented a quadruple-dip on this title. First was a bootleg vhs tape back in the early 90's followed by the official Fox-Lorber tape, then the first DVD. The main reason, other than my love for the movie, for buying again was for the new 5.1 sound mix because TETSUO has a great soundtrack. Tartan did a great job with the remix. I love it! It's really impressive in my home theater. But the image doesn't live up to the audio, especially projected on my big screen. It looks like they just did a cheap transfer of the PAL master (Tartan is a UK company, I believe) to NTSC because it's riddled with artifacts like ghosting during fast movements (there's a lot of that in this film) and the image is very soft and contrasty. The old Fox-Lorber DVD from '98 has more image detail, especially in shadows, and none of that ugly ghosting. I assumed that since it's 2005 now and most DVD companies have kept up with the state of the art, knowing that audiences are more discriminating about audio/video quality, Tartan would live up to our expectations. But, no.

I see that there are several sellers dumping their old discs here at Amazon. I recommend that you just pick up one of those rather than Tartan's shameless release...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing May 9, 2006

By Sasha

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This bizarre film is disturbing, troubling me that the main character is in an irriversible predicament. Wishing he could shed the metal that kept growing on his body, I found meaning in his painful transformation. Seeing that his pain never went away and that he desired to continue pushing the 'normal' world away left me without the typical 'happy ending.' There is meaning to the madness of this film, but there are several scenes that will stay with you after turning off the DVD player.

46 of 64 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A horror film about being gay in Japan... January 14, 2002

By Dan Seitz

Format:DVD

First of all, let me state something that nobody seems to want to say explicitly; this is one unnerving movie with some of the most unpleasant scenes I've ever seen, and that includes Cronenberg. Also, there's an undeniable homoerotic subtext to the whole thing (and I'm not inferring; it's pretty clear, despite the lousy subtitle job Image subcontracted out.)

As far as comparisons go, this is a lot like the work of Jan Svankmajer, in terms of effects and narrative feel (and I suspect Tsukamoto knows the work of Svankmajer well.) But the material is about as far from Svankmajer's social concerns as you can get.

I don't claim to know Japanese society that well, but I DO know it wasn't (and still isn't) nearly as tolerant as the US, and "Tetsuo" is a strong reflection of that. The main character is a man who is torn apart by guilt over a crime he has committed, and also for his failure to conform to societal standards. He is terrified of women, and he also resents them (epitomized in two extremely gory and unnerving scenes.) And because, one feels, that he's told that he's unnatural and inhuman, he BECOMES unnatural and inhuman, literally an iron man.

This is not a upbeat story; this is a story about a man who has destroyed himself and achieves the power to take the society that caused it down with him. Even finding love isn't enough for him. This is a movie about a man who is twisted and warped by society, and who will destroy everyone thanks to that society.

Personally, I found it fascinating, but unless you've explored Jan Svankmajer, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, and others extensively, I would be careful about approaching this. Put it this way; if you weren't bugged by "Crash" but found it interesting, "Tetsuo" won't be too much for you.

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars c'mon (saa koi) July 3, 1999

By matt ([e-mail])

Format:VHS Tape

Testsuo: the iron man may be a difficult film for a lot of people. you will probably either love it or think in is trash. this film struck a deeply personaly chord within me, so it is difficult to write about it objectivly. as a teenager i dreamnt of a film shot in gritty black and white that would deal with terrifing and ghostly subjects. this film is it. tsukamoto is a genius for this film. the effects are low buget to the max, but when is the last time your nightmare had a big effects buget? the film actually follows a plot line somewhat resembling a Noh play, except very convoluted; the man runs the fetishist over with his car, and then has sex with his girlfriend in frount of the fetishist's broken body. because of this sexual arousal in the presense of machine induced death, the man is cursed with his sexual/physical merging with the machiene realm. the fetishist wants revenge. the visual effect of the film is beyond incredible, and the music is perfect. very few films incorporate music into the visuals as fundamentally as this one (bergman's Persona and otomo's AKIRA are also great examples). this film implanted itself into my brain like a shard of metal. keep an open mind when you watch this film, and don't jump to conclusions and judgements. if you can withstand the films attack, you will find it to be truly beautiful and rewarding.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A completely unique experience! August 18, 2003

By Charles G. Fry

Format:DVD

Tetsuo is not for anyone that's the least bit squeamish. For the rest of us, it is an absolute wild ride. The movie is black-and-white, hyperkinetic, and totally unique. The story makes only some sense, but it is the visuals and music that work here.

Shinyo Tsukamoto uses fast cuts, weird camera angles, and the black-and-white film to great advantage in Tetsuo. Every frame is overloaded with detail, and the metallization of people in the movie is more a weird combination of tubes, wires, and cables than anything else. Visually, this movie is unique, and Chu Ishikawa's soundtrack fits it perfectly. You will just sit there, and say something like: whoa, what the heck is going on!!

Tetsuo II is completely different; hard to believe Tsukamoto also directed it. It is worth seeing only to fill in some of the holes the first movie leaves in the story. But unfortunately, the hyperkinetics and great visuals are completely gone.

I did not give Tetsuo 5 stars because of an overly graphic section about midway through the movie; it is a humorous section initially (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it), but Tsukamoto takes it too far. Otherwise, Tetsuo is a great movie.