STREAM ANYTIME with Prime Video from $4.99

See All Buying Options

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available
To view this video download Flash Player

Tetsuo - The Iron Man (Special Edition) [DVD]

Kei Fujiwara (Actor), Tomorowo Taguchi (Actor) Rated:

Unrated

Format: DVD

177 ratings

IMDb6.9/10.0

Additional DVD options

Edition

Discs

Price

New from

Used from

DVD
July 12, 2005

"Please retry"

—

$75.00

—

$30.75

DVD

"Please retry"

—

$34.78

DVD

"Please retry"

—

$39.98

DVD
July 19, 2005

"Please retry"

Special Edition

—

$49.99

Watch Instantly with

Rent

Buy

Tetsuo - The Iron Man

$3.99

$4.99

Format	AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC, DTS Surround Sound, Closed-captioned
Contributor	Renji Ishibashi, Kei Fujiwara, Tomorowo Taguchi, Nobu Kanaoka, Naomasa Musaka, Shinya Tsukamoto
Language	Japanese
Runtime	1 hour and 7 minutes

Takahiro Kandaka
281
Blu-ray
9 offers from $59.01
Eric Bossick
70
DVD
14 offers from $15.00
Nobuko Otowa
610
DVD
21 offers from $11.00

Product Description

Somewhere between nightmare and a techno-fetishist's ultimate fantasy, this extraordinary film from Shinya Tsukamoto caused a sensation when it was first released, and spawned a companion piece, Tetsuo II: The Body Hammer. Concerning itself with a young man's gradual mutation into a metal-being, the film takes a surreal journey into a dark and disturbing world where D.I.Y. body transformations and post-human women with deadly robot arms form the fabric of a strange new reality. Likened to the work of Lynch and Cronenberg, Tetsuo molds explosive violence, bizarre sexual imagery and jet-black humor into a cinematic experience like you've never seen before.

Product details

Aspect Ratio ‏ : ‎ 1.33:1
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ Unrated (Not Rated)
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches; 4.8 Ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Shinya Tsukamoto
Media Format ‏ : ‎ AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC, DTS Surround Sound, Closed-captioned
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 7 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ July 19, 2005
Actors ‏ : ‎ Kei Fujiwara, Tomorowo Taguchi, Nobu Kanaoka, Renji Ishibashi, Naomasa Musaka
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English
Language ‏ : ‎ Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Japanese (DTS 5.1)
Studio ‏ : ‎ Tartan Video
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0009GV9FK
Writers ‏ : ‎ Shinya Tsukamoto
Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1

Best Sellers Rank: #168,761 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #3,247 in Foreign Films (Movies & TV)
- #6,588 in Horror (Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews:
177 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		72%
4 star		17%
3 star		5%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mike W.

An Alchemical Prophecy Masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 4, 2022

Verified Purchase

S/O Lupe Fiasco for prepping me for this movie contextually and symbolically as the crude and chaotic consistency will befuddle probably most but the Cinephile, &/or authentic and contextually immersed art or philosophy student.

Helpful

Anticlimacus

Stop Comparing Tetsuo To Eraserhead!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2006

Verified Purchase

As a fan of original quality films - and a hater of pretentious arthouse trash - I'm concerned about the constant references to David Lynch's Eraserhead here. Yes, both Tetsuo and Eraserhead are weird films shot in black-and-white. But after that, the similarities end. Instead, let's run down the differences:

Tetsuo = kinetic, interesting, good acting, solid special effects, understandable, satisfying, and engaging

Eraserhead = slow, boring, bad acting, horrible special effects, insoluble by design, pretentious, and annoying

Shinya Tsukamoto made Tetsuo as a kinetic, interesting, and engaging film. The opening sequence immediately grabs the viewer, and the female flesh-metal zombie scene - a classic horror sequence in its own right - basically earns the viewer's attention for the rest of the film. David Lynch made Eraserhead as a slow, boring, and annoying film. The opening sequence is nothing short of irritating, and after 30 minutes the viewer's patience is taken to the limit when inflicted with such an utter waste of celluloid. Some dude pops his head into space, only to then walk around aimlessly for minutes on end, encountering nothing of importance or interest.

The acting in Tetsuo, although over the top, is pretty good. The actress who played the flesh-metal zombie was awesome, and the lead actor was admirable. The acting in Eraserhead was abominable in every possible respect - I've seen trees that were less wooden.

The special effects in Tetsuo were used advantageously. The camera work was sped up during the chase scenes and the stop-motion animation was fantastic, providing the metal effects. Eraserhead mishandled almost everything. The decapitation scene was pitifully fake, and the stop-motion was pointlessly wasted on - get this - a worm.

Finally, the difference that truly sets Tetsuo and Eraserhead apart is the simple fact that Tetsuo is mostly understandable, comprehensible, and thoughtful. It's truly a revenge story that touches upon the relationships between man and machine (i.e., flesh and iron). Eraserhead is just dim-witted - as if the filmmakers were shooting random takes that were thoughtlessly spliced together to the detriment of comprehensibility.

In the end, Lynch isn't even in Tsukamoto's class here. Tsukamoto is a master who is excellent at balancing originality and entertainment while avoiding the pitfalls of pretentiousness and incomprehensible artistic nonsense. Lynch is simply a hack who likes to make a film that only he can remotely understand because he doesn't bother to include the necessary communication to the viewer. Perhaps he should have kept this tripe in his basement. And perhaps the reviewers on this website could have refrained from drawing parallels between Tetsuo and Eraserhead. It would have saved me 90 minutes of torture.

The fact that Tsukamoto succeeded in making the outrageous endeavor known as Tetsuo entertaining is simply amazing, but experiencing Lynch's dismal failure known as Eraserhead adds a great deal of emphasis. Movies that are both crazy and entertaining are difficult to make. So please stop comparing a master with a hack, lest you morph into a flesh-metal zombie.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Cassie

Fast Paced, Spooky

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 31, 2022

Verified Purchase

I liked the film, genuinely freaked me out. My only gripe was the chase scenes, if you’re sensitive to light/sound (epileptic/photosensitive seizures), it may be best to look away.

Helpful

Flannery Rose

Important Art Film

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

An essential for every arthouse horror buff, but not for the faint of heart. Eraserhead, but faster.

Helpful

Canada

Don't miss this shocking gem of a film

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 22, 2009

Verified Purchase

Tetsuo: The Iron Man is not a Japanese horror movie, but a dark art film which was way ahead of it's time. Those watching it expecting a simple J-Horror flick are bound for disappointment. Those watching it for artistic merit and visionary visual experimentation will be in for a ride.

Portraying many different ideas and metaphors, it's all wrapped in a sort of stop-motion cyber-punk style of filming with a loose plot of (at it's basic element) a man whom sticks an iron rod into his leg and slowly transforms a horrid machine. However underlaying symbols and quick-cam shots riddle the film into puzzles of fear and technological nightmares. Metaphors of trials in Japanese culture (technological take-over, alienation, xenophobia, guilt, and modern isolation) plague the screen which gives a strong depth to it, making it worthy of multiple watches.

Though let me warn you, it is not pretty. The reason it's frequently upheld in the horror genre is that it IS also bloody and bone-driven with fx and violence. Many of the scenes can be downright really creepy and suspenseful. Body parts are turned into machinery, people are stabbed and beaten, and there's a Hell of alot of screaming.

Don't just take this film at face value. Like I said, when broken down it is more of an art film than horror flick. There are alot of layers to it and you need to look deep to interpret the substance of the subplots and symbolism. Not only that but the style of filming and camera work. Yes, did I mention it's absolutely insane in it's musical score, camera angles and cinematography?

Anyway if this entices you at all then definitely check this film out because it's right up there with Eraserhead, The Holy Mountain, and many other great dark surrealist-type films.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Smiley McGrouchpants Jr.

Not to be missed!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 26, 2020

Verified Purchase

The time and care that went into this is really striking. Apparently, the 2000s were brewing in '89!

One person found this helpful

Helpful

pablo

Most unusual iron man

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

This movie is kink weirdness
Very interesting

Helpful

Chris D.

Awesome movie

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

If you haven't seen it, you should. Amazing stuff... kinda short, but densely packed. Hard to turn away at times... no idea what is real or metaphor sometimes... but beautifully shot b/w footage and crazy story. I think I paid like $50+ for this dvd, and it was worth it for seeing this movie that I used to rent on VHS.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Budge

Takes you on a spin

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 24, 2019

Verified Purchase

If you liked Eraser head or just hunger for a burst of some optical overflow then its great. Like some mad self perpetuating lavatory wall squiggles this cheaply made effort's energy flows out the screen at you in abundance and accidentally ends up a bit of a masterpiece.

2 people found this helpful

James (UK)

The black and white works to fantastic effect...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 3, 2015

Verified Purchase

One of my top films of all time, and the black and white works to fantastic effect.