Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club Layla (1991)

 

Director: Satoo Haraguchi and Tomo'o Haraguchi

Screenplay: Tomo'o Haraguchi and Junki Takegami

Cast: Hiroshi Atsumi, Sandayû Dokumamushi, Yoriko Dôguchi, Kenji Hayami; Kaizô Hayashi; Masatô Ibu; Kiyoshi Kurosawa

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #194

 

This is another obscurity I had been obsessed with all these years, almost entirely because of the full title, which in its evocative nature and oddness definitely stands out. As much of this is as an admirer of Japanese genre and pulp cinema of any budget, something I am fond of in all forms and willing to partake in whenever I can. This film became far more enticing as, released by Toho, we had a production being handled by the company who made their name in monster films. The production also had Akio Jissoji as an advisor, which stood out for me. Still an obscurer name in dire need of reassessment, Jissoji's eclectic career meant he could have radical art films from the Art Theatre Guild like This Transient Life (1970), but also tackled high minded pinku (Marquis de Sade's Prosperities of Vice (1988)), genre films and even developed a legacy working within the Ultraman franchise a lot, both in cinema and television, which he kept returning to over decades. Hence, an advisor who was a great filmmaker but also did not look down on these types of films. The score is also by Kenji Kawai, which was an even bigger surprise, a composer known for his work in anime especially with the iconic figure of Mamoru Oshii. There is even a small role from filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa onscreen, which adds to the strange crossing paths of Japanese filmmaking at hand here.

The set up offers an interesting slant to address World War II, which alongside Japan's occupation of Asian in era beforehand has always been a contentious and controversial aspect in terms of how the country addressed their past afterward. Here a project to create superhumans, to fight the United States, was violently shut down, a dehumanising nature to their war effort as not only was it discarded and covered up, but that three subjects were left as a result, all male friends who grew up together. Two, half way through their transformation before the end of the project, were left ageless and able to exist timeless in the current day Japan. The third was fully turned into the Mikadroid, a superhuman robot/man hybrid which ends up waking in the modern day at a time an underground disco club is built in the area, alongside the car park above it, next to the long forgotten lab he was created in.

This is unfortunately a dull film. The premise is effectively a slasher film baring the unusually rare case that this killer, whilst he also uses a sword, is armed with firearms. This in the modern day has developed a greater real sense of scariness due to real life horrors. It does not help, in the opposite spectrum however, that in one angle Mikadroid looks like a bomb disposal officer due to the costume, which is still ominous, but is also in other scenes looking like the Michelin car tire mascot if he went evil. It is not helped the suit audibly squeaks.

This could have been avoided, as early on the film has some playfully ghoulish moments. A corpse stood erect on a moving skateboard is an evocative moment without any real world logic but is utterly inspired, as there is a really lurid but striking sequence within that same set piece. A full torso and head bloody print, holding hands to figures on a wall mural, due to a prolonged scene of female nudity, violence and fake blood gore.

The problem is that there is not a lot here. You have a film just involving a male electrician, who comes on the worse day possible, and a female fashion designer, with a very eighties look, fleeing the Mikadroid which is not as compelling for me without more inventive creativity involved. One of the aspects of Japanese pulp cinema, even when it has problematic content or can be utterly trashy, which has led me to admiring it is always a sense of unexpected creativity or unpredictability rather than anything remotely generic, which makes a film like this one more disappointing as a result. Even with the attempt at an emotional subplot, where the two ageless friends are involved to put the Mikadroid out of its misery, there is not a lot even in terms of conventional narrative drive to really stand out.

That proves a real burden in how slight the film is, as well as the fact I cannot even bang on, like the poor guy who gets his head banged into a water fountain here, about my obsession with Japanese public spaces because this entire film is set underground on sets, be it the Disco Club Layla (which we barely see a lot of at all), a car park, and the old science lab hidden underground. Particularly  as, even with guns, our villain moves as if made of car tires, there is the sense of sluggishness to the production as well, and not even any really lurid or body horror related content either in spite of the premise. The unexpected appearance of robo-spider limbs way too late in the narrative is the one moment by the final act which stands out, and even that is just an idea that was never used once beforehand when it could have been of interest.

Sadly, this is as much as this review can go because, under ninety minutes, Mikadroid is really lacking in a lot. Solidly made definitely, but not of note baring that even this early in his career Kenji Kawai's score is evocative, awaiting the time he would work on the likes of Ghost in the Shell (1995) and make his reputation in the West. In fact, if there is a positive from this film, it was a production where people could work out their craft. One of the film's directors Tomo'o Haraguchi, whilst the other Satoo Haraguchi would not work on much else, would go on to a career making films like Death Kappa (2010) as well as in special effects, so there is something positive to end the review on if nothing else.