Shinya Tsukamoto Archives

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

Rating: ★★★★★

Nov 5, 2000Man-Machine Fusion

Extraordinary directorial debut from Japan's Shinya Tsukamoto, a frenetic, fetishistic and surreally deranged vision of man-machine fusion that feels like David Lynch having gone away and done a crash reading course of William Gibson

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Tomoroh Taguchi, Shinya Tsukamoto

Category: Science Fiction

5 November 200026 January 2020 by Roog

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)

Rating: ★★

Nov 5, 2001Man-Machine Fusion

Shinya Tsukamoto makes a better budgeted sequel to his breakthrough hit. The first film was a masterpiece of guerilla filmmaking but the same frenzied fetishism is missing here

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Tomoroh Taguchi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Sujin Kim

Category: Science Fiction

5 November 200126 January 2020 by Roog

Tokyo Fist (1995)

Rating: ★★★

Nov 5, 2006Boxing, Body-Piercing and Masochism

Shinya Tsukamoto returns to the repressions of his earlier Tetsuo: The Iron Man in this frenetic, ultra-violent work about a downtrodden salaryman who reconnects with life by allowing himself to be beaten up in the boxing ring. This feels like Raging Bull remade by David Cronenberg

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Shinya Tsukamoto

Category: Horror

5 November 200625 January 2020 by Roog

Bullet Ballet (1998)

Rating: ★★★★

Oct 18, 2004Man's Obsession with a Gun

Shinya Tsukamoto of Tetsuo: The Iron Man fame turns his fascination with repressions to the story of a salaryman (played by himself) who deals with his girlfriend’s death by obsessively trying to obtain a gun

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Shinya Tsukamoto, Kyoka Suzuki

Category: Horror

18 October 20043 September 2025 by Roog

Dead Or Alive 2 – Birds (2000)

Rating: ★★

Jul 8, 2003Gonzo Yakuza Film

Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive was a Yakuza film with a gonzo ending. In this sequel, Miike brings back the same two actors and makes it ALL gonzo

Director: Takashi Miike

Actors: Riki Takeuchi, Sho Aikawa, Shinya Tsukamoto, Edison Chen

Category: Fantasy

8 July 200321 January 2025 by Roog

Ichi the Killer (2001)

Rating: ★★★★½

Jan 7, 2006Sadism and Ultra-Violence

One of the key films upon which the Takashi Miike cult is based. Miike takes a nominal Yakuza plot based on a manga where he pushes the sadism and ultra-violence to a mind-boggling extreme

Director: Takashi Miike

Actors: Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori, Shinya Tsukamoto, Shun Sugata, …

Category: Horror

7 January 200611 April 2026 by Roog

Nightmare Detective (2006)

Rating: ★★★

Oct 27, 2010Dream Killer

A clearly more commercial film from cult Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto of Tetsuo: The Iron Man fame. This draws influence from Ring but this lacks much of the obsessive drive of Tsukamoto's other films

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Hitomi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinya Tsukamoto, Masanobu Ando, …

Category: Horror

27 October 201020 January 2025 by Roog

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)

Rating: ★★

Jul 25, 2011Man-Machine Fusion

Shinya Tsukamoto's third Tetsuo film is a disappointingly commercial concession that waters down all of the surrealism and wild sexual fetishism that made the first film so amazing

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto

Actors: Eric Bossick, Shinya Tsukamoto

Category: Science Fiction

25 July 201126 January 2020 by Roog

In Search of Darkness II: A Journey Into ’80s Horror Continues (2020)

Rating: ★★

May 6, 2024Documentary About the 1980s Horror Film

A follow-up to the documentary about the 1980s horror film, this deals with some of the lesser-known and overlooked works that were not covered the first time around

Director: David Weiner

Actors: Nancy Allen, Tom Atkins, Doug Bradley, Joe Bob Briggs, …

Category: Horror

6 May 202414 November 2025 by Roog