Helldriver Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Helldriver Blu-ray Movie Review

Halley's vomit.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 19, 2011

Yoshihori Nishimura evidently doesn’t know the meaning of the word “restraint.” Initially a makeup and special effects director, Nishimura’s directorial oeuvre has included such blood and guts soaked fare as Tokyo Gore Police, Mutant Girls Squad and Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. Helldriver is everything fans of Nishimura have come to expect from one of his films, namely an incredibly violent “splatter”-fest that is nonetheless kind of goofily enjoyable in its own hyperbolic, balls to the wall way. If you imagine John Belushi’s Bluto character in National Lampoon’s Animal House reinvented as an auteur, you might have some inkling of the sort of frat-boy ethos Nishimura brings to his filmmaking (and Nishimura himself encourages viewers to swig down a beer while while viewing Helldriver in a brief introduction included on this Blu-ray). But perhaps somewhat unbelievably, there’s a more “serious” director being evoked in Helldriver, at least with regard to one of that director’s most controversial films, namely Oliver Stone and his Natural Born Killers. While there’s only the flimliest of threads tying the two films together in terms of plot or characters, what the two inarguably have in common is an over the top stylistic propensity that basically bashes the viewer between the eyes, providing one outlandish and violent scene after another, with a number of out there cultural references zinging by at the speed of sound. Helldriver, like Natural Born Killers, is a lurid, violent and noisy film that takes no prisoners, and individual responses are going to be directly proportional to how much sensory overload any given viewer can handle.

Usually it’s a nuclear holocaust which creates some kind of dystopia in any number of Japanese films, and so kudos must be given to Nishimura for instead choosing the effects of massive meteor as leading to an infestation of zombies which overtakes large swaths of the island nation. The ash which erupts from the meteor’s impact like some kind of interstellar upchuck has an unexpectedly nefarious side effect which creates a horde of flesh-hungry undead, resulting in the sequestering of the northern half of Japan. Playing into this main plot arc is the story of Kika (Yumiko Hara), a young Japanese schoolgirl who arrives home one day to see her father being eaten (yes, eaten) by her crazed mother Rikka (Eihi Shiina, Audition) and her brother, two serial murderers who are on the run from police. Rikka goes after Kiki and is about to kill her when the meteorite deposits a huge Death Becomes Her-sized hole in Mom’s chest and stomach. Before Rikka can expire, she manages to rip Kiki’s heart out of her body and insert it into her own (it saves so much on medical bills when you can do it yourself). The two are almost instantly enveloped in a sort of amber crystalline substance at almost the same moment that the zombie element starts arising.

Suffice it to say that neither Kika nor Rikka are quite dead yet, and their dual reanimation sets up the main conflict of the film, though Kika is “made better than she was” with the addition of a chainsaw and kick-ass fighting abilities as she takes on not just Mom, but all sorts of nefarious zombies. Helldriver obviously doesn’t have a lot on its mind other than completely gratuitous splatter and gore, and for those who like that sort of thing, the film is surprisingly funny and so completely over the top that it’s hard to come down too hard on it, despite its occasional incoherence and nonstop breathless quality.

If you’ve seen any of the recent glut of what can only be termed a “new, improved” generation of Japanese B-movies, you’ll already have a good idea of the crazy quilt combination of ultra-arch acting with just plain nutty special effects. When zombie heads are sliced off early in the film, blood just continues to gush for what seems like minutes. Later in the film in another incredibly bloody sequence, there’s so much of the red stuff spurting everywhere it ends up completely covering the camera lens and obscuring any view of what’s actually going on.

Helldriver is so outlandish and outrageous that it ends up being an incredible amount of fun, despite its lack of usually essential things like dramatic flow and character. This is nothing less than a comic book come to life, a kind of methamphetamine fueled version of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (which evidently—and obviously— inspired Nishimura). There’s nothing even in the slightest bit pretentious about this outing, and that proves to be its greatest saving grace. The actors are all thankfully in on the joke, and play this material for all it’s worth. Nishimura obviously has a somewhat narrow focus at this point in his career, but it is probably safe to say he is the reigning champion right now of Japanese gore-splatter films, and Helldriver may well go down in history as his magnum opus.

Helldriver Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: It is the policy of Blu-ray.com not to post overly violent or gruesome screencaps, which made uploading 20 images from this film a bit of a challenge, since it is virtually nonstop violence and gruesomeness. There are a couple of potentially scary images in the last few screencaps posted here, so those with squeamish systems are forewarned.

Helldriver is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Shot on hi-def video and then completely manipulated in post, Helldriver can't be graded on how "natural" or "lifelike" or even "filmic" it looks, for truth be told it bears very little resemblance to nature, reality or traditional film. Contrast is repeatedly pushed throughout the film to the point of posterization, and as with the similarly pushed Kick-Ass, frequently the characters' jet black hair is glistening with smears of purple. Colors are intentionally tweaked to outlandish proportions, so that reds and whites blooms while the rest of the palette seems pallid by comparison. At other points, yellows and greens are pushed to absolutely lurid levels. Throughout this all, despite the film's shiny smooth texture, there's some incredible fine detail and overall sharpness and clarity are exemplary. Blacks are somewhat inconsistent due to the contrast pushing, leading to some loss of shadow detail at times if not outright crush. If you relax into the ambience that Nishimura was obviously going for, this video presentation is largely stellar within the confines of its very odd presentation.

Helldriver Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Helldriver's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (in the original Japanese) is a nonstop sonic assault that should delight lovers of the loud, boisterous and aggressive sound mixes that typically dot the American cineplexes during the summer blockbuster months. The film boasts really impressive LFE, with floorboard shattering strength at times, and a wealth of fun and inventive sound effects, including everything from the oozing gooey sound of a heart being squished to the roar of an attacking chainsaw. There's consistent and quite involving immersion throughout this track, with sound effects pummeling the listener from the side and even the rear channels. Fidelity is top notch, though dynamic range is somewhat limited simply because the film's sound design is so over the top so much of the time. Dialogue and the pulsing underscore are presented cleanly and clearly and are well prioritized in the overall mix.

Helldriver Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Director's Introduction (1080i; 00:31). What can you say about a director who introduces his film by saying it has "lots of stuff in it"?
• Helldriver Dokata (1080i; 11:17) is a sort of sequel set 100 days after the feature ends.
• Catch Me if You Can (1080i; 11:23) is another spinoff, dealing with another infestation of poisonous zombie- creating ash.
• Bailout! (1080i; 19:11) is the third spinoff short, dealing with survivors in the dangerous northern territories.
• Sushi Typhoon Invades Tokyo (1080i; 20:06) is a promo piece highlighting the domestic (i.e., Japanese) launch of Sushi Typhoon in July 2011.
• Trailer (HD; 2:02)
• More Sushi is a series of trailers for other Sushi Typhoon releases.

Helldriver Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm not a huge fan of splatter films, but the great thing about Helldriver is it's so patently silly so much of the time, the gore and violence are a lot easier to take. The film is just downright goofy almost all of the time (when was the last time you saw a film whose "opening credits sequence" came around 48 minutes into the proceedings?) and that offers a certain distance from the blood and guts that makes the film just plain outlandish fun. There's obviously nothing very deep here, other than the wounds inflicted on various zombies and the occasional human. Nishimura keeps the silliness going right through the ending credits (which thankfully do come at the end of the film), setting up what might be seen as the foundation for a sequel. Helldriver 2, anyone? With the major caveat that this is not a film for the squeamish or easily upset and/or offended, Helldriver comes Recommended.