Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo, or Guinea Pig: Mermaid in the Manhole as it's more commonly known amongst Enlish speaking audiences, starts in the Japanese sewer system where an artist (Shigeru Saiki) likes to go & paint things, for some reason I'm not aware of. One day he discovers a beautiful mermaid (Mari Somei), half Japanese woman, half fish. He decides to paint her but it quickly becomes apparent that spending all her time in the Japnese sewer system isn't doing the mermaids health any good & she starts to develop huge puss filled sacs of diseased flesh on her stomach. The artist takes her back to his place & sticks her in a bathtub filled with water, unfortunately this does not have the desired effect & the mermaids entire body becomes engulfed in these disgusting sacs of rotten flesh which eventually begin to burst. The artist becomes desperate as his beautiful mermaid is rotting away in front of his very eyes!
This Japanese production was directed by Hideshi Hino & I'm not really sure what to make of it or who it's supposed to appeal to, the entire Guinea Pig series of films seem to exist for no other reason other than a pointless exercise to test the endurance levels of it's audience out. The script is far removed from reality although it does try to redeem itself with a really sick & unpleasant twist ending that seems to contradict itself. Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo seems to exist for no other purpose other than to try & gross it's audience out at every available opportunity, which when I think about it isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means! It's hard to know what to make of it & as long as you know what your letting yourself in for I suppose it's quite good in a sick, perverse & bizarre sort of way. At only an hour or so in length it moves along at a fair pace & certainly grips the viewer as you want to know how this thing is going to end. The dialogue is sparse & little attempt is made at characterisation, but the filmmakers include just about enough to get by with.
Director Hino doesn't do anything special in the film-making department, this thing has all the style & class of a TV soap opera. The gore is plentiful, the puss filled sores & sacs on the mermaids body really are gross, that is until they burst & start oozing blue, purple, green, yellow & white liquid when it becomes more comical. One thing this film uses are slimy worms, boy the filmmakers must have used 100's if not 1000's of the things! They start to slime & crawl their way out of the mermaids wounds & totally cover her, if you don't like slimy creepy crawlies then Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo isn't for you as there's loads of them. The nasty climax features a total body dismemberment, severed limbs, hacked out foetus's, a popped out eye, scalp removal & plenty of internal organs. Most of it's pretty disgusting & Hino doesn't mind long lingering close-ups of the action.
Technically the film looks cheap throughout, it's point & shoot stuff. The special make-up effects range from gross to absurd but most of the time they are well realised. I never comment on the acting on subtitled films but I'm sure the material doesn't lend itself too well for a great performance, that female buck toothed neighbour was highly annoying though.
Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo is a strange film, I can't really say it's a good film but I can't say it's a bad one as I thought it was OK & took a certain amount of sick pleasure from it but I personally wouldn't want anyone I know to watch anything like this. Equal parts disgusting, strange & pointless. One more thing, that guy's carpet must have been rank by the end of the film! I mean he could have put some newspaper down or something, right?
This Japanese production was directed by Hideshi Hino & I'm not really sure what to make of it or who it's supposed to appeal to, the entire Guinea Pig series of films seem to exist for no other reason other than a pointless exercise to test the endurance levels of it's audience out. The script is far removed from reality although it does try to redeem itself with a really sick & unpleasant twist ending that seems to contradict itself. Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo seems to exist for no other purpose other than to try & gross it's audience out at every available opportunity, which when I think about it isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means! It's hard to know what to make of it & as long as you know what your letting yourself in for I suppose it's quite good in a sick, perverse & bizarre sort of way. At only an hour or so in length it moves along at a fair pace & certainly grips the viewer as you want to know how this thing is going to end. The dialogue is sparse & little attempt is made at characterisation, but the filmmakers include just about enough to get by with.
Director Hino doesn't do anything special in the film-making department, this thing has all the style & class of a TV soap opera. The gore is plentiful, the puss filled sores & sacs on the mermaids body really are gross, that is until they burst & start oozing blue, purple, green, yellow & white liquid when it becomes more comical. One thing this film uses are slimy worms, boy the filmmakers must have used 100's if not 1000's of the things! They start to slime & crawl their way out of the mermaids wounds & totally cover her, if you don't like slimy creepy crawlies then Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo isn't for you as there's loads of them. The nasty climax features a total body dismemberment, severed limbs, hacked out foetus's, a popped out eye, scalp removal & plenty of internal organs. Most of it's pretty disgusting & Hino doesn't mind long lingering close-ups of the action.
Technically the film looks cheap throughout, it's point & shoot stuff. The special make-up effects range from gross to absurd but most of the time they are well realised. I never comment on the acting on subtitled films but I'm sure the material doesn't lend itself too well for a great performance, that female buck toothed neighbour was highly annoying though.
Za Ginipiggu 4: Manhoru no Naka no Ningyo is a strange film, I can't really say it's a good film but I can't say it's a bad one as I thought it was OK & took a certain amount of sick pleasure from it but I personally wouldn't want anyone I know to watch anything like this. Equal parts disgusting, strange & pointless. One more thing, that guy's carpet must have been rank by the end of the film! I mean he could have put some newspaper down or something, right?