Tumbling Doll of Flesh (1998) Poster

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3/10
STORY LINEEE!!!!
M-rates-horror11 May 2022
Warning: Spoilers
It is super hard to find out what actually happens in this movie so here is everything for all the people who want to keep their sanity... A desperate young woman arrives to film a "adult movie". Her (Kana) and her scene partner begin filming. Eventually the directors begin incorperating some BDSM and some anal play, although Kana voices that she has no exsperience in those areas. This escalates to her being drugged and tied up. She flashes in and out of consiousness as her limbs are hacked off untill she is reduced to a "tumbling doll of flesh" . The last bit shows the male actor cutting a hole in Kara's guts and molesting her organs until climax. Anyways have fun with this one.
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4/10
Guinea Pig revisited and some hardcore with mosaics
fertilecelluloid26 December 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Not near as well made as the "Guinea Pig" flicks it was inspired by ("Flowers of Flesh and Blood" or "Devil's Experiment") and not conveying any real philosophy, this video feature, which is barely feature length, adds hardcore sex (with mosaic censoring) to its inspiration. The special make-up effects, which include stomach slitting and disembowelment, are pretty good, if overlit. The amateur feel of the production is a distraction. It all looks cheap and lazy. The lighting is harsh and the sound and editing are sloppy. The simple story involves a porno actress who ends up starring in a real snuff movie. Just when she gets tired of being abused, the real abuse begins. In the film's hero scene, an actor cuts the woman's stomach open in graphic close-up, stuffs his member inside it, and proceeds to do his thing. I didn't find "Psycho - The Snuff Reels" shocking. On the contrary, I found it to be a desperate attempt by amateurs to one-up "Guinea Pig" and its bloody ilk. Interestingly, this was distributed by Aroma, a leading fetish producer.
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5/10
Typical Japanese fiction
owjan-4597919 October 2020
Business as usual for Japanese art house: let's make a Movie that half of the world can't go through because they passed out and the other half would watch it with one eye shut. Some censored pornography plus lots of chuped body part. Well done.
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1/10
I could barely sit through it... because it was so BORING
eschase28 May 2019
I've always seen this movie on lists of the "most disturbing films of all time" and I recently got the chance to watch it, so I went ahead and did so. Yes, this movie is disturbing I suppose, but not in a good way. I've seen most of the big players in the disturbing movie seen (Salo, Martyrs, A Serbian Film, ect.). Those movies managed to be disturbing while also having at least a little bit of artist merit to them, while this movie had NONE. It was boring as hell too. I really wanted to turn it off, but not because I couldn't handle the content of it.

Here's the plot: people shoot porno, porno gets to intense for girl so she quits, on her way out they hit her in the head with a bat, then they torture her to death. Now I'm fine with the idea of this plot, but the main issue here was that there were no CHARACTERS. In the other films I mentioned (except Salo) we get to know the characters before the awful things happen to them, so I actual CARE when this character I've gotten to know has horrible things happen to them. In this movie I didn't even know the girls name. I tried to analyze it for a deeper meaning... maybe a commentary on how the porn industry uses women as objects? Maybe, but I really doubt that is what the director was going for.

I'm giving this movie 3 stars of 10. One star for the minimum I can give, another for the special effects, and one more because it was technically disturbing. It did make me uncomfortable, but it won't weigh on me for days like Salo or Martyrs did.

Even if you like super extreme disturbing movies, I still wouldn't recommend it. Unless you have some kind of sick fetish and get off to this kind of stuff (honestly half way through I started to wonder if this was made just to arouse people with a snuff fetish, so I'll credit it for doing psuedo-snuff decently. It really felt like it was made for psycho's to beat off to), or just need to cross it off your list.
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1/10
what the....
Bitoque25 March 2008
just watched this "film" and it actually made me want to write my first comment on IMDb.com, even though i've been a user for more than 9 years. the reason that i watched this, is because i like splatter films and sometimes i like to test my limits and see what actually still shocks me. first of all, the gore in this film didn't shock me, not even the idea that someone came up with this and made it into a film - what really shocked me, is that there seems to be a market for this kind of crap. don't get me wrong - i'm all against censorship, but this film seems to me like it was made for some kind of fetish crowd that seems to get off on this type of sh*t.it didn't give you that same kind of disgust and guilt that one felt after watching films like "august underground". that film is terrible to watch, but at least you get the feeling that the filmmakers want to show you how disgusting violence is. in the case of "niku daruma", it seems like it was made strictly to arouse people. i prefer films that shock, because they are well done and thought through, like Gaspar Noe's films, or Takashi Miike's, or Funny Games or Man Bites Dog - those films will stick with you for a while. this film i will have forgotten by tomorrow, and the only thing that will stick with me, is the thought, that somewhere out there, there are people getting aroused by watching this sh*t. if you read this, please check yourself into the next hospital or shoot yourself - this of course does not apply to gore hounds, who just love splatter. you're cool! peace
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2/10
Just not for horror fans.
gerard197617 May 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This movie just didn't do it for me. I like horror and splatter movies but this one has very little to do with horror. The effects are cheap and when they chop of one of her feet it looks so fake. The same goes for the other effects like the tongue torture and the gut sex. They could have spent of few extra bucks on the effects.

With lots of sex (with pixelization as in all Japanese movies) this is just a sick fetish porn and there seems to be a market for sick stuff like this. While bloodier, for me it fits in with titles like Squirmfest / Purge and the Genki series. These movies feature girls eating and playing with every fluid that comes out of your body, eating bugs and fish in a gross way and having sex with all kinds of weird animals, like toads, eels and... One look at the covers will tell horror fans to look elsewhere. No horror here,just sick and degrading sex scenes.

Horror fans should avoid this one and are better of checking out Guinea Pig2: Flowers of Flesh and Blood or even August Underground Mordum. While these are not great they at least offer a horror experience and Niku Daruma absolutely fails in that department.
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1/10
pointless
xraymank420 June 2021
No plot to speak of, it might shock if more than a couple of yen were spared for special effects, but they weren't. Any porn before the bad special effects is rendered moot by the obligatory Japanese censorship, so it fails at porn & gore. Typical try-hard shock crap :( I'd have been disappointed if I'd paid for a copy of this!
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1/10
Oh boy...as bad as they get
The_Celluloid_Sage6 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I do actively seek out shock films, not sure if over the years I've just seen everything there is to see or not, and some may say that thrill-seekers etc will always move onto more extreme etc. This can be said about many things in life and while I accept in some cases this can be true, I believe it's a very small percentage and that the majority know right from wrong and have a firm grasp between fantasy and reality. What one may like watching has little to do with what they would personally do. It's a fictional piece at the end of the day and everyone should be allowed to watch what they want within the legal boundaries of things. What is perhaps more worrying, is that there is even a market for this low-budget rubbish.

Also known as: Psycho: The Snuff Reels, here we have a hardcore pseudo-snuff film from Japan. Now the first thing that hits you is the absurdity of the fact that it is pixelated (sure we're all aware of japan's laws by now). It kind of makes a mockery of what they were trying to achieve straight away. Now this may be terribly misogynistic of me, but the lead actress is not even worth watching this trash porn-horror for. The 'acting' is truly horrendous, even by low-budget porn standards. I think the acting in the Invoked was possibly better than this.

The plot is completely non-existent (though the basic plot is girl applies for porn job, eventually ends in her murder and dismemberment). There is a very long build-up....nothing much happens, lots of talking (and no subs for this, not that they are really needed anyway) and some very lame sex scenes. After approximately twenty-five minutes, the only interesting thing caught on camera in this reviewers opinion was a Mitsubishi GT in a car park.

After another lame sex scene the girl tries to leave and is promptly hit over the head with a baseball bat. Up to this point it is always incredibly boring. Some truly bad effects follow (along with more pixelation) and the actual 'snuff' takes place with other crazy/sick things. Now while the notion of what they are doing is horrific, unfortunately the effects don't match and are in most cases laughable. If this kind of thing interests you, stick to The Flowers of Flesh and Blood, it is much better filmed and the effects are far better. Save your time and forget this one.

The Sage's Rating: 1/10
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6/10
Nasty Japanese Fake-Snuff Film
EVOL66616 October 2005
PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS is another sick, super-extreme Japanese gore film. This review will all be a spoiler - there is no story to the film. Also, there was no English audio or subtitles, but I don't think I missed much because of that... Two people are brought in to make a porn video. They do their thing for a while (of course, all the hardcore action is pixelated...) and then they take a break. When they come back, they tie up the girl and have some BDSM type of play, but the chick isn't really digging having dildos shoved in her ass. When they try to give her an enema, she flatly refuses. They take another break, and when she isn't looking, she's hit in the head with a baseball bat. When she wakes up, she's tied to the bed. Someone cuts her foot off and then her arm. They cut her tongue up with some sort of shears then cut a hole in her stomach and play with her intestines. The male porn actor then f!cks her in her gut wound. Then they smash her in the face with a meat cleaver. When that's done, one of the film crew hits the guy over the head and knocks him unconscious also. They cut his nuts off, and that's pretty much it.

This film won't really appeal to any normal person as entertainment. It is definitely sick and disgusting, and is the whole reason I sought this film out, so on that level I was not disappointed. The fact that there is no story at all makes it less enjoyable. I know it's supposed to come off as a snuff film, but it's obviously not real. The tongue scene is obviously fake as are the other gore scenes, but the special effects are decent and it is still VERY rough. Only recommended to fans of AUGUST UNDERGROUND or perhaps FLOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD or DEVIL'S EXPERIMENT from the GUINEA PIG series. 6/10
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For fans of really extreme cinema only...
ultra_tippergore3 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
If you choose to watch a movie with the title "Psycho The snuff reels", you know what kind of sick stuff you can get...or you think so. This Asian movie goes beyond. Forget about those hyped Guinea Pig movies...this is the real deal. This movie is the "real fake snuff".

A porn actress performs in a movie (you know, she is fuc**d) in a movie and then, the real movie in the movie begins...a snuff one! The girl is mutilated, raped in wounds and all kind of sick stuff in that direction. This movie is insane, totally insane, the FX are just great. Be warned: this movie doesn't have nothing like a plot, its just gore, porn and pseudo-snuff Highly recommended for fans of this kind of movie. 9/10
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1/10
sick and senseless
rabksaj18 January 2008
i came across this film on the net by fluke and i was horrified by its content of vivid abuse violence and torture scenes. it was a relief to know it was not real after reading the comments. what dangerously sick animals of a person make something like this and for what purpose goes beyond belief. i was even more shocked to see people appraising the film in the comments section of this site. this is a extremely disturbing film indeed which could change your life forever. the people behind this should be bought to justice asap. today they shown a girl getting raped and butchered on screen tomorrow it could be a child. even its fake or not its very very deathly disturbing,nauseating indeed.
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8/10
nice pseudo snuff movie
Skullcrack17 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
If you were enjoyed by watching "Guinea Pig" - then you'll like this movie to! "Psycho: The Snuff Reels" is a nice pseudo snuff movie with lots of sex elements. Actually the effects are not so realistic like in "Guinea Pig", but its still pretty gory.

"Psycho: The Snuff Reels" contains 70 minutes of sex, fetish and then torture scenes. First 20 minutes is like a normal porno movie. After that you'll see fetish sex scenes. And last one is a torture scene. The guys torture and rape girl - they cut off her legs, hand, tongue... In the end guy rapes girl in her stomach (!) and after that other guy beat him and cut off his balls. Sounds pretty sick, isn't it?:)

Like I said - it's pseudo snuff movie. "Psycho: The Snuff Reels" is pretty rare Japanese movie and as I know it's really hard to find it. But if you are crazy about that sort of films I believe that you can find it!
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7/10
The Most Extreme Torture Porn Ever....
Indyrod27 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Tumbling Doll of Flesh (aka Niku daruma and Psycho: The Snuff Reels) This was on my want list for quite a while, and then I finally scored a copy on Ebay a while back. It's never been on DVD, and what I got from Ebay was a very good quality DVD-R, which I'm quite satisfied with. The movie is I believe the most extreme example of torture porn, with an emphasis on porn. A woman responds to an ad for a porn movie and goes with the producer to a place where it is filmed. The porn is definitely real, with the annoying Japanese pixelation to try and hide the hardcore shots, without much success most of the time. After the porn movie is shot and the actress is ready to leave, she gets clubbed over the head with a baseball bat, and taken back to the room and savagely dismembered in slow shots, and in one of the most disgusting scenes, the male porn guy screws her in an open wound in her chest. This is after both legs have been severed, her arm, and a few other niceities. This movie outdoes the Guinea Pig series by a long shot, in fact, they are not even close to the realism, although cheap gore effects, shown in this movie. This is indeed one of the best fake snuff films I have ever seen, if not the best. Now I must warn you, that if you are not into this stuff, you should stay far far away. This movie is very strong, and with the real sex, it is in a very sick way, erotic to an extent. And I mean, in a very sick way. But wherever you come down on this subject material, this movie brings the goods home, and I would definitely recommend you seek it out. After reading about the movie, I was expecting something very strong, but it exceeded that by a bunch.
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2/10
Not worth your time
shroedingerspuppy27 December 2023
The first half of it is just porn, the second half of it is torture porn. I'm not a moralist, yet I'm not a fan of this sort of films either. There's no story, there's no acting, there's no cinematography. It's not even shocking, because the props are so fake, it's laughable. 'Tumbling Doll of Flesh' is a frequent guest in 'disturbing' movie lists on YouTube, but it's not even disturbing. It's just overhyped and boring.

Yeah, I do realise that some people would be offended by this film, but it's hard to pick a thing someone isn't offended by these days. For me the most difficult part was trying not to fall asleep watching this. If you want to get 'disturbed', there's plenty of films that are more graphic or psychologically harrowing, or both. Maybe 'Tumbling Doll...' is one of the earliest pseudo-snuff films, so it kinda deserves a credit for it, but it still doesn't make It good.
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6/10
Best of the Pseudo Snuff Genre
chelseaabenwell20 July 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Niku Daruma, alternatively titled Tumbling Doll of Flesh, is a movie that follows an adult actress as she takes on a new job in a porno, however, when it gets abusive in nature, she gets cold feet but by then, it's already to late for her to leave. She's soon beaten unconscious and then tortured for the remainder of the movie. It's a pseudo snuff film done right, essentially.

Unlike my last review on August Undergrounds Mordum, this movie actually had a story, which really helped the progression of it as a whole. Unfortunately, there isn't (to my knowledge) a copy online with subtitles, so I did have to watch it in full Japanese. I understood around 25% of the dialogue, but it's not essential to fully understand it as you can gather what is being said through the general tone of the scenes which adds a massive plus to this movie for me.

I think what gives this movie the "disturbing" factor is that all the sex scenes within it are completely real. The only fake parts are the gore (which still actually look real, in my opinion.) Naturally, this isn't a film for the family or for the weak stomached folks out there as there is a lot of sex, violence and extreme gore including stomach-wound rape.

The characters and the scenes out of the main plot are so mundane, which I feel makes it a lot more believable, because it genuinely looks like something a couple of amateur snuff film makers have put together. We're also treated to a storyline, so we fully understand what we're watching and whereas the production value is low, the concept and the execution are fully on point. The fact that there is no remorse for what they are doing really adds in bonus points for it seeming like a genuine snuff film, too.

Think of me what you will for endorsing this movie, but out of all the pseudo snuffs out there, Niku Daruma is the one to watch. It is 18+ and can only be found online so don't go into this with the heart of a Disney character. It's dark, it's disgusting but I found it to be better than most shock horrors out there.
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8/10
Truly vile and sickening Japanese pseudo-snuff film.
HumanoidOfFlesh17 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
"Tumbling Doll of Flesh" by Tamakichi Anaru is a Japanese shocker about three thugs who sexually abuse,torture and dismember a young woman whilst filming their horrible actions.Typically twisted Japanese porno sickie that offers plenty of sadistic sexual violence and grisly gore.There is no plot to speak of,just plenty of hard core sex scenes(optically censored again)and lots of blood.The special effects are quite impressive-the dismemberment of Japanese porn actress is shown in unflinching detail.The tongue cutting scene really made me squirm.Her arm is also chopped off and her stomach is graphically sliced open and finally one of the sickos is having sex with her intestines."Psycho:The Snuff Reels" actually reminds me "Guinea Pig:Flowers of Flesh and Blood",but it's not as memorable.So if you're a fan of ultra-depraved Japanese sickies like "All Women Are Whores" or "Raping My Virgin Slave" give this one a look.8 out of 10.
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8/10
True Art of gore
rio_riffall25 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is like Jav+Guinea pig series , but more nasty A genre twist
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8/10
Porn , bondage and dismemberment
sevdah18 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
First of all , you should watch this only if you don't mind the lack of subtitles , pornography , kinky sex and utter , horrifying and truly shocking depravity . I mentioned kinky sex , but to call sex in the second half of the movie " kinky " would be a great understatement . It's more like a punch in the face if you aren't prepared for this sort of sickness . That being said , I can go back to reviewing this morbid piece of pseudo - snuff genre brought to us by our fellow Japanese .

The plot seems to be fairly basic , almost nonexistent : a girl is hired to perform in amateur porn movie . Don't expect much in first 30 - 40 minutes . There is some dialog - if you don't speak Japanese it's not going to mean much to you - that seems to be an occasional chatting between the girl and the crew & performer , then there is some porn ( straight sex ) , and after the scene is finished the performers and the crew take a break . And then ... it starts to happen .

It seems that the girl is talked into performing one more scene - this time tied with the rope . The abuse begins : whipping , slapping , hot wax ... In the end , girl breaks down and cries . They untie her .

Then we see performers and crew sitting at the table as if nothing had happened - except for the girl . She is visibly shaken and looks like she wants to leave . She walks to the door , sits on the floor to put her shoes on ... and that's when hell breaks loose .

She is hit in the head with the baseball bat , her wound is treated , she is tied to the bed . What ensues can be briefly described ( I'm not going to spoil everything for you ) as rape during dismemberment . Think of " Flower of flesh and blood " , mix it with porn and you will get the idea .It goes on for about 20 minutes or so . SFX are very good , makeup too . Everything is shown , with no mercy for the viewer . You have been warned .

I thought " Visitor Q " was a very sick movie . After watching " Niku daruma " it looked like a fairytale to me .This movie is so sick , so depraved , so twisted , so disgusting that the harshest words pale in comparison to it's finale . Too bad it's released only on VHS so there are no subtitles available . But the movie still works without them . So , if you are into ultra sickness , extreme sadism and other beauties of this beloved genre , check this out . I hope you won't have nightmares .8/10 .
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10/10
Torture Porn lovely work of art.
Devours_Flesh1 April 2019
Filmed murder and sexual gratification. Always a lovely combo.
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10/10
Brought Me To Tears!
virtualgamerxd23 September 2022
This movie was such an inspiration and got me closer to our lord and savior Jesus Christ. I felt so humbled and uplifted with this amazing family friendly movie! Such a GOOD movie to watch with your kids and family MAYBE EVEN AT CHURCH! Overall this movie was a thrill and personally I cannot wait for another! I absolutely love this adorable gracious movie. I forgot to add how much this movie means to a Christian such as myself because it is so in tune with my beliefs. I would recommend anyone to watch this movie at school, sleepovers, with your lover, at a local cookout and with anyone you can watch it with! 10/10.
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