Battle Heater (1989) User Reviews

Serious commentary or harmless fun (possible spoilers)?

[colestyle10 · 7/10 · 26 January 2004]

Absurdism, caricature, the grotesque and manic physical comedy all feature heavily in this most certainly unique film. To form an opinion of Battle Heater I suppose will depend on what you make of the use of these techniques. Similar in spirit to Alex Cox's Repo Man, the main concern of the film is the demonic Kotatsu that, Little Shop Of Horrors' style, starts devouring any and every human anywhere near it. Technology features heavily in the film, the hero's sidekick worships electricity and uses all his spare time fixing electrical items seemingly beyond repair. The Kotasu that is subsequently fixed turns out to be a killer. Technology versus man? Possibly, but the comic style undermines any pretensions of serious critique. Next door to our hero reside a rock n roll band that constantly terrorize the rest of the building, wanting desperately to be famous. Their fate? Grizzly death. Bearing in mind that the lead actor was in one of Japan's most famous bands is a nice little interplay: an aspiring fictional rock in roll band beating up a real ex rock roll star turned fictional hero? Dangers of fame? Blurring the concepts of reality and fiction? Another wealth of postmodernist concerns? Hmmm. If you were to look in depth I'm sure you could make something out of many such interplays/ juxtapositions but would it really be worth it? Probably not, and I think the slapstick style and comic book effects echo the fact that it's a film that doesn't want to be taken seriously. It could even be a parody of Lynch. But again it shares the most with Repo Man, the absurdity, visual impact and repeating and interlinked themes suggest that there is a subtext scratching at the surface and someone with the time and inclination could argue a very good case for it being worthy of consideration as more than just a wacky horror/comedy.

But I think i'd rather just laugh this time around.

Absolute Madness Of The Best Kind!!

[Movie-Misfit · 8/10 · 2 June 2020]

Absurdity, comic horror, wacky characters and bizarre situations is probably the easiest way to describe director George Iida's 1989 satirical film. I haven't laughed as hard in some time, and had forgotten just how funny and clever this tale of a demonic kotatsu (electric heater), really is. From its opening scene, introducing us to the protagonist in a hilarious car accident that results in his boss using a taser-gun on him, to the electrocution of some elderly neighbours in bed - with said bed prepared as their literal 'death bed' just in case; there's hardly a slow moment in this hilarious film!

Set in a dark and dingy boarding house, where our leading man lives; a handy-man who brings home anything and everything with the ambition to fix it. Having removed a small metal-type seal on his new-found kotatsu, he frees the demonic force that houses itself in the old heater which soon starts to wreak havoc on the apartment block and its people.

Some of these neighbours include a punk-rock band (Bafuko Slump) who also give us a pretty cool musical number, the unfortunate pensioners, and a murderess who is in the middle of cutting up her husband with a carving knife so that her boyfriend can flush little bits of him down the toilet. And more and more crazy characters just keep coming...

For the most of it, Battle Heater is absolutely insane. It plays like a live-action cartoon which I love, but others may be put-off by. As the film rolls on, and the deaths mount up, the heater in question starts gaining fangs and more power, growing larger and deadlier by the minute. We watch via point-of-view of its plug, how it wangles its way around, feeding off the electricity, grabbing people by the ankles, and pulling itself across the room.

Over-the-top performances and insane comic situations run aplenty in a film I can only describe as unique. Think, The Little Shop Of Horrors meets The Happiness Of The Katakuri's directed by Mel Brooks, and you're close to finding out what goes on here. As Joji Iida's second film, its an incredible addition and a genre I only wish he would have stuck to, although pleased he gave us the great follow-up to The Ring, in Spiral, along with Another Heaven and, Dragon Head. He certainly is one of the more original directors I've seen from Japan of past, and I don't think we got enough of his talent.

The ending is as nuts as the rest as our hero turns up in an Aliens-inspired, home-made suit to tackle the monster, resulting in a one-on-one battle to save the day. Madness!

Overall: Lots of fun, lots of laughs, and completely crazy, Battle Heater is a fantastic film and worth a watch!

A great little satire, well worth re-watching

[tpuffies · 8/10 · 25 August 2009]

What could be scarier than having a completely mundane and ubiquitous household appliance suddenly sprout fangs, breathe fire and try to eat you? What could be funnier than watching a monster from the depths of Hell try to devour an unsuspecting punk band? Set in a low-rent boarding house, this movie follows the odd little stories of a cornucopia of personal tragedies, that eventually intertwine in a heroic fight against a demonic force of tremendous evil. During a punk band performance. It's all a subtly but expertly tongue-in-cheek story of misfits, losers and lovingly demented people all colliding in a mixed-up nexus of fate and coincidence.

The pace of the film is subtle and unassuming. The comedy timing and the dialog are first rate. The performances are right on and the characterizations are all well-drawn. You have sympathy for the poor protagonist, who (via an accidental screwdriver plunge through the neighbor's wall that finds a startled and shrieking target) runs afoul of a struggling but eager punk band. You feel sorry for the electrical repairman who seems so accustomed to his failures that, when faced with tremendous supernatural forces, simply takes them in stride and resignedly reaches for his tool box. It's about common people trying to find their way in this chaotic and unforgiving world. Oh, and while they are at it, unbeknownst to them, the building around them is surreptitiously becoming host to a demonic force.

And don't forget the murderess in 2-C who is busy in the kitchen with a tree saw, cutting up the body of her husband, giving flushable pieces to her timid boyfriend who keeps thinking that the remains of the torso might be trying to come back to life.

This is a satire/horror/suspense/concert/slice-of-life movie that unassumingly pokes fun at both comedies and horror movies at one shot. From the ominous appearance of a wandering Buddist monk at the start of the film (who barely dodges a giant, flaming meteorite crashing to the Earth) to the audio commentary explaining how the only way the director could get the money to make the movie was to feature a punk rock band in it, you'll be ensnared by this story of the poignant lives and silly fates that befall this odd lot of miscreants. I got some huge laughs out of this film, and if you are familiar with Japanese cinema at all, you'll really get a kick out of it.