Cyclops (1987) User Reviews

Subs don't help that much.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 27 November 2021]

My fellow IMDb reviewers HumanoidOfFlesh and EVOL666 say that they had trouble following the plot of Japanese body-horror Cyclops because they had no subtitles; I am not surprised since I DID have subtitles and I was still totally confused by what I was watching.

The story, as far as I could fathom, involves the next step in evolution: people born with genetic anomalies to help them adapt to harmful substances in the atmosphere. Most die from these mutations while still in their infancy, but thanks to the work of scientist Keiichi Takozawa, some have survived to adulthood. Doctor Takamori (Kazuhiro Sano), Takozawa's protege, continues to study the next stage in human evolution, his adopted sister Miyuki (Mayumi Hasegawa) being one such mutant. Meanwhile, one-eyed Sonezaki (Kai Atô) tries to prevent Takamori's child from being born (not sure why - just one of the things that confused me about the movie).

For the most part, Cyclops is unremarkable and perplexing stuff; the last fifteen minutes, however, is all-out Japanese craziness, packed with oozing tendrils and mucky appendages. Although I still didn't have a clue what was going on, I'm a sucker for gross-out practical effects and the final quarter of an hour definitely held my interest with its messy mayhem, the fight in a lift between Takamori and Sonezaki being the highlight, the two men's mutated bodies eventually becoming one heaving mass of fleshy confusion in the process.

Not essential viewing for most horror fans, but if you're an admirer of such films as Splatter: Naked Blood, Tetsuo, the Guinea Pig series, or Biotherapy, then it's probably worth 52 minutes of your time.

Late 80's Japanese grue.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 6/10 · 24 March 2010]

A bizarre medical exam of a nude woman by several doctors and scientists reveal that their latest subject has committed suicide before giving birth to one of the mutant creatures they had placed within her body.So an investigative crew of scientists along with a large human mutant cyclops creature head out to the city streets to obtain a new donor/victim in the form of a young girl.I have seen "Cyclops" under the title "The Unborn".I don't speak Japanese,so the plot mostly went beyond me.But there are some crazy gore scenes in this late 80's slimy horror.If you dig Japanese gore flicks like "Biotherapy" or "Guinea Pig" series check this one out.6 out of 10.

Splattery Japanese Bizarrity...

[EVOL666 · 4/10 · 16 March 2010]

Hard for me to rate a film like CYCLOPS (aka THE UNBORN as it's also called on my HK copy...)-because it's a Japanese film with no subs/dubs and I really couldn't follow what was happening at all. 

All I could gather (and even this little bit that I think I understood could be way off...)-was that some scientists are doing weird experiments on people that have something to do with implanting weird things in pregnant women. There's also this strange guy that's dresses like The Terminator who apparently is some kind of one-eyed freak mutant. I'm guessing he's the 'cyclops'. How any of this related into the grand scheme of the film-I'm honestly not sure...

I doubt that being able to understand the storyline of CYCLOPS would have made much difference to me-but I could be wrong, so I'm going to have to go with a middle-of-the- road rating. There were some decent slimy/splattery scenes towards the end-but even at a scant 53 minutes, it felt like the film went on too long. There's not much out there that I can compare this one too-except perhaps other weird low-budget J-splatter fare such as BIOTHERAPY or maybe ORGAN-two other films that also didn't do much for me. If you dig odd-ball Japanese splatter-you may get something from this one. It's not super-gory or anything-but it's got one or two weird scenes and also seems to be relatively rare as I can't seem to dig up a lot of info on it. My main suggestion would be to try to find a copy with subs/dubs so you can at least follow along with the story while waiting for the 'pay-off' scenes which come in the last 10 or so minutes.  Maybe worth a look to fans of weird/rare films-a definite 'pass' for anyone else. 4/10

An outstanding, gnarly climax compensates for sloppy writing. But it shouldn't have to.

[I_Ailurophile · 7/10 · 19 October 2023]

It would be regrettable enough if the film had an average length, but with a runtime of under one hour the disjointed nature of the storytelling comes across as extra messy. Thanks mostly to the flatly presented exposition it remains possible to cobble together some vague notion of the narrative, yet the plot such as it is, the scenes, the characters, and even the dialogue mostly present according to a rhyme and reason that we viewers can only glimpse as through a heavy veil, or otherwise only guess at. Without more concrete foundation for the scenes and characters presented to us they simply come off as sloppy, outlandish, and so poorly written as to sometimes be laughable. By the time the picture is about three-fifths over enough information has been imparted, weakly and piecemeal, that we can make sense of most of what we've been shown so far - though of course, by that point it's already time for the flick to shift gears toward the climax.

I'm not saying that 'Cyclops' is bad, because that's definitely not true. Moreover, if you want blood, gore, violence, and creature effects you'll absolutely get them. They look great, and are genuinely horrific, as they populate the last ten to fifteen minutes; it's obvious not only that these tangible creations are the centerpiece of this abbreviated feature, but that they comprise the entirety of the value that it has to offer. Effects artists Shuichi Kokumai and Yuichi Matsui are to be congratulated for their incredible, gnarly contributions; major studio releases can only dream of churning out monstrosities this convincing, and this ghastly. What I am saying is that I've seen smaller movies do much more with much less. Everything else about the title ranges from serviceable to great: cinematography, editing, acting, art direction, direction, costume design, hair, makeup, music, and so on. I assume, without specific writing credit, that filmmaker Joji Iida is the person who wrote this, or maybe producer Iyo Suzuki. What is their excuse for letting the story be so rough?

What worth this offers becomes self-evident, and I would unreservedly recommend it to anyone who appreciates body horror and creature romps like those we've gotten from Brian Yuzna, David Cronenberg, Shinya Tsukamoto, or John Carpenter, among others. That recommendation comes with a caveat that it's all too clear what was heavily deprioritized in the process of making 'Cyclops,' and since the writing is the first tawdry anchor that the audience has to grasp onto for a preponderance of the length, the viewing experience suffers in kind. Find this, and watch it, and you will not regret doing so. I just wish the filmmakers hadn't let slide so major a facet of their work from the very start.