My God, this movie's savage! A young prodigy, Eiji(Sadao Abe), has created an experimental painkiller which increases endorphins in the brain(..his dream was to bring eternal happiness, a goal paying homage to his eccentric scientist father who was in search of eternal joy into the "light")which reverses the natural order of the bodies reaction to pain. If one inflicts pain to themselves(..or others in Rika's case)it is an addictive pleasure that grows.
Eiji's mother, Yuki(Masumi Nakao)is experimenting with a new drug on three voluntary test subjects hoping to develop a method of combating a potential pregnancy(..her desire is to tackle overpopulation on the earth). Eiji decides to test his serum by intermingling his drug with Yuki's with startling(..and quite unpleasant)results. The three girls react differently to the endorphin drug according to their own personal weakness. Misa Aika is an insomniac loner named Rika who has a "sleep installation device" which allows her to experience dream-like hallucinations. She discovers Eiji spying on her with his video recorder and starts up a friendship with the kid. Rika admits she hates people and once the drug kicks in she assaults her colleagues, the girls who also served as unwilling participants in Eiji and Yuki's hybrid concoction. Yumika Hayashi loves to eat(..it's all she thinks and talks about)soon cannibalizing herself! Mika Kirihara is a model obsessed with maintaining a perfect figure and beauty soon piercing her body with needles and other sharp items(..she reacts towards her body, because she "hates" herself, or that's my opinion).
The violence is quite unnerving and grisly, to say the least. A hand is purposely placed in cooking grease and chewed into. The tip of a breast nipple is carved apart by a knife and eaten(..not to mention, an eyeball is gouged out by a fork, plucked from the socket, and fed upon slowly, the recipient savoring every bite). I won't even bother elaborating on vagina violence and it's meal to the one victimizing herself. We also witness a screwdriver used to penetrate through the flesh of an arm, and a stomach is opened up by a scalpel! There are even weirder moments in the film concerning Yuki's husband's fate and his "return." We see an entire body enter the hole of a victim's stomach, closing himself in! And, the symbolic use of a cactus(!) also has a part within the story of Rika. Rika suffered a "menstrual shock" which is said to have caused her sleeping disorder(..while also causing sensitive hearing which makes even the slightest sounds of bugs within a flowery garden path agonizing). She has a theory regarding the cactus and it's therapeutic effects on the one who "melds" with it.
Strange experience; the gore-scenes are incredibly repulsive and explicit. Director Hisayasu Sato, who I am not familiar with, has created quite a profound character study using violence in a very atypical way to tell his story. Sato pulls no punches and takes no prisoners, but has a very methodical approach in regards to developing his story.
Eiji's mother, Yuki(Masumi Nakao)is experimenting with a new drug on three voluntary test subjects hoping to develop a method of combating a potential pregnancy(..her desire is to tackle overpopulation on the earth). Eiji decides to test his serum by intermingling his drug with Yuki's with startling(..and quite unpleasant)results. The three girls react differently to the endorphin drug according to their own personal weakness. Misa Aika is an insomniac loner named Rika who has a "sleep installation device" which allows her to experience dream-like hallucinations. She discovers Eiji spying on her with his video recorder and starts up a friendship with the kid. Rika admits she hates people and once the drug kicks in she assaults her colleagues, the girls who also served as unwilling participants in Eiji and Yuki's hybrid concoction. Yumika Hayashi loves to eat(..it's all she thinks and talks about)soon cannibalizing herself! Mika Kirihara is a model obsessed with maintaining a perfect figure and beauty soon piercing her body with needles and other sharp items(..she reacts towards her body, because she "hates" herself, or that's my opinion).
The violence is quite unnerving and grisly, to say the least. A hand is purposely placed in cooking grease and chewed into. The tip of a breast nipple is carved apart by a knife and eaten(..not to mention, an eyeball is gouged out by a fork, plucked from the socket, and fed upon slowly, the recipient savoring every bite). I won't even bother elaborating on vagina violence and it's meal to the one victimizing herself. We also witness a screwdriver used to penetrate through the flesh of an arm, and a stomach is opened up by a scalpel! There are even weirder moments in the film concerning Yuki's husband's fate and his "return." We see an entire body enter the hole of a victim's stomach, closing himself in! And, the symbolic use of a cactus(!) also has a part within the story of Rika. Rika suffered a "menstrual shock" which is said to have caused her sleeping disorder(..while also causing sensitive hearing which makes even the slightest sounds of bugs within a flowery garden path agonizing). She has a theory regarding the cactus and it's therapeutic effects on the one who "melds" with it.
Strange experience; the gore-scenes are incredibly repulsive and explicit. Director Hisayasu Sato, who I am not familiar with, has created quite a profound character study using violence in a very atypical way to tell his story. Sato pulls no punches and takes no prisoners, but has a very methodical approach in regards to developing his story.