The Machine Girl (片腕マシンガール, Kataude Mashin Gāru, "One-armed Machine Girl") is a 2008 Japanese horroraction comedy film written and directed by Noboru Iguchi, and starring Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentarō Shimazu and Honoka. The plot follows an orphaned Japanese schoolgirl whose life is destroyed when her brother is killed by a son of a Ninja-Yakuza clan. When her hand is cut off, she replaces it with a makeshift machine gun and seeks revenge.
Special effects were completed by Yoshihiro Nishimura, who went on to direct Tokyo Gore Police. It was initially released in the United States on May 23, 2008 before premiering in Japan on August 2, 2008.
Plot
Ami Hyūga is an average high school girl whose world comes crashing down when her brother Yu and his friend Takeshi Sugihara are killed by bullies, led by Sho Kimura. As Ami tracks down Sho, she discovers that the bullies are associated with a ninja-yakuza family. She goes after the clan for revenge, but they brutally overpower her, cutting off her left arm. Ami escapes and seeks shelter with Takeshi's parents, Suguru and Miki Sugihara, two kindly mechanics who fit her with a multi-barrelled machine gun prosthetic. Ami and Miki (who uses a chainsaw) pursue the clan, massacring them one by one. Their victims' families, meanwhile, band together to get revenge.
Eventually, they reach the Yakuza's hiding place. As the fight continues, Miki loses her right foot and eventually dies. Ami loses her machine gun during her fight with Sho's father Ryūgi Kimura, but gets Miki's chainsaw. Finding Sho with hostages to keep Ami at bay, his mother Violet Kimura manages to disarm Ami while attempting to kill her with her drill bra. Noticing one of the hostages wet himself, Ami takes advantage and trips Violet onto the urine, electrocuting her. She then beheads Sho and Violet. Feeling she has nothing left to live for, she attempts to commit suicide. At that moment, Ami hears noise behind her and turns, sword at the ready.
Production
According to writer and director Iguchi, the idea for The Machine Girl went back to a simple idea he had about a one-armed girl in a bikini looking for revenge. The idea for the machine gun arm came later.[1]
The movie premiered at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival in March 2008. It was released theatrically in the United States on May 23, 2008 and on DVD June 3, 2008, and in Japan on August 2, 2008.[3] The Japanese DVD from Nikkatsu came out January 23, 2009 as a 2 disc set including the short Shyness Machine Girl (hajiraiマシンガール, Hajirai mashin gāru).[4][5] Tokyo Shock, the Media Blaster label which released the original US DVD, announced that they were bringing out a two-disc special titled The Machine Girl Remix on August 4, 2009. The set includes the Shyness Machine Girl short, renamed Machine Girlite.[6]
Reception
The film's reception has been mixed to positive. It currently holds a 63% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from eight reviews.[7]
Rating
The film was rated 18 in countries such as Chile, Peru and Spain because of nonstop gore, bloody action sequences and a rape scene with suggested necrophiliac overtones.[3]
Legacy
A direct-to-video sequel called Shyness Machine Girl (hajiraiマシンガール, Hajirai mashin gāru) was released on January 23, 2009 along with the Japanese DVD of The Machine Girl.[4]
The American electronic music project Machine Girl was named after the film,[8] as well as their song Mg1 sampling a piece of dialogue from the film.
