Wednesday, September 29, 2010

VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL (2009)

Set in a world where every human has at least 666 gallons of bright red, high-pressure blood in them, VAMPIRE GIRL VS FRANKENSTEIN GIRL tells the story of Monami, a new transfer student to Tokyo High School who just happens to also be a vampire!  She has a crush on Mizushima, who is the kinda-boyfriend of  fellow student Keiko.  Keiko's father is the vice principal and secretly a mad scientist who, in cahoots with the sexy school nurse, is killing students and experimenting on reanimation.  Things happen and Keiko is soon transformed into Frankenstein Girl.  
 
That story sounds silly as hell (and it is), but for whatever reason, I honestly found moments of this film to be emotionally beautiful.  Blood spraying 30 feet in the arm, suicidal girl slicing their wrists to the bone (literally, on camera), non-stop dismemberment and cartoonish violence...but yet, the story was very sad and left me sitting in an introspective daze more than once.
 
I'm normally not a big fan of the wacky-Japanese-over-the-top genre, but VGVFG really connected with me. Imaginative story, quick pace that never lets up for a minute, beautiful girls (especially Yukie Kawamura), high school setting, excellent music that fit very well with the action onscreen (that simple Oasis-style tune that played when Monami was falling was magnificent), insane creatures, masterful direction, a delightful take on the vampire and Frankenstein stories, over exaggerated high school cliques, sexy school uniforms.  I could go about this movie for a long time, but you'd be better suited just leaving this shitty review and watching it for yourself.

Also, there's some fun extras on the blu-ray, including over an hour of footage filmed during the making of the movie! Great stuff.