Fridae

Shinya Tsukamoto is one of the coolest Japanese filmmakers alive. His debut film Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) shocked the world with its nightmarish depiction of people turning into metal as a manifestation of their sado-masochistic instincts. The protagonist, for instance, had a penis that transformed into a massive power drill when he had an erection. When the film was released in 1989, Tsukamoto was instantly praised for his daring and utterly original vision.

His new film, Nightmare Detective, continues to display his impressive powers of imagination. Ryuhei Matsuda plays a man who is able to hear people's thoughts and enter the realms of their dreams. When a number of people are found to have committed suicide by slashing their wrists in their sleep, a detective (Japanese pop singer Hitomi in her acting debut) is assigned to the case. She discovers that all the victims had been dialing a certain mobile number just before they died. When she decides to call the number too, she gets sucked into a bizarre world of shadows and intrigue...

Nightmare Detective is a bold and distinctive film that consistently surprises you with its twists and revelations. Tsukamoto's extreme surreal/expressionistic vision calls to mind the visceral and unnerving images of other maverick directors such as David Cronenberg (Videodrome), David Lynch (Blue Velvet) and Terry Gilliam (Brazil). Whoever said that J-horror is dead is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Queer movie lovers, don't miss this cool, original and utterly thrilling film.