Writer/ Director Shinya Tsukamoto is a bold mad Japanese mad genius. His films are strong, powerful, and not for everyone. He is darker than even David Lynch. Tsukamoto has plunged into the darkness of death and violence in countless films while using it to bring out one central theme- life is worth living. A SNAKE OF JUNE combined erotic voyeurism with sex and death while VITAL used death to bring a man back to life. Now NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE uses death and violence to wrap around dreams, reality, and life. Keiko Kirashima (Japanese singer Reiko Hitomi) has been reassigned from the NPA (Japan's version of the FBI) to work cases with a local police detective squad (and also sees herself in a red dress in her dreams). A series of gruesome suicides have a link to a caller that the police dub as Zero (Shinya Tskumoto). They make the discovery the people are being murdered in their sleep. Soon Keiko turns to a nightmare detective (Ryuhei Matsuda) who just wants to die, but he has the ability to enter other people's nightmares like Zero can enter people's dreams after they call him and manipulate their dreams.

NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE blurs the line between dreams and reality as the horror settles over the film like a nightmare you can't wake up from. This film continues Shinya Tsukamoto's journey to explore life through death. It is an unsettling film that I can't take my eyes awy from. NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE has characters that are negative or closed off like in Tsukamoto's other films. Hitomi impresses with her first acting role in a movie. I can't wait for the sequel (which is in post-production).

Also please skip the English language dub and watch it in the original Japanese with subtitles. The dub lacks the emotional depth of the performances and I cringe when I hear them call Zero by the name of O. whoops. They should be looking more closely at the dialogue when they dub it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
THE MAKING OF NIGHTMARE DETECTIVE is a 55 minute making of documentary (with 11 chapters) directed by Shinya Tsukamoto that explores the origins of the movie (it was originally thought of as a zombie movie years ago), the casting and characters, the CGI effects and other effects work, and the appreciation the cast has for Shinya Tsukamoto. This interesting documentary is filled with plenty of interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. Also included is the original theatrical trailer.

FINAL ANALYSIS: NIGHTMARE DETCECTIVE delivers another effective atmospheric film from Shinya Tsukamoto.


this DVD review is (c)4-8-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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RELEATED DVD Reviews:

VITAL

A SNAKE OF JUNE

TETSUO: THE IRON MAN