Quite a story lies behind this production, since Shinichi Fukazawa had to wait almost 15 years to complete it. Pre-production started in 1995, but Fukazawa then spent ten years shooting over ten hours of footage on Super 8. Editing began in 2005, after the rough 8mm material was transferred to digital video, yet various post-production issues caused further delays. Undeterred by these recurring problems, personal debt, and time lost, Fukazawa finally announced in 2009 that “Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell” was complete.
The story itself is worthy of a true trash classic. Shinji is a bodybuilder who spends his days exercising inside a house he knows is haunted, a fact that does not seem to bother him in the slightest. One day, he receives a call from his ex-girlfriend, now working as a reporter and preparing an article on haunted houses. Shinji agrees to let her visit and take photographs, and she arrives accompanied by a professional psychic. Soon enough, however, it becomes clear that a vengeful ghost resides in the house, harboring a thirty-year-old grudge connected to Shinji’s father. Although they initially manage to fend it off, the spirit eventually possesses the psychic’s body and attacks them again with renewed ferocity.
In terms of style, Fukazawa fully embraces a 1970s low-budget essence and a gory nonsensicality that fans of trash cinema tend to adore. The aesthetics move wholeheartedly in this direction, with the cinematography displaying a distinct VHS-like texture, a quality that extends to both sound and visual effects. As the narrative progresses, the work gradually transforms into a full-blown splatter spectacle, with blood and grotesque imagery dominating the screen. At the same time, the special effects constantly oscillate between the utterly disgusting and the utterly hilarious. Combined with frantic, chaotic editing, all these elements define the extreme experience that “Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell” ultimately becomes.
Comedy and irony are equally essential components and are exemplified in several memorable sequences, such as those in which Shinji’s girlfriend uses her fists to attack the ghost, or when the psychic’s severed body parts assault the two characters separately.
Nevertheless, the sequence that truly stands out involves the clock, where Fukazawa’s blend of absurdity and irony reaches its apogee. Shinji stands in the middle of a room when a wall clock suddenly falls on his head. The incident is clearly unnatural, since the clock could not have moved from the corner of the room to its center. Given the overall tone, I initially dismissed the moment as just another “who cares?” detail typical of trash cinema. However, in the very next scene outside the house, the psychic explicitly comments on the incident, questioning how the clock could have moved and using it as evidence that the house is haunted. This self-aware justification turns an apparent inconsistency into one of the movie’s cleverest jokes.
The performances fit the overall approach perfectly. Shinichi Fukazawa himself plays Shinji as an exaggerated caricature, with his facial contortions serving as the highlight of an intentionally absurd turn. Masaaki Kai embodies the eccentric psychic with fitting excess, while Asako Nosaka portrays the damsel in distress with the same heightened hyperbole, all in tune with the project’s aesthetic aims.
Evidently, “Bloody Muscle Body Builder in Hell” is not for everyone. Fans of trash and splatter, however, will almost certainly adore it.