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Guinea Pig :Android of Notre Dame

  Country : Japan
Year: 1989
Genre: Horror
Format: DVD
Running Time: 42 min
Distributor: Unearthed Films
Date reviewed: 3/22/2003
   
Producer: x
Director: Kazuhito Kuramoto

Cast:
Toshihiko Hino ,Mio Takaki ,Tochiro Taguchi ,Yumi Iori

 


Story: "The Android of Notre Dame is a simple tale of a dwarf scientist who's sister is ailing from a life-threatening disease. He has been struggling in his lab with animal research, desperately trying to find the missing link that could make his sibling well again. Contacted by via phone by a mysterious man, he transfers money in exchange for a female human body to experiment on, or a "Guinea Pig". The body proves too old, thus he decides to get something a little more fresh, opening the floodgates for experiments of a more diabolical kind.

Review: This Guinea Pig film certainly has an interesting premise, but right off the bat it seems to get tangled in it's mix of influence. From Frankenstein to Re-Animator, the atmosphere and story is familiar, but in reality this 42 minute movie is just an excuse for gore.

But somewhere there is a mildly compelling story, one that gets muddled in sleep inducing performances and poor production. The lead actor fits nicely in the role of the dwarf scientist simply for the fact that he is a dwarf and wears a scientist outfit. Other than that he just stumbles around and messes with peoples body parts. While this isn't exactly supposed to be Shakespeare, a little more should be expected, even from the small productions. While the scientist seems to care for his sister, he pulls off the whole "I'm really sinister" act poorly. Changing into a heartless scientist for the sake of saving his sister's life, all the while carrying the most laugh-worthy poo eating grin that truly deserves to be smacked off his face.

So with such a tear jerking plot and gag reflex acting, conjured in the depths of hell by maniacal mosquito larvae with atomic typewriters, the one saving grace of this film should be its uncanny ability to make one lose their lunch with exquisite gore, right? Unfortunately, after already falling from grace in the first five minutes, the film manages to burrow underground with slow, dragging scenes of dollar store special effects and more Karo syrup squirting at a snails pace then you can imagine. Attention levels will drop at an alarming rate once the film turns into "Johnny's First Re-Animator Parody".

After all is said and done, there are one or two redeeming qualities in this movie. "Android" has a few laugh out loud moments, and while they are typically at the expense of the movies poor effects and ridiculous acting, they add a little light to this grim, dank cave.

Considering it comes as part of a Double Feature DVD with "Devil's Experiment", you could do worse things with your money, but you can't do too much worse. This movie is borderline entertaining, but at least it's a step in a better direction for the Guinea Pig series. A step away from fake snuff and towards film with an actual resemblance of a plot. Pass on it unless you're extremely masochistic.

DVD [ NTSC, All Region ] :


As part two of the Unearthed films "Guinea Pig" Double Feature, the film is full screen and looks about as good as it's going to, considering the source material. The subtitles are nicely done, and overall this is a decent package for the Guinea Pig collector. You've gotta be out there somewhere.

Reviewed by Joseph Luster

You can purchase this movie at :


Story Cast Entertainment Subtitles Overall
2 1.5 2 5 2


 

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