Adapted from a manga series, this slab of lurid, pervy, blood-soaked silliness from cult Japanese director Sion Sono is kind of a hoot. Positing a sound-stage-enclosed version of Tokyo whose every district is controlled by a different colourfully dressed gang, it’s a nearly all-rapping musical of sorts where the characters sing-through the dialogue. The hitherto antagonistic tribes must unite to fight off a threat from the evilest of them all, cannibal yakuza overlord Buppa (Riki Takeuchi, achieving loony levels of overacting) and his sadistic sons. At one point, said offspring are set on raping a mysterious newcomer (Nana Seino), who it turns out is keen to shed her virginity because then her Satanic high-priest father won’t be able to use her as a human sacrifice. It’s that kind of film. Amusingly tacky and offensive though it is, proceedings grow a bit monotonous, because all the tunes have pretty much the same beat and everything is pitched at the same hysterical, OTT level.
