One of the first films I saw which really showed just how freakish and crazy Japanese movies could be was Tetsuo: The Iron Man, which I caught on late night television as a teenager and kickstarted an obsession with extreme horror cinema. Shot in grainy, oversaturated black and white, giving it the feeling of a death metal music video, Tetsuo: The Iron Man takes the body horror formula of filmmakers such as David Cronenberg and Brian Yuzna and throws in a dose of cyberpunk for good measure. If the title reminds you of the character from Akira who transforms into a grotesque bulbous monster, the imagery itself is every bit as outlandish as this film's Tetsuo morphs into a mass of flesh and metal. Director Shinya Tsukamoto reworked the film with a bigger budget in 1992 with Tetsuo: The Body Hammer, although it's glossy full colour look and higher production values don't quite live up to the raw, lofi vigour of The Iron Man.
