Grim Highlight: The woman's bleeding neck Tetsuo: The Iron Man is gross. It's a movie that establishes its grossness early on, yet the audience is still unaware just how far down the grossness rabbit hole it will go. Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Tetsuo is a cyberpunk exploration of how increasing industrialisation impacts people physically, which is taken to its extreme when a man's body begins to merge with metal machinery. Once again, there are multiple scenes that could fit on this list from the film, but the one that most aptly fits into the gore category is the first fight between the man and the woman at the train station whose body has been taken over by the person known as the "Metal Fetishist," or the person who becomes the protagonist's enemy and eventual partner in world domination. The narrative is intentionally muddled, but the chase/fight scene between the woman who has become part machine and a protagonist who hasn't yet been transformed deals with the thematic issues of the film as well as providing some of gorier images in the film. Blood spurts out of the woman's neck, and the Japanese businessman is ultimately penetrated by the woman's metal claw. It's a scene that really has to be experienced (and squirmed through) in order to understand the dystopian world Tsukamoto is depicting. Were there any gratuitous scenes that were left out? Let us know in the comments.
Bryan Hickman is a WhatCulture contributor residing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Bryan's passions include film, television, basketball, and writing about himself in the third person.
