Ex-criminal Osamu (Takahiro Fukuya) has left his wicked ways behind for a life of odd jobs and popping a squat in his dilapidated living quarters… because calling this shit an “apartment” would be far, far too much of an exaggeration.
Fucking that all up is the return of former criminal colleague Inui (Yota Kawase) into Osamu’s life… an event that immediately turns into a nightmare as Inui forces the meeker Osamu into kidnapping their ol’ acquaintance Koyuki (Misa Wada) to become the rotten bastard’s sex slave.
Eventually Inui ends up getting everyone in over their heads with the local crime boss’ thugs which results in Inui buying the farm, and Osamu getting an arm hacked off via katana.
Luckily for him, Koyuki knows a black-market plastic surgeon who performs a procedure that results in Osamu possessing a rather large, bone-claw tipped monster hand that can at times drive him into an uncontrollable rage… which he uses to absolutely eviscerate those same thugs shortly thereafter.
Because crime lords tend to not look kindly on their foot soldiers being ripped to pieces, Osamu and the now pregnant Koyuki flee far away… but those dark pasts have a way of catching up with you…
Coming from filmmaker Taichiro Natsume (Love Shark), The Beast Hand is part gritty, unpleasant crime drama and part gory sci-fi comic book tale… which while making the tone and pace somewhat uneven at times, results in an entertaining, unique end result all the same.
The budget here is low, which works greatly in the film’s favor as the rough surroundings seem genuine, the effects suitably D.I.Y, over-the-top, and practical (which is one of my all-time fav combos!), and the narrative is incredibly rough (in content) at times, especially where Wada’s Koyuki is concerned… which would be hard pressed to sail in a production with more cash on the line to recoup.
There is also a surprising undercurrent of sweetness to the relationship between Osamu and Koyuki’s relationship… and while it exists in an environment rife with incredible violence and poverty, it remains, at times, beautiful at it’s core.
Moving on to the special features to be found on this Blu-ray release from Cleopatra, things are decidedly on the light side, with two Japanese promo clips, a slideshow, and the film’s trailer (along with trailers from other Cleopatra releases) being the only offerings.
Also the box-art for this release, while totally kick ass, doesn’t represent what goes on in this flick at all, as it features a zombie dressed in traditional Japanese garb wandering a rainy metropolis, as another zombified limb appears to block his progress… nothing in this film resembles that image in anyway, and is in fact much, much more bizarre… but such is the low-budget horror biz…
Disturbingly rough, punctuated with spurts of manga-styled ultra-violence, and displaying a fierce, punk rock aesthetic; The Beast Hand is underground Japanese cinema fried gold!
