Crazy Lips (Japan, 2000)
Official synopsis
Satomi and her family are hounded by the press when her brother is accused of a vicious killing spree. Desperate to prove his innocence, Satomi goes to a psychic for help. The price the psychic asks is far more than she expected, and the answers they give her are nothing she could ever have imagined.
Review
I feel that it’s important to note up front that director Hirohisa Sasaki’s Crazy Lips has no less than four rape scenes, with one involving necrophilia. And that’s not all of the depravity on display, by a longshot. If you are still reading, you may well be either desensitized or curious enough to give this film a watch. The screenplay was written by Hiroshi Takahashi, who also penned Ringu and Ringu sequels, and recently wrote and directed The House of the Serpent (2023). As great and influential as Ringu is, Crazy Lips feels like Takahashi just wanted to get his exploitation movie and violent aspects of roman porno ya-yas out. This tale of a family whose privacy is invaded by press and onlookers outside their house and by a psychic and her assistant inside their home when one of the members is suspected of being a serial killer boggles the mind as it assaults the senses. The attempts at humor are pretty much canceled out by the violence against women, but there is a song sequence and a kung fu battle that further adds to the bizarre tonal shifts. Chalk this one up as one that people have to see to believe, but potential viewer beware.
Gore from Outer Space (Japan, 2001)
Official synopsis
Just before being led to the electric chair for the murder of her daughter Misato, Satomi tells her story to a nun. It began with no one believing Satomi’s story of the kidnapping of her daughter. When the police are called in to investigate, Satomi’s husband tells them they have no daughter. From there we are led onto a wild ride with psychics, dirty politicians, headless corpses, strange Jello eating FBI agents and more.
Review
Who would have thought that Crazy Lips would spawn a sequel, and that the sequel would be a far better crafted and more evenly focused effort? Takahashi and Sasaki, I suppose. The duo pulled off quite a feat with Gore from Outer Space, a tale of a woman suspected of killing her daughter, who may have been taken by extraterrestrials posing as politicians and their supporters. A big problem is that her husband denies that they ever had a daughter. Here, the filmmaking duo hone in on the comedy much more clearly and tone down the violence against women significantly. The characters and events lean harder into the wacky and far less so into the mean spirited.
Potential viewers interested in the outré will likely want to view both films, but for those less inclined, Gore from Outer Space works on a standalone basis.
Director-approved restorations of Crazy Lips and Gore from Outer Space are available on limited edition Blu-ray from Third Window Films from September 14, 2026. For more information, visit https://thirdwindowfilms.com/films/crazy-lips-gore-from-outer-space/.
