12 Movies Directed by Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Tetsuo, the Iron Man

Tetsuo, the Iron Man

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1989-07-01

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

67 min

Rated:

NOT RATED

IMDB Ratings:

(13287 Reviews)

Genres:

HorrorSci-Fi

Fullplot:

A strange man known only as the "metal fetishist", who seems to have an insane compulsion to stick scrap metal into his body, is hit and possibly killed by a Japanese "salaryman", out for a drive with his girlfriend. The salaryman then notices that he is being slowly overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding and guiding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Tetsuo II: Body Hammer

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1997-08-15

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

83 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

6.4 (2898 Reviews)

Genres:

HorrorSci-Fi

Fullplot:

Sequel to "Tetsuo" this time has the Iron Man transforming into cyberkinetic gun when a gang of vicious skinheads kidnap his son. When the skinheads capture him, they begin to experiment on him...speeding up the mutative process!

Tokyo Fist

Tokyo Fist

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1998-05-22

Languages:

Japanese, English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

87 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.2 (2097 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Hisashi Saito (story)

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (story)

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A businessman, Tsuda, runs into a childhood friend, Tajuki, on the subway. Tajuki is working as a semiprofessional boxer. Tsuda soon begins to suspect that Tajuki might be having an affair with his fiancèe Hizuru. After an altercation, Tsuda begins training rigorously himself, leading to an extremely bloody, violent confrontation.

Bullet Ballet

Bullet Ballet

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1999-12-18

Languages:

Japanese, English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

87 min

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (1524 Reviews)

Fullplot:

A man sees his life changed for ever when his fiancee shoots herself. Baffled, he wants by all means to obtain such a weapon of destruction and he finds himself caught in a violent group of young vicious punks. They first beat him severely and then he seeks revenge with his fist, then with a gun.

Sèseiji

Sèseiji

Basic Info:

Released Date:

1999-09-15

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

84 min

IMDB Ratings:

(1716 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Rampo Edogawa (short story "Sèseiji: Aru shikeishè ga kyèkaishi ni uchiaketa hanashi")

Fullplot:

Yukio is living a charmed life: he is a respected young doctor with a successful practice and a beautiful wife. His only problem is that his wife is suffering from amnesia, and her past is unknown. Things begin to fall apart, however, when both his parents die suddenly, killed by a mysterious stranger with Yukio's face. Only when Yukio confronts this stranger will the mystery of his identity, and his wife's past, be revealed.

A Snake of June

A Snake of June

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2003-06-13

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

77 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

7.1 (2923 Reviews)

Fullplot:

Rinku is a suicide-prevention counselor, living with her husband Shigehiko. He's older than she, scrubbing things constantly, sexually indifferent. They sleep apart. During Tokyo's rainy season, Iguchi, a photographer Rinku has counseled by phone, sends her pictures he has taken through her skylight: she's wearing a short skirt, masturbating. He offers her the negatives if she'll follow his instructions. She's humiliated and agrees. He tells her he's only giving her license to express her inner desires. He sends her into the night to walk on the wild side. Then, she asks a favor of him, and soon her husband receives phone calls and photographs. Where will this triangle lead?

Vital

Vital

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2004-12-11

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

86 min

Rated:

R

IMDB Ratings:

(2250 Reviews)

Fullplot:

After a tragic car accident where his girlfriend Ryèko Ooyama (Nami Tsukamoto) died, Hiroshi Takagi (Tadanobu Asano) suffers amnesia with his memories completely blanked. When he sees a book about dissection, he decides to join the medical school with the support of his parents. In the dissection class, his group participates of the autopsy of a young woman, and while cutting apart the tissue, he partially recalls his accident. Later, when he sees a tattoo in the arm of the corpse, he discloses that she was his girlfriend and becomes obsessed to go further in the examination of the body.

Haze

Haze

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2005-10-01

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

49 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.8 (1753 Reviews)

Fullplot:

A man wakes up to find himself locked in a tiny, cramped concrete room, in which he can barely move. He doesn't remember why he is there and where he came from. He has a terrible stomach injury and is slowly bleeding to death. He begins to explore the narrow confines of his prison and crawls around the maze-like room, only to see a horrible vision of hell waiting for him at each end of the room. Finally he gives up on the struggle and collapses in exhaustion. Then he begins to remember images from his past. Clinging to these images he creeps forward with the last ounces of his strength and meets a woman in a place that stinks of rotting corpses. The man and the woman both try to recall where they came from, but their memories are so uncertain that they are not even sure they want to return. The man is ready to give up but the woman insists on going forward. Neither of them can imagine the incredible end to the journey.

Nightmare Detective

Nightmare Detective

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2007-01-13

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

106 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.3 (1902 Reviews)

Cast:

Writer:

Hisakatsu Kuroki

Shin'ya Tsukamoto

Fullplot:

Three people in Tokyo take a surreal voyage of self-discovery through memory and nightmares. "O" intends suicide while talking on a cell-phone with a stranger he meets on line who plans a simultaneous suicide. Events take a horrifying turn. Keiko Kirishima is a cool, seemingly emotionless police detective, brilliant but off-putting. She's faced with two mutilated corpses who appear to have killed themselves, but she's not sure. A cell-phone number links the deaths. She calls on Akumu Tantei, a poor and suicidal young man who has the ability to enter people's dreams. He's reluctant to help. His past haunts him. A subconscious duel of terror and blood awaits the three.

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man

Basic Info:

Languages:

English

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

71 min

IMDB Ratings:

5.7 (1141 Reviews)

Genres:

ActionSci-Fi

Cast:

Writer:

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Hisakatsu Kuroki (screenplay)

Fullplot:

Losing his son Tom in a hit and run triggers violent emotions in Anthony, whose body begins to transform. When the driver who killed Tom reappears, Anthony mutates into a mass of metal - a human weapon fuelled by an uncontrollable rage.

Kotoko

Kotoko

Basic Info:

Released Date:

2012-03-02

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

91 min

IMDB Ratings:

6.6 (710 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaHorror

Cast:

Writer:

Cocco (original story)

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Fullplot:

The story of a single mother who suffers from double vision; caring for her baby is a nerve-wrecking task that eventually leads her to a nervous breakdown. She is suspected of being a child abuser when things get out of control and her baby is taken away.

Fires on the Plain

Fires on the Plain

Basic Info:

Languages:

Japanese

Countries:

Japan

Runtime:

87 min

IMDB Ratings:

(188 Reviews)

Genres:

DramaWar

Cast:

Writer:

Shohei Ooka (novel)

Shin'ya Tsukamoto (screenplay)

Fullplot:

A Japanese soldier endures illness, starvation and brutality in the Philippines at the tail end of WW2.

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