Tetsuo: The Iron Man



Tetsuo: The Iron Man is a 1989 Japanese Cyberpunk film by cult-film director Shinya Tsukamoto. This, his third film, is an extremely graphic but also strikingly-filmed fantasy shot in the same low-budget, underground-production style as his first two films. Tetsuo established Tsukamoto internationally and created his worldwide cult following. It was followed by Tetsuo II: Body Hammer and Tetsuo III: The Bullet Man.

It follows the tale of a man who, after hitting a metal fetishist with his car, attempts to hide the mess by dumping the body into a ravine. To his dismay, he finds that the dead man is getting his revenge - by forcing the driver to transform into a walking heap of scrap metal.

Not to be confused with that Tetsuo or that Iron Man.


 * All Just a Dream: The main character has a dream that his girlfriend turns into a machine-woman with a metallic penis that seems to be made from a vaccum cleaner. She then proceeds to rape him with it... and yes it is every bit as disturbing as it sounds.
 * Arm Cannon: The second movie shows that murderous intent seems to manifest this (among other things) if the hate behind it is strong enough.
 * Body Horror: We have several shots of metal protruding through the protagonist's flesh, gradually mutating him into a man made of metal over the course of the film.
 * Cultural Translation: The third movie has an American protagonist, but it is still set in Japan.
 * Cyberpunk
 * Death by Sex: See below.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: All three movies take their titles to literal levels.
 * Foe Yay: Taken to very extreme levels in the end.
 * Gainax Ending:
 * Lipstick and Load Montage: The antagonist is shown changing his hairstyle, painting his lips, and putting on eye makeup before his confrontation with the protagonist.
 * Mind Screw: There's a reason why it is often compared to Eraserhead.
 * Naughty Tentacles: The protagonist is raped by a woman with a prehensile vacuum hose coming out of her crotch. It's even more disturbing than it sounds.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: The antagonist is called "The Metal Fetishist". When he was alive, he enjoyed shoving bits of metal into his body.
 * After the main characters run over him, the protagonist's girlfriend gets aroused. She later gets aroused when she
 * Our Zombies Are Different: His dead girlfriend is briefly brought back due to the antagonist's manipulation.
 * The woman who chases the protagonist on the subway seemed like one as well. In fact, since the antagonist dies, comes back, and infects the protagonist, one could alsmost see this as some crazy zombie flick.
 * Pixilation
 * The Right Hand of Doom: Almost every character in the movie ends up sporting a big, clunky metal hand at one point or another.
 * Silence Is Golden: As a nod to its Eraserhead influences, the movie has minimal dialogue.
 * Stop Motion: The most common method of special effects. Somehow, the jilted movements make everything creepier.
 * Surreal Horror
 * This Is a Drill: The driver's penis transforms into one of these. During sex with his girlfriend.
 * World of Symbolism: Some say the movie is about modern humanity's overdependance on machines. Others think it is a metaphor for homosexual awakening. There are probably many more theories out there.