Still living with his grandmother, patriotic boy-genius Tsugio (Masato Furuoya) pops his cherry with a lactating, saucy housewife one night (lucky bastard!) whilst creeping round the Village Of Doom. Tsugio’s obviously not cut out for village life, as he won’t marry his fit-as-fuck cousin Yasuyo (Misako Tanaka) and won’t join in killing chickens with the local yobs. The miserable sod would rather join the army and fight for his country like the other WW2 flag-wavers. But when he is diagnosed with tuberculosis at his army medical examination he starts crying like a big girl. Now, no-one wants to be around this disease-ridded streak of piss and even the horny housewives he’s been servicing are loathe to let him cough blood all over them whilst he’s getting his oats. He starts to go a bit nuts. Eating raw eggs, squirting fresh (and I mean, fresh) goats’ milk all over the place, and trying to sex his Auntie up (and it’s not like she’s not even that hot!). He starts stockpiling weapons in the attic, and when the local cops take them off him, he just goes out and buys more. And this time, he uses them…
Despite being a complete psycho, Tsugio, rather than being a freak, actually cuts quite a tragic figure. You have to feel sorry for a guy who is knocked back time and time again, be it from the ladies or from his country, a reluctant loner watching the entire world get along just fine without him. His cousin loves him, true, and he loves her too with all his just-about-functioning heart, but their sinful love can sadly never be (Fuck! This is starting to sound like the back cover of a Mills And Boon novel!), and his only “mate” – if that is the right word – dresses like a working-men’s club comedian, carries porno-pics around with him and simply uses Tsugio as his local bank. The other villagers are a right cunch of bunts (excuse the speech impediment - Ed!) too, prejudiced, self-centred ruffians without an ounce of class between them. Oh, they certainly deserve the violent ends they meet alright! And those violent ends really are violent in the tense, atmospheric closing scenes of Village Of Doom, and there’s a lot of sex throughout. I was actually going to note that none of this was gratuitous, but there’s one scene, in which Tsugio fires one off – a shotgun blast that is – up some old slapper’s chuff, which may make more conservative moviegoers a little queasy…
Village Of Doom is an bloody good movie, slow-moving at first, building things up gradually, and before you know it, its explosive finale is upon you. Well-recommended for people who want a bloodbath with a few more brains than usual, and also for those who actually want to think during a movie – about love, loneliness and the sheer dickheadedness of patriotism. And the soft-rock soundtrack over the closing credits is absolutely fantastic!
