Tumbling Doll of Flesh (1998)

Tamakichi Anaru makes porn films but horror fans probably know him best for his extreme sex/gore trilogy. We have the movie I am reviewing today: NIKU DARUMA aka TUMBLING DOLL OF FLESH, PSYCHO THE SNUFF REELS. Then there is SATSU STASU (AYAME) aka SUICIDE DOLLS. Finally there is WATASHI NO AKAI HARAWATA (HANA) aka HUNGRY MOUTH, WOMEN'S FLESH: MY RED GUTS.

English subtitles for TUMBLING DOLL are nonexistent, so I have pieced together IMDb info with several other reviews I have read online to explain the movie. Two porn directors have just picked a young woman, Kana, and a dude named Kiku to star in their new porn film, which will end up being a snuff film, unbeknownst to Kana. It is unclear whether Kiku is in on it but I believe he was informed on at least part of the truth. The fucking doesn’t just burst out, but the gang talk, joke and relax about the project. Kana buys a snack (which looked to me like fireworks lol)  and they sit around a table and have lunch. I really liked that everyone gets to know each other and prepare for their roles.

The porn couple get on a bed and the show starts. Kiku eats her out, fingers her cunt, and pushes his cock into her. This is your typical porn stuff, except as many of you may already know; many Japanese porn scenes have the genitals blurred out. After a snack, phase two starts. This involves bondage, hot candle wax, and whipping. Kana is a little uncomfortable but she agrees to go along with it. They tie her up fucking real tight with coarse rope. They whip her and for a taste of kink: give her an enema. After this portion of the film is done Kana lets them know that all of this is too much for her and she decides to leave. While doing so, she is whacked on the head with a bat and now the real fun starts.

Kana awakens tied to the bed. Her legs are spread and her pussy is exposed. One of the directors chops her foot off. She will slowly be dismembered. Kiku is instructed to continue fucking the ‘tumbling doll of flesh’. To silence Kana’s screams her tongue is pulled half out of her mouth and grated with a potato peeler! They then cut of an arm and another leg. The gore is so damn realistic! It really resembles what a snuff film may be like. For the coupe de grace, she is partly disemboweled and Kiku is told to fuck her innards. He sticks his cock through the small wound and fucking cums inside of her!! They chop off his dick later for no apparent reason and that’s pretty much it! It is a horrific, depraved fantasy to see this quadruple amputee ‘doll‘ on a bloody bed. The images are shocking and deathly grim!! It takes a lot to shock me or make me feel queasy but this film almost got me there.

Nearly all of the reviews I have read do this film any justice. Anaru gives us the gore, he gives us hardcore porn scenes; but to consider this flick just another shallow Japanese faux snuff shock film is grossly inaccurate. Unlike GP: FLOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD, TUMBLING DOLL gives us living, breathing characters and an engaging story. The drama is visceral and disturbing. Although there are no English subs you can follow the story quite well. I would give my left nut for a subtitled version of this rare gem. You’d be hard pressed to find another faux snuff film with this level of maturity and violence. 

4 / 5 STARS