Hiruko the Goblin

MOVIE #1,091 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 08.02.23 Some strange synergy happening here on WATCHLIST WEDNESDAY folks. W.W., for those ‘not in the know’, is when I hit shuffle on my Letterboxd watchlist and pick the first two flicks at random to watch. Well, today offered up this wacky Japanese horror movie about a baby-sized spider goblin with an adult human head, as well as a 1960s black-and-white “horror” film called Spider Baby. Ain’t that something? (You don’t have to answer that. I know it isn’t.) Hiruko the Goblin was the much more enjoyable watch. The follow-up to Shinya Tsukamoto’s beloved classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) had me wishing I had started there, as I still haven’t seen that movie (or any of his other work). I plan to correct this with a full-on Director Focus of Tsukamoto’s filmography, hopefully in 2024. (Update: I did end up watching Tetsuo for 2023's Spooky Month bonanza!)

There’s not much going on plot-wise. This is pretty much strictly a vehicle for this…


and...


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and the movie ends with the human spirits being freed and turning into giant sperm comets that float into outer space…


and that’s plenty good enough for me.

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,090 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,092 ⫸

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Japanese horror film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto and starring Kenji Sawada. It is based on a manga by Daijiro Morohoshi. It was released on May 11, 1991.