According to a New York Times story (registration needed) Teruo Ishii’s 1969 “Horrors of Malformed Men” has been reissued. I’ve never heard of it, which is not surprising as I don’t see very many non-mainstream movies these days. Unlike when I was in my late teens and early twenties. I thought nothing of driving forty-five minutes to LA to see films like Zatoichi, the blind swordsman. “Horrors of Malformed Men” belongs to the the “ero-guro” or erotic grotesque genre of Japanese film making, Ishii’s films are “Invariably described in terms of the three D’s — Deranged! Depraved! Demented!”
The plot involves the hero’s ..”obsessed father has been conducting a series of bizarre medical experiments in hopes of finding a cure for his disfigured wife. But success has eluded the crazed scientist, and all that his experiments have yielded is an abominable dominion populated by repulsive, half-human/half-man hybrids.” It sounds rich in disability imagery analysis.
I wouldn’t be writing this but I saw that his last film was “Blind Beast vs. Killer Dwarf.” How could I have missed that? It’s not often we get two disabled villains battling it out. I think I’ll pass on ordering either from Netflix, though. If I relent and them a watch, I’ll let you know how bad or good/bad it is.