Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009)


When the tagline to a film is “Two classic monsters. One fucked up movie” your expectations for gore and silliness are high. Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl fulfills all those expectations and more with a Japanese high school that has a mad scientist for a vice principal, a wrist cutting competition and a showdown between the two title characters on what looks to be a life sized replica of the Eiffel tower. Though it’s a little out there, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl gives the gift of gore that keeps on giving in hilarious spades.

At its core Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is a love story. Keiko is the school’s queen bee with an entourage of fashion clones that remind me of Gwen Stefani's harajuku girls. The daughter of the school’s vice principal, Keiko can have any man she wants, and she wants Jyugon Mizushima played by former CK model Takumi Saitô. Jyugon is torn between Keiko and the transfer student Monami, or the Vampire Girl. When Monami is caught feeding by a pervert teacher she kills him and confesses to Jyugon that she is a vampire. Enraged by Jygon's infatuation with Monami, Keiko attacks the Vampire Girl and gets thrown off the roof of the high school. Like humpty dumpty, Keiko gets put together again by her mad scientist father and thus Frankenstein girl is born.

This production goes through a lot of blood and I mean buckets. Few moments go by without a drop of the red stuff. From botched and bloody surgeries to Monami bathing surrealistically in the arterial spray of one of her victims, you'll feel like you need a raincoat just to watch the movie.


Aside from the over the top gore, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is comedy gold. My favorite part of the entire movie was the wrist cutting competition. Two pale faced Japanese girls go at it with box cutters on their forearms to see who can take the most damage without cutting their arm off. My next favorite moment was the introduction of the dark skinned club, a group of Japanese teens who dress up in black face in order to belong “to the greatest race on earth” The camera lingers far too long on the engorged lips and exaggerated cheeks of the president of the dark skin club. It’s both hilarious and a little unnerving as the character opens her mouth in a silent scream of victory after she crosses a finish line.

The film also makes references to other Japanese horror films like Tokyo Gore Police and Ju-on: The Grudge. As the Chinese instructor puts the word Ju-On on the board he asks the class if they've ever seen the film or the American remake.

Eihi Shiina, that sweet girl with the piano wire from Audition, makes an appearance as Monami's mother who gets killed trying to save her daughter from vampire hunters. She gives a great performance and foreshadows Monami's power to use her blood as a weapon. Bleeding from her ankles, Shiina's character forms her blood into discs on either side of her foot, coasting on them like roller skates as she dishes out Chun-Li moves on her pursuers.



Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl is a far cry from Universal’s original dueling monster films like Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, but with buckets of gore and zany characters it gives a fresh look at what happens when two female monsters fight for love with box cutters and blood swords.

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