Death Kappa (2010) Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD!* Yep, I caught a theatrical screening of Death Kappa, and it was a hell of a treat!  Death Kappa is Tomoo Haraguchi’s  love letter to 70′s kaiju fims, such as Godzilla vs. Megalon, and he really catches the essence of those films in this movie.

The movie starts with a J-pop singer, Kanako, who returns to her village to reconnect with her Grandmother.  Meanwhile, a bunch of drunks in a VW Beetle are flying down the road, only minutes away.  After our heroine meets a deformed hunchback, she makes her way to her Grandmother, who is gathering cucumbers to satisfy the kappa.  The drunks come flying down the road, and grandma gets hit.  Hard.  She goes flying into the air, border-lining on being comedic, and hits the ground.  Her final request to her Granddaughter is that she protects the Kappa.

Kanako decides to accept this challenge, and begins to take on the role, in traditional garb.  What she doesn’t know, is that the drunks hit the shrine of a mummified kappa, knocking it into the water, where the Kappa returned to life.  Although, later on, the Kappa, along with SOMETHING else, comes out of the water, and one of the drunks are brutally murdered.

When Kanako discovers the kappa, she frightens it, but it later returns to the sound of her old J-pop music from when she was a star.  The kappa does a comedic dance, to the audiences surprise, and is joined by her and her family.  After this goofy montage, the kappa is nearly kidnapped, but once she rescues it, our heroine herself is kidnapped.

She awakens in a torture chamber, where a major plot point unravels .  Kappa-human hybrids, which I recall being named Umihikos (not 100% on that).  The crazy scientist who kidnapped her explains how and why they were made.  Soldiers walk into the room, showing two of the drunken girls from earlier, which are transforming.

Thankfully, the kappa comes to the rescue!  It beats down everybody, and rescues our heroine.  Sadly, he leaves before the mad scientist sets off an atom bomb!  This brings Hangyolas to life, and he wreaks havoc on Tokyo.  The military is far too weak to stop him, going through their entire arsenal to stop it, needless to say they fail miserably each time.

The only thing that can stop Hangyolas is the now daikaiju-sized Death Kappa, who has Godzilla’s atomic ray.  The two duke it out, with a good combination of hand-to-hand and beams, very much like the Showa Godzilla films.  The fight goes in and out of slow-motion, and there is even an homage to kaiju volleystone!  Once Death Kappa destroys Hangyolas, he begins to annihilate Tokyo.  Nothing can stop him, except our heroine.  She sings her J-pop song “Tonight With You Tonight,” and the kappa’s eyes go from a blazing red, to their original calm blue, and our heroine send him off, into the ocean. *END SPOILER!*

Death Kappa is due out on DVD July 27th!

Bottom line, I really dug this flick, and the experience was extremely enhanced on the silver screen.  An enthusiastic audience, a good introduction, and  the producer of the film was there!  I love Mr. Haraguchi’s work, and this is no exception.  The wild, convoluted plot screams “Godzilla vs. Gigan!” and the suits looked fantastic.  When this comes to DVD on July 27th, do yourself a favor and buy it.  It is no Seven Samurai or Gojira, but it is a roller coaster ride of drama, comedy, action, and horror.  It was an honor to be there, and I can’t wait to see it again.  Also, the producer stated that the film has two different endings, and the one we saw was not in the Japanese version, so I can’t wait to see that, as well!  This one gets an 8/10 in my book.