Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto • 1989 • Japan
Starring Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Nobu Kanaoka

An ordinary Japanese salaryman undergoes a shocking metamorphosis in Shinya Tsukamoto’s legendary fusion of body horror and cyberpunk expressionism. A strange man known only as the “metal fetishist” (played by the director)—who is driven by an insane compulsion to pierce his body with scrap metal—is hit and possibly killed by an office worker (Tomoro Taguchi) out for a drive with his girlfriend (Kei Fujiwara). Soon, the salaryman realizes that he is being overtaken by some kind of disease that is turning his body into scrap metal, and that his nemesis is not in fact dead but is somehow masterminding his rage and frustration-fueled transformation.