When he's on a ghosthunt with fellow ghosthunter Kitayama, Morioka is
somehow entered by a worm that turns out to be a powerful demon - and
after several days of ravenous appetite, he gives birth to a demon, the
Gakidama. by way of his mouth. Thank god a stranger with a slit mouth
shows up just in time to capture the Gakidama ... but unfortunately, he
somehow lets the demon escape. Kitayama's wife Michiko is somewhat sad
that the demon is gone, since she can't have children, and the Gakidama
would have been the closest to having a child of her own. Morioka visits
Kitayama and witnesses that he has the same ravenous appetite he had
before "giving birth" - so he figures he must be pregnant with a
Gakidama as well. Weirdly enough, he feels the urge to eat that Gakidama.
Enter the stranger again, who treats Morioka to a dinner - a Gakidama of
course. That only intensifies Morioka's urge to devour Kitayama's Gakidama
- but when the birth is about to happen, the stranger won't let him. In
the meantime, back at Morioka's home, Michiko finds Morioka's own
Gakidama, whom she at first wants to adopt - until the demon attacks her
violently. She puts up one hell of a fight and kills the Gakidama thrice
at least and in various ways. Thing is, demons don't just die when you
kill them, so when she breaks down from exhaustion the Gakidama just
enters her to spend some time inside her belly. When Morioka comes home
and finds out the Gakidama has just entered his wife, he waits patiently
... Though definitely inspired by Gremlins and rather
let down by some primitive and slightly cheesy special effects, Gakidama
is one hell of a weird movie that somehow finds a good balance between
creature feature, gross-out horror and the absurd, with a little bit of
black comedy sprinkled over it. But that said, while the film is very
interesting on the narrative side of things, its direction is rather
functional, and yeah, the creature effects are unfortunately sub-par, to
the point where they add unintentional comedy to the mix. Still worth a
look, but definitely no masterpiece.
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