| Rubber's Lover | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Shozin Fukui |
| Written by | Shozin Fukui |
| Starring | Nao |
| Release date(s) | 1996 |
| Running time | 91 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Rubber's Lover is cult filmmaker Shozin Fukui's 1996 follow-up to 964 Pinocchio. Like its predecessor, it is an underground cyberpunk horror, with tense atmosphere, alarming visuals and graphic violence.
Often interpreted as a semi-prequel to 964 Pinocchio[1], Rubber's Lover details a clandestine group of scientists who conduct psychic experiments on human guinea pigs they take from the streets. Using brain-altering drugs, sensory deprivation and computer interfaces, they subject their patients to gruesome scientific tortures that often end in brutal death. After continued failure, they pursue one last project - which yields dangerous results.
Rubber's Lover can best be defined as Japanese cyberpunk and industrial noir, in the same vein as Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Filmed in stark black and white, located in a setting of grim urban steel, steeped in machine aesthetic, driven by a kinetic style and empowered by a grinding metallic soundtrack, it draws on nightmarish horror and generates heavy fetishcore themes.