VAMPIRE CLAY

Directed by: Sôichi Umezawa

Starring: Asuka Kurosawa, Ena Fujita

Art teacher Aina runs a small art prep school, where she helps develop her students so they are ready to apply for one of the prestigious art schools in Japan. The status quo of the class is rocked with the return of Kaori, who's been studying Tokyo. However even that takes a backseat when the clay being used by Kaori proves to be both sentient and bloodthirsty!

On paper, the plot here sounds completely absurd but Umezawa's script and visual fx manage to make this work.

The film starts with some stark statistics - the number of applications to the top five art colleges each year is approximately three times the amount of actual admissions. Competition is harsh, as teacher Aina knows first-hand. Her top student is Raiko, but when Kaori returns a subtle rivalry begins between them.

Due to an earthquake, Aina has been forced to relocate her art school - taking up residence that a previous artist had used as his studio. In the yard, Aina discovers a bag of modelling clay buried, but now exposed by the recent quake. When Kaori learns her batch of clay had been passed on to a new student, she starts using the recently discovered batch of clay, unknowingly unleashing death and destruction by doing so!

The film doesn't waste much time letting us in on its secret; the clay is somehow sentient, to a degree, and murderous. We see the clay "come alive", rippling as Kaori starts to moisten it. Its not long before Kaori cuts her finger (a piece of a pencil sharpening blade was embedded just under the surface - the girls suspect it was Raiko), and the blood is absorbed by the clay...

Things get messed up pretty quickly. There's nothing insidious about the clay - once it latches on to a person, it starts to completely devours them! There's an element of John Carpenter's The Thing in the way the clay morphs and ingests part of its victims - and the way their bodies react afterward!

Once devoured, the clay makes a duplicate of its victim, who then seeks out the next. This adds to the "vampire" element of the title. The fx get crazier, developing into full stop-motion animation. Its like Tony Hart on acid by way o the ending of The Evil Dead.

We get a bit of backstory to the clay, cursed into life by the disturbed artist who lived in the building before them. However, this doesn't slow the film's climax too much which sees the final survivors battling with a 6ft demonic clay creature!

VERDICT:

There is an underlying bitterness to Japan's art college system, borne out through Aina's deep-rooted jealousy. She had hoped that by starting her academy/prep school, she could live vicariously through her students' future successes. Instead, her own students come to realise that they need a more experienced hand to guide them. The film's climax shows the length that she is prepared to go for her personal vengeance against the world but cooler heads prevail. The special fx help sell the concept of bloodthirsty clay and the visuals go in some pretty freaky directions.

If you think the concept is too silly, then by all means give this a wide berth but if you want something strange, you should definitely check this out!

7 out of 10

MikeOutWest