Tetsuo: the Iron Man

Man and machine morph in Shin'ya Tsukamoto’s accelerated end exhilarating rollercoaster ride.

A hit-and-run incident brings two unlikely strangers together.

A young metal fetishist has recently taken to modifying his body by inserting scrap metal under his skin. Triggering a hysterical episode he runs in front of a car. After leaving the site of the crash, the driver – a salaryman ­­– discovers his body beginning to undergo a transformation of its own. At first, metal sprouts from his skin, but quickly he begins to transform into something increasingly monstrous.

Curator’s Note

If David Cronenberg’s Crash could dream at night, that night terror would be Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

Running at a tight 67 minutes, Shin'ya Tsukamoto’s fast-paced and chaotic body horror feels like a film with a jetpack strapped to its back, propelling viewers through the mean streets of an undisclosed Japanese city.

An icon of of the cyberpunk subgenre, there are curiously no fancy tech imaginings here. Instead of focusing on our future selves’ dependency on future technology, Tetsuo’s tech is born out of the industrial age perhaps speaking more to mounting waste caused by increasing obsolescence. Is technological advancement detrimental to society, or are we just throwing it out with the scrap metal?

Tetsuo: The Iron Man’s furious visual energy has sustained a lasting resonance with audiences. The low budget film was a commercial and critical success and remains a cult hit today.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)