The story (and I'm totally guessing here) is a dude, the "Metal
Fetishist" (according to the English credits), slices his leg wide the fuck open
and crams in a metal rod. After that, he runs out into the street and is
hit by the car of "Man" and "Woman". Man and Woman then dump him in the
woods and romantically hump while the Metal Fetishist dies. He doesn't
take too kindly to this, so he, somehow, haunts the living fuck out of them by
slowly turning them into metal and driving them completely insane. Then
things really get weird.
Anything you imagined while reading that description doesn't even capture 6.66%
of the frantic madness that happens onscreen. TETSUO, THE IRON MAN is a
nutty as fuck film and I can't even imagine the hardship and torment the
filmmakers went through making the movie. That said, it was also a chore
to sit through the entire thing. Even at 67 minutes, I felt my handsome
brain starting to melt out of my beautiful ears.
Surreal story, amazing visuals, interesting (but repetitive) industrial music,
mechanical drill penis, awesome B & W photography, male rape, lots of
screaming. TETSUO, THE IRON MAN might be kinda boring to sit through, but it's
still worth watching for anybody interesting in experimental cinema.
[Update 06/05/2024: Just got lucky enough to watch TETSUO, THE IRON MAN in a
proper movie theater and it was great. Especially the insane scenes in the Man
and Woman's apartment. That said, I still agree that the ending drags on for too
long.]
Part 2 - Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (1992)
Part 3 - Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009)