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IMDbPro

Battle Heater

Original title: Batoru hîtâ
  • 19891989
  • 1h 33m
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
108
YOUR RATING
Battle Heater (1989)
  • Comedy
  • Horror
A kotatsu comes alive and tries to eat peopleA kotatsu comes alive and tries to eat peopleA kotatsu comes alive and tries to eat people
IMDb RATING
6.1/10
108
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Jôji Iida
  • Stars
    • Akira Emoto
    • Hisako Hara
    • Masao Imafuku
Top credits
  • Director
    • Jôji Iida
  • Stars
    • Akira Emoto
    • Hisako Hara
    • Masao Imafuku
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 3User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

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    Top cast

    Edit
    Akira Emoto
    Hisako Hara
    Masao Imafuku
    Masao Imafuku
    Kenichi Ishii
    Pappara Kawai
    • Lucio
    Gorô Kishitani
    Gorô Kishitani
    Takayasu Komiya
    Takayasu Komiya
    Shigeru Muroi
    Sunplaza Nakano
    • Monk
    • (as Sanplaza Nakano)
    Hisahiro Ogura
    Kaoru Okunuki
    Chikau Satô
    Yasuko Tomita
    Yasuko Tomita
    • Kondou
    • Director
      • Jôji Iida
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    User reviews3

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Absolute Madness Of The Best Kind!!
    Absurdity, comic horror, wacky characters and bizarre situations is probably the easiest way to describe director George Iida's 1989 satirical film. I haven't laughed as hard in some time, and had forgotten just how funny and clever this tale of a demonic kotatsu (electric heater), really is. From its opening scene, introducing us to the protagonist in a hilarious car accident that results in his boss using a taser-gun on him, to the electrocution of some elderly neighbours in bed - with said bed prepared as their literal 'death bed' just in case; there's hardly a slow moment in this hilarious film!

    Set in a dark and dingy boarding house, where our leading man lives; a handy-man who brings home anything and everything with the ambition to fix it. Having removed a small metal-type seal on his new-found kotatsu, he frees the demonic force that houses itself in the old heater which soon starts to wreak havoc on the apartment block and its people.

    Some of these neighbours include a punk-rock band (Bafuko Slump) who also give us a pretty cool musical number, the unfortunate pensioners, and a murderess who is in the middle of cutting up her husband with a carving knife so that her boyfriend can flush little bits of him down the toilet. And more and more crazy characters just keep coming...

    For the most of it, Battle Heater is absolutely insane. It plays like a live-action cartoon which I love, but others may be put-off by. As the film rolls on, and the deaths mount up, the heater in question starts gaining fangs and more power, growing larger and deadlier by the minute. We watch via point-of-view of its plug, how it wangles its way around, feeding off the electricity, grabbing people by the ankles, and pulling itself across the room.

    Over-the-top performances and insane comic situations run aplenty in a film I can only describe as unique. Think, The Little Shop Of Horrors meets The Happiness Of The Katakuri's directed by Mel Brooks, and you're close to finding out what goes on here. As Joji Iida's second film, its an incredible addition and a genre I only wish he would have stuck to, although pleased he gave us the great follow-up to The Ring, in Spiral, along with Another Heaven and, Dragon Head. He certainly is one of the more original directors I've seen from Japan of past, and I don't think we got enough of his talent.

    The ending is as nuts as the rest as our hero turns up in an Aliens-inspired, home-made suit to tackle the monster, resulting in a one-on-one battle to save the day. Madness!

    Overall: Lots of fun, lots of laughs, and completely crazy, Battle Heater is a fantastic film and worth a watch!
    helpful•2
    0
    • Movie-Misfit
    • Jun 2, 2020

    Details

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    • Release date
      • November 3, 1989 (Japan)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • Electric Kotatsu Horror
    • Production companies
      • Amuse
      • CBS Sony Group Inc.
      • Shochiku-Fuji Company
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 33 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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