Now, there is strange and then there’s stranger, I.K.U is as strange as it gets. This Japanese made digital shot film directed by Shu Lea Cheang borders the very edges of soft core porno. Laced with heavy sci-fi fantasy themes, I.K.U tells the about a corporation called Genom which are developing a new technology. To get the information they need they send out IKU Coders which are disguised as a variation of young a beautiful women. These IKU Coders, in this case named Reiko are programed to sell sex with many different subjects. Upon reaching orgasm, they record all the information about sexual encounter and store it. Upon completion, they then return to Genom which in turn dissect the info and insert their finding into these new capsules that are to be sold in vending machines. Pick your sexual fantasies without actually having any direct contact. Reiko can also morph into many different identities to serve amny different tastes. She can also morph her limbs into genitalia, also instructed to experience several different sexual encounters. May it be with a male, another female or several partners at the same time. Like many programmed machinery, Reiko is able to contract viruses. That does happen in form of another IKU Coder like instrument that comes in the shape of a human, usually sent out by Bio Link Corp. a rival company out to steal information collected by Reiko. The virus unit is called Tokyo Rose and steals the info the same way Reiko collects it, through orgasms. The difference between the two units is that a Tokyo Rose can not morph into several other identities like the IKU Coders.

I.K.U is relatively fast paced providing shot-gun transitions, short sequences and state of the art digital effects. Although very nice in terms of eye-candy, the effects and the several mounds of female flesh displayed, it does tend to get overplayed. With much of the attention payed to the primary elements of nudity, all the special effects are just a candy coding that wears thin after the first few minutes of the film. Fans, this is just an effects driven porno equipped with the usual bad acting. Viewers may get confused with the conversations at hand, with much of it mixed between really poor English and Japanese. But hey, folks this is a softcore porno, who needs the audio right? Wrong, besides the poor script translations, this shot on digital film is juiced to the max with erotic oohs, ahs and every other sex related sound effects. Director Shu Lea Cheang explores many different sexual elements in this film, from gay sex to bondage and everything else that comes inbetween. Let’s just say that pretty much all taboos are left at the door upon entering. With every different situation Reiko’s incarnation encounters, there is a different theme that accompanies it as well. One may also become confused with this type of presentation, simply because of the many different characters presented with each situation. What I say if that’s the case, don’t get too worried, just go with the flow because chances are you haven’t missed a thing.

The Eclectic DVD’s presentation is not bad, the picture is wide screen and is very clean. The audio is Dolby Digital stereo and again is very clean, with only an English option and no subtitles. As for extras, there’s no shortages there either. There’s IKU PROJECT, which breaks down the various elements in the film and explains them in great detail. Then there’s a short scene by scene behind the scenes look at how they were shot. Plus, there’s a trailer for the film and a few deleted scenes as well. The film runs about 74 minutes in total.

STORY-2 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE-3.5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO-3 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS-3.5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL DVD-3 BITCH SLAPS