I’ve been re-watching some films recently and writing new reviews for another board, I may as well post them here too.
Porno jidaigeki – Bohachi bushido (1973)
Forget about the title as it’s a bit misleading. Teruo Ishii’s Porno jidaigeki – Bohachi bushido isn’t nearly as much of a historical sex flick as it is a first rate chambara exploitation film… Think of Lone Wolf and Cub directed by Teruo Ishii and you’ll get the image. The swordplay is there, the blood is there, the sword wielding naked chicks are there… The actual production values may be lower but sure doesn’t show. This is definitely one of the best looking chambara films ever made, all the way from the sunset opening to the stunning final massacre in snow. And, Kazuo Koike, the creator of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga, is there too. Seems like all great chambara films are based on his mangas, lol. The main star Tetsuro Tamba owned the rights and convinced Teruo Ishii to helm the live action adaptation.
Personally I consider Bohachi bushido not only one of my favourite exploitation films but also one of the best chambara films in genral. The only real flaws comes early on. The opening sequence is as wild and striking as you’d expect from Ishii but, also not so surprisingly, the following few scenes aren’t quite as good. Ishii has a nasty habit of relying too much on sex and nudity during the film’s first fourth. This time it’s not as problematic as we have Tetsuro Tamba here who dominates the image with his badass charisma whenever Ishii turns the focus on him and off some chick’s tits. The first 20 minutes is also where most of the film’s story is told. Mainly a problem if you watch it without subs… which wasn’t the case this time.
Once we’re through the back story part Ishii’s back on top of his game. Terrific, colorful set ups, violent and nicely choreographed swordplay scenes, maniac characters, naked female bodyguards, ninjas, naked female bodyguards fighting the ninjas… The film was a blast when I first saw it without subtitles but watching it now with subtitles everything felt even more cool. There’s some excellent dialogue and the main character’s mumbling works on a whole new level when you can understand what he’s saying! â€
another second view
Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku (Inferno of Torture) (1969)
Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku is the most ambitious of the Teruo Ishii films I’ve seen and probably his most coherent exploitation work. The technical aspects are on a level that is rarely reached even by so called A-film directors. Ishii uses multiple main characters, breaks the chronology continously, uses lots of ’through the glass floor’ shots and lets the camera pan slowly on empty corridors. The cinematography is nice and the moody soundtrack supports the scenes perfectly. The set ups are colourful as well but not over the top. Simply a gorgeous movie to look at. A bit surprisingly the story and the characters are very good too. Some of the more romantic and tragic scenes are genuinely beautiful, even touching. Quite an achievement from an exploitation film.
How about the film’s english title, Inferno of Torture? To put it simple, the title is rather misleading. After the gruesome but ultimately cool opening scene (which uses the kick ass theme from Tokugawa onna keibatsu-shi) the violence is toned down to the typical pinky violence whipping level action. Fourty minutes later Ishii seems to have forgotten the whole theme of torture. Only the ending features a little shocker but it’s quite brief and well handled.
So, does that mean the film doesn’t live up to its title? The original japanese title actually refers to a tattoo, not torture. The film also has an alternate and more describing english title; Hell’s Tattooers. That’s more what the movie is really about. Everything that happens in the movie is related to tattoos in one way or another. I’ve never been a huge fan of tattoos myself but honestly speaking the stuff here was pretty damn awesome. ’Inferno of Torture’ is the name of a certain tattoo appearing in the film.
One thing I like about the film is its structure. The movie is centered around two rivalry tattoo artists but they’re not really the main characters, or at least not the only main characters. Ishii moves back and forth between at least four important characters tells different parts of the story throug different characters. All of them have their own stories but they’re still closely related and basically just different ends of one bigger story. I’ve seen several more appreciated movies fail miserably in this but Ishii manages handle it very naturally.
Those expecting a hard edged exploitation film with blood and guts all over the screen will most likely be disappointed. Tokugawa irezumi-shi is definitely something different from the usual psychedelic Ishii show. It’s a suprisinly polished work in its own genre and one of my favourite Teruo Ishii films. Highly recommended. The R2J dvd by Toei is – old record, I know – once again very nice. Great colours and zero edge enhancement. Very minor print damage plus one scene at the end that has minor chemical (?) damage. It’s minor enough not to show up on caps and actually fits the mood of that magical scene, lol. Original trailer and a photo gallery (with promotional shots and behind the scenes footage) are included.
To save Dice from a huge disappointment I say this first: It’s not Hot Springs Geisha. But Toei is releasing a 1972 Norifumi Suzuki film starring Reiko Ike on September 21. The film is [url=<URL url=“エロ将軍と二十一人の愛妾”>エロ将軍と二十一人の愛妾</URL>]エãƒå°†è»
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The next Nikkatsu batch includes:
“Zetsurin Ama Shimarigai,” “Shikijo Ama Fundoshi Matsuri,” “Shudojo Luna no Kokuhaku,” “Shudojo Rucia Kegasu,” “Maruhi Ooku Gaiden Amadera In no Mon,” “Hitonatsu no Himitsu,” “Aiju Aku no Hana,” “Itazura Lolita Ushirokara Virgin,” “Sex Maid Osoji no Ato de,” “Seito Nezumi Kozo,” “Furyo Shojo Noraneko no Seishun,” “Uresugita Chibusa Hitozuma,” “Oniroku Dan Shudojo Nawa Jigoku,” “Zankoku Jokosei Lynch,” “Joi Niku Doeri,” “Oniroku Dan Jokyoshi Nawa Jigoku,” “Oniroku Dan Nawa to Hada,” “Maruhi Shikijo Mesu Ichiba,” “Tenshi no Harawata Akai Kyoshitsu,” “Love Hotel,” “Midori Komatsu no Suki Bokuro,” and “Double Bed.”
There’s one title that I’ll be getting for sure; Love Hotel, which was directed by Shinji Somai (the guy who has made my favourite movie of all time). What got Somai into directing Roman I have no idea.
For Nikkatsu info keep an eye on this thread:
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showth … ge=2&pp=15”>http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=29335&page=2&pp=15</LINK_TEXT>
there’s english titles for most of the films which don’t sound exactly promising. Don’t judge a film by its title, especially in case of exploitation cinema but still… I don’t want to end up with sadistic 70’s soft porn. That’s one reason why it’s much easier to blind buy Toei films than Nikkatsu films. I mean I loved Angel Guts series but I still have my doubts when it comes to Nikkatsu Roman. I guess I should just watch more and see myself.
“The shocking story of a juvenile slut named Rica”
Media Blasters / Exploitation Digital will be releasing Toho’s Rica series (three films) on dvd. The first movie is set to be released on August 14. More info at: <LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007 … lm-series/”>http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2007/05/09/media-blasters-to-release-toho’s-rica-film-series/</LINK_TEXT>
Here’s synopsis for the first film:
Konketsuji Rika = Half-Breed Rika (Toho, Japan, 1972). Dir Ko Nakahira. Wrt Kaneto Shindo. With Rika Aoki, Kazuko Nagamoto, Masatane Tsukayama, Fuminori Sato. (90 min, color, 35mm)
Toho’s contribution to the “sukeban” genre - actually a sub-genre of the female yakuza genre - featuring the exploits of young female delinquents (or “girl gang bosses”). This was the first in a trilogy, with all three installments written by Kaneto Shindo, director of such classics as Onibaba and The Island. Director Ko Nakahira (Crazed Fruit) is sometimes (as is Shindo) lumped together with the Japanese New Wave filmmakers.
- <LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/pickford/pi … rrent.html”>http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/pickford/pickford-current.html</LINK_TEXT>
- a poster stolen from yahoo
http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e66273878
Media Blasters is releasing the original 1974 Hana to hebi in August 28. That’s the same day Panik House’s dvds hit the streets. But you have to remember every MB release gets be postponed by 6 months at least, so…
I’ve been wanting to see the original film for long. It’s directed by Masaru Konuma and start the most famous (?) Nikkatsu star: Naomi Tani. I’ve never seen a single film from her. I have seen the Takashi Ishii remake of the film and recall it being pretty bad and boring. Ishii’s hit and miss, with some really excellent films like Angel Guts: Red Vertigo and Freeze Me and then some weak and thoroughly average productions.
HK Flix has (unfinished) covers for Rica and Hana to hebi
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.542 … etails.htm”>http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.542042/qx/details.htm</LINK_TEXT>
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.542 … etails.htm”>http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.542047/qx/details.htm</LINK_TEXT>
Pinky Violence hits the UK
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Toei has updated their site with June trailers: http://www.toei-video.co.jp/trailer
Oooku jyuhakkei I’ll be getting for sure (didn’t even watch the trailer, I have enough faith in Suzuki. Besides, I already own 16 Norifumi Suzuki films so one more won’t hurt ;D
This german database is pretty useful: http://www.ofdb.de
They’ve got some great VHS cover pics and poster shots for some rare pinky films.
Fangoria's got cover arts for Malformed Men and Snake Woman
Synapse Films passed Fango the cover art and specs for its pair of extreme horror films from Japan’s Toei Studios, HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN and SNAKE WOMEN’S CURSE, which it’s releasing in conjunction with Panik House Entertainment August 28. Both movies will be presented in fully restored anamorphic 2.35:1 transfers, in Japanese with new removable subtitles, and will sport reversible covers with the original Japanese poster artwork. The ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU-esque MALFORMED, directed by Teruo (BLIND BEAST VS. DWARF) Ishii, will include the following extras:
• Audio commentary by film critic and 2003 Ishii retrospective programmer Mark Schilling
• New documentary featurette including interviews with cult directors and Ishii fans Shinya (TETSUO) Tsukamoto and Minoru (THE CALAMARI WRESTLER) Kawasaki
• Ishii’s video introduction from the 2003 Far East Film Festival
• Original Japanese theatrical trailer
• Ishii and author Edogawa Rampo biographies
• Poster galleries and trailers from other Ishii and Rampo films
CURSE, from pioneering Japanese horror director Nobuo (JIGOKU) Nakagawa, centers on a rich landlord who causes a farmer’s death and enslaves his wife and daughter, only to fall victim to serpentine vengeance from beyond the grave. This disc features:
• Audio commentary by Japanese film scholar Jonathan Hall
• Original Japanese theatrical trailer
• Nakagawa biography
• Poster gallery and trailers for other Nakagawa films
More extras are to be announced; each disc retails for $24.95. —Michael Gingold
interesting that Panik House isn’t even mentioned in the cover. But this only strengthens my suspicions. I don’t expect to hear about Panik House again once all of the 6 dvds are out. Such a shame. They’re work with Pinky Violence films has been revolutionary.
And no word about Chris D. I don’t want to be mean at the guy (hey, I even have his book) but it’s nice to see that they’ve found other people to do commentaries… I mean other than Andy Klein and Wade Major (that was fucking nightmare pair)
http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4281
Blind Woman’s Curse (Kaidan nobori ryu) (1970)
This is my first touch to pinky horror so I’m even less of an expert this time than usual. But, what we have here looks like a traditinal yakuza film spiced with some horror elements. It’s also the concluding part in the Rising Dragon series. The first two films starred Hiroko Ogi who however was busy with another series at the time of the third instalment and Nikkatsu decided to award their new rising star Meiko Kaji with her first lead role at Nikkatsu. Teruo Ishii, who had directed the first part returned to helm the piece. According to Ishii the horror elements were not in the original scrip and and they were already shooting when Ishii recieved the order to blend in the horror imagery. You might wonder if this could lead to anything good but watching the finished film you don’t really notice it. Which on the other hand is not very surprising. This is a Teruo Ishii film after all. In the Ishii universe anything could and would happen.
The opening scene is wonderful. Meiko Kaji and the gang fighting the rivalry yakuza group in rain. Ishii would later use the almost exact same opening for Female Yakuza Tale, although it’s better handled here. Soon after the opening you’ll notice that the film doesn’t look quite as gorgeous and visually striking as the Toei’s productions of the time. I would assume this is due to lower budget. Several single scenes such as the extremely satisfying ending still look jaw dropping but many others have more casual look. On the other hand it’s in line with the film’s style as the roots of Blind Woman’s Curse lie firmly on traditional period yakuza genre. That old school spirit was one of the things I liked about the movie. If you’re expecting a wild Female Yakuza Tale kind of over the top sex and violence fest you’ll be sorely disappointed.
The horror elements in the film work nicely. Blind Woman’s Curse doesn’t classify as pure horror by any means, it’s more of a yakuza film with horror imagery appearing throughout. Among these elements is the classic sad and creepy hunchback character played by Tatsumi Hijikata of Horror of the Malformed Men. The rest of the supporting cast feautures familiar faces like Yoshi Kato, Toru Abe, Ryohei Uchida (the male lead of Female Yakuza Tale) and Makoto Sato who Sonny Chiba fans know from his roles in The Executioner and Karate Inferno (both directed by Ishii). In the lead role Meiko Kaji once again reminds what a glamorous actress she was. I love Reiko Ike and especially Miki Sugimoto but Meiko Kaji is in a whole different league.
Discotek’s region free US release is a decent effort at least. The picture quality varies between excellent and poor. Many scenes look a bit raw and boosted, however the most important scenes look mostly pristine. One great thing about the transfer is that it’s very sharp, even if it displays some minor edge enhancement. The transfer is not progressive. Bonus material consists of Chris D commentary, filmographies, original trailer, bonus trailers (including a horrifying new trailer for Red Handcuffs), photo gallery and a very informative text essay. The dvd cover uses the original poster art which is of course a big plus. The menus are nice but spoil the end setting so I recommed blind browsing.
UK Sex & Fury review
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64937
UK Female Yakuza Tale review
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64951
UK Hanzo the Razor review
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=64949
R1 Blind Woman’s Curse review
<LINK_TEXT text=“http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/b … curse.html”>http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/blind_womans_curse.html</LINK_TEXT>
Trailer for Snake Woman’s Curse (怪談 蛇女) can be found here:
http://www.toei-video.co.jp/trailer/
A little remider about not relying too much on IMDB as so many films are not listed. I did a little comparison for some pinky violence stars to see how many of their films are missing from their IMDB filmographies. Compared to jmdb’s listing (which may very well be incomplete as well) the IMDB filmographies are missing:
Miki Sugimoto: 8 films
Shinzo Hotta 10 films
Reiko Ike: 13 films
Reiko Oshida 19 films
Meiko Kaji: 36 films
Hideo Murota: 61 films
Fumio Watanabe: 71 films
And the best of all;
Kanjuro Arashi: 291 films (yes, his IMDB filmography is missing at least 291 movies)
next, proper Pinky Violence box set reviews
Deliquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (Zubeko bancho: zange no neuchi mo nai) (1971)
Worthless to Confess, the fourt part in the Deliquent Girl Boss series, opens with a scene where the girls are watching Abashiri bangaichi film in prison and going crazy over Ken Takakura. Reminded me of how I watch some idol films myself… okay, back to the movie; One year later the girls are all out, although released at different times, and trying honest living and staying out of trouble. The film follows mainly Rika, played by the sweet Reiko Oshida.
Worthless to Confess is nice fresh air in the pinky violence genre. None of the usual madness and psychedelia of Ishii and the likes is here to be found. Instead the film is enormously entertaining and loaded with humour, music, ultra cool 70’s fashion, positive girl gang attitude and a very cute lead. I’m happy Reiko Oshida never agreed to â€
What are your top 5 Pinky films, Hung?
probably…
Porno jidaigeki - Bohachi bushido
Sex & Fury
Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku (Inferno of Torture)
Seiju gakuen (School of the Holy Beast)
…closely followed by a dozen other titles…
Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (Zenka onna: koroshi-bushi) (1973)
Killing Melody is the only film in the box set that is not a part of a longer series. Although the original trailer refers it as â€
Girl Boss Guerilla (Sukeban gerira) (1972)
Norifumi Suzuki’s third instalment in the Sukeban series isn’t quite what it seems. It’s a biker gang film but goes agains most genre traditions in both story and style. It’s also one of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time. Once again we get to witness Suzuki’s grudge against the authorities as he spends the first 20 minutes making fun of almost every authority figure imaginable. Monks and nuns get their share, as do doctors, husbands and men in general. There’s a few short glipses of strong violence later in the film but mainly Girl Boss Guerilla is all about light weight entertainment and girls kicking ass. Most of the film takes place in Kyoto where many scenes shot on public areas with real people instead of fully staged scenes with studio actors. This works nicely and brings some freshess to the outdoor scenes.
While Reiko Ike (who’s plays a supporting role here) really got to shine in Criminal Woman, this is Miki Sugimoto’s moment of glamour. Well, maybe not glamour but she looks really good and even a little bit sweet in Girl Boss Guerilla. Miki also sings one of the songs on the soundtrack. While she not the greatest singer it’s always nice to have one of the main actresses singing instead of a professional singer. There’s another and much better song in the film when Ichiro’s (Michitaro Mizushima) old pal arrives and writes a song for the lovers. You could argue there’s a minor glitch in the scene where he performs the song as he’s using a guitar but all you can hear coming out from the speakers is piano tunes…
Suzuki often revisits the same themes in his movies and in Girl Boss Guerilla I spotted one of the more interesting ones. There’s s brief moment of Reiko walking on the streets of Kyoto that kinda reminded me of the numerous festival scenes in Suzuki’s hugely popular mid/late 70’s Truck Yaro series (although I’m not sure if anyone else is gonna see a connection here). In Truck Yaro Bunta Sugawara (and usually Kinya Aikawa) would visit one local festival around Japan in almost every movie. The scene in Girl Boss Guerilla is not a festival scene but has similiar feel and immediately brought Truck Yaro to my mind.
One thing I love about the movie is that it has the most awesome nude scenes. These scenes are cool as hell and often humoristic (especially some of the sex scenes) and Suzuki has managed to shoot them basically without any perverted voyeurism fell. Miki arriving the beach toppless is my second favourite nude scene of all time right behind Michael Caine in Get Carter. Suzuki’s always been good with these scenes and I think it’s because he himself would get easily bored and always felt the need to spice the scenes up and do things differently compared to other directors. But then again, it’s hardly surprising Suzuki excels in this area as too. There’s no denying he was one of the most gifted men working on japanese cinema in the late 60’s and 70’s. Although Girl Boss Guerilla does not rank among his most ambitious work it’s an extremely enjoyable film for those who don’t mind some very lowbrow comedy.
The dvd
There’s some edge enhancement at times which prevents the transfer from being perfect. It does not however prevent the transfer from being one of the best looking presentations I have ever seen for a 70’s movie. On the audio commentary we have asian cinema columnist Wyatt Doyle and the (former) Panik House president Matt Kennedy. I haven’t listened to the whole track but it seemed like a great improvement over the previous Panik House commentaries. Both men seem to know what they’re talking about and tell some interesting behing the scenes stories.
The original trailer comes with a few glimpses of interesting deleted footage + footage from some other film, possibly another instalment in the series. Toei often promoted their films with footage taken from other pictures that sometimes had no other connection than the leading star. Interestingly the sunset scene looks totally different in the trailer. In the film it’s all yellow and orange, but in the trailer there’s no sunset anywhere. Pure daylight colour scheme. And the thing is, both look 100% natural. I don’t know what to think of it so won’t. The rest of the extras consist of photo galleries and useless production notes by Chris D.
Terrifying Girls’ High School: Lynch Law Classroom (Kyofu joshikoko: boko rinchi kyoshitsu) (1973)
What do you get when you mix all girls’ high school and pinky violence? Lots of lesbian sex in the school bathroom that’s for sure. But since were’re not interested in such things, what else? Well, first of all, this is no ordinary high school but a school for girls that didn’t quite fit the normal schools. The young chicks the government couldn’t handle. The opening scene with the girls punishing the poor deliquent by draing her blood out should give you some taste of what’s to come.
Terrifying Girls’ High School is the second Norifumi Suzuki film in the box set and comes with the same leading cast as Sukeban gerira; Miki Sugimoto as the lead, Ema Ryoko (who once again gets her shirt ripped in a fight against Miki) as the villain, and Reiko Ike, who’s given probably the coolest introduction scene of the decade, in a supporting role. Yoko Mihara also appears in small role. But unlike Girl Boss Guerilla, this film is much darker in tone and more violent. Some scenes are genuinely disturbing although there’s also lots of humour and a very cool soundtrack to lighten the tone a bit.
Suzuki’s usual mockery of the authorities goes so over the top that it’s hard to say if he’s really aiming at a political target or just having fun his own way. However, when the torture methods used by American soldiers in Vietnam find their way into the movie I don’t think there’s two ways about it. Suzuki himself has stated that he liked to insert (more or less) indirect political and social messages to his movies, as did many other japanese directors of the 70’s. In terms of exploitation content Lynch Law Classroom is clearly stronger than the other three films in the collection. It’s an excellent, anarchistic film although not my favorite of the four films. But it’s quaranteed to find its fans.
The transfer features edge enhancement and sometimes an occational notch in quality. But this is still better than what most other studios can come up with, so generally speaking the transfer is very good. Extras are the usual ones (and Chris D back for commentary). The original trailer features shots from what seem like another instalment in the Terrifying Girls’ High School series (Lynch Law Classroom was the second film in the series).
