Japanese Exploitation Films of the 70s

[der_Artur]

...The box set sadly doesn't include Sister Street Fighter [Onna hissatsu ken, 1974], which I imagine is more in line with the girl-gangster films discussed here...

Well, the decision was right, because "Sister Street Fighter" is part of an other series, which consists of five movies:

"Sister Street Fighter"
"Sister Street Fighter 2"
"Sister Street Fighter 3"
"Dragon Princess"
"Lethal Fist Woman"

[Lino]

"Sister Street Fighter" is part of an other series, which consists of five movies:

"Sister Street Fighter"
"Sister Street Fighter 2"
"Sister Street Fighter 3"
"Dragon Princess"
"Lethal Fist Woman"

These sound like fun! Never heard of them, though but I believe that the first one is out on DVD in the US.

Has anyone seen them? How do they fare?

[Nihonophile]

Speaking of Street Fighter is there a possibility of the original getting a good release? I'm sticking to my New Line Widescreen VHS right now. (New Line also put out the sequel and Sister Street FIghter

[Lino]

It's out on an acceptable edition in the UK. Check out these reviews:

http://www.dvd-basen.dk/uk/home.php3?se ... =%25&ok=go

[Lino]

I've just found out about these three but I think they can qualify as exploitation (although on the horror side of things). They're all directed by Michio Yamamoto and were given the collective name of Bloodthirsty Trilogy. They're sort of a japanese take on the Hammer Dracula films and sound like fun at least. They're all out on DVD in OK conditions in the UK in their correct AR. Here they are:

* Legacy of Dracula (1970)

* Lake of Dracula (1971)

* Evil of Dracula (1974)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/sea ... 39-5797228

[Pinback]

* Legacy of Dracula (1970)

I've just added this to my online rental list...I'll let you know what I think of it once I've seen it...it sounds like pretty cheesy fun though...

[Lino]

Thanks! Much apreciated! Actually, I was thinking of buying the lot of them (the trilogy is quite cheap on loaded247.com) and adding The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires as a companion piece...

It only seems logical: the former are a japanese take on british horror whilst the latter is exactly the opposite! Doesn't it look like the perfect program for a rainy Sunday?

[Pinback]

Thanks! Much apreciated! Actually, I was thinking of buying the lot of them (the trilogy is quite cheap on loaded247.com) and adding The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires as a companion piece...

It only seems logical: the former are a japanese take on british horror whilst the latter is exactly the opposite! Doesn't it look like the perfect program for a rainy Sunday?

That'd be a pretty freaky day, though, as far as I know, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires was a UK-Hong Kong co-production (Hammer Studios & The Shaw Brothers), and much more concerned with Chinese mythology than Japanese...

[Lino]

Oops...you're totally right! Maybe I should have used the word "asian" instead of "japanese"...

[Lino]

Well, still nothing from Panik House...oh, well...

Meanwhile, take a look at this site here in the Netherlands. They specialize in obscure japanese exploitation classics and anything that takes their fancy. I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Japan Shock. Go watch some trailers! Not recommended for the faint-hearted...

http://www.japan-shock.com/trailers.html

[Lino]

So, Pinback - have you watched it yet? I really want to know what you think of it. Please report back when you do, ok?

Anyways, just found out about one more title that surely belongs to the exploitation genre. Are you ready? Here goes:

KUNG FU COCKFIGHTER (!)

Apparently he breaks boulders with his...umm...you know what! Jesus, what will they think of next?!

[Nihonophile]

KUNG FU COCKFIGHTER (!)

Apparently he breaks boulders with his...umm...you know what! Jesus, what will they think of next?!

hmm, why have I heard about this movie before? Is it available because i might have seen it in a speciality video rental place.

[Pinback]

DVD Times has posted a comprehensive review of the new ArtsMagic box set Angel Guts: The Complete Nikkatsu Series. The set includes such 1970s sexploitation classics as High School Co-Ed (1978), Red Classroom (1979) and Nami (1979), as well as two other films that fall outside the 1970s-specific scope of this thread. It looks like an excellent presentation of the films...

Link

[Lino]

I have the Bloodthirsty Eyes Trilogy UK boxset on order and I will report back on how they fare when they arrive. Meanwhile, in Japan these three will be released on DVD with extras (no subs, of course...) on this month's 28th. Here are the visuals:

[Lino]

Well, so today I had myself a triple-feature as I managed to watch the whole lot of the Bloodthirsty Trilogy back-to-back! Quite a fun ride too!

Actually, I had read reviews that said that these films did not work very well because of the cultural differences. I say that this is the trilogy's biggest asset - I just love when different kinds of art cross-pollinate each other as I find the final results are much more interesting. And this is the case here - you have a definitely western mythology and storytelling tradition re-interpreted by eastern minds but still keeping the whole feel of it.

And although they feel a bit cheesy here and there, they do not fall into high camp as I was afraid they would. Instead, they give us that whole J-horror creepy feel to it that got me gripped all the way through them. I will definitely revisit them in the future.

Recommended for anyone into 60's Hammer horror, Corman's Poe films and japanese horror with a twist!

[Lino]

If you were wondering about those Pinky films from Panik House well, here's an update:

August 30, 2005
* Reiko Ike Songs

I just got a very special surprise in my email today. Kawabata Mokoto from the Osaka, Japan based experimental music group Acid Mothers Temple sent me a confirmation email that his exclusive remix of rare Reiko Ike songs will be included as a bonus audio CD entitled Reiko Ike Sings! in the Pinky Violence Collection Box Set. This will now be a five disc collection housed in a pink vinyl digi-book which includes a 24 page booklet written by Chris D. (author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film). The booklet is an unremovable part of the packaging, written exclusively for this box set. The design is already complete, and it is guarantee to educate and entice. Stay tuned for more details on this extremely limited edition box set.
Here is the track listing for Reiko Ike Sings!:

http://www.panikhouse.com/phblog.html

Also be sure to check out new covers and specs for those DVDs. I bet we will be all in for a treat with these ones!

[Lino]

I have the Bloodthirsty Eyes Trilogy UK boxset on order and I will report back on how they fare when they arrive. Meanwhile, in Japan these three will be released on DVD with extras (no subs, of course...) on this month's 28th. Here are the visuals:

Here's a review of that japanese boxset:

http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=139

Hmm...I really shouldn't be telling you this but there is a guy over at ebay called Cannibal King that is selling english subtitled versions of that japanese box, using the same menus, extras and transfers. I went ahead and bought it after exchanging some clarification emails with him. I was not disappointed at all. It works just fine and these new restored transfers really are a beauty. Needless to say, I already sold my UK boxset.

[the dancing kid]

Re: the 'Angel Guts' box

A few of the films in this release are cropped from 2:35.1 to 1:85.1. Some of them are even censored through digital fogging or just plain old editing. It's a real shame this release turned out so bad, because these films probably won't be made availabe in the proper format again on region 1, or possibly ever.

Thanks for the heads up on the 'Bloodthirsty' box set. The screencaps of the new Japanese release look pretty good.

[colinr0380]

It seems that only the first film is cropped from 2.35 to 1.85. High School Co-Ed starts in 2.35 and goes to 1.85 after the credits. It looks like the rest are presented in their correct ratio but were filmed in different aspect ratios.

They are really insane films and very morally dubious! Nami, which is the third in the series, is by far the best. The other films have their moments though such as the egg and pencil scene in Red Porno (yikes! I'm glad the girl didn't fall on it!) or having Naoto Takenaka pointed out in Red Vertigo (who according to imdb went on to Shall We Dance?, Hiruko The Goblin and a lot of Miike Takashi's films, as well as doing some voice acting on Patlabor 2 and Ghost In The Shell 2).

Jasper Sharp's commentaries are also very good, though there's really not much to say during the often ten minute sex scenes! There are a number of silences, early sign offs and repeated information over all five films, but I think that it is more to do with the films themselves than a poor commentary technique - there is a lot of fascinating information there and I can see myself watching the films with the commentary more often than with the commentary off and it made the films a lot more entertaining than they really had any right to be!

It is a shame that the first film is cropped - It has been a while since I watched that one so I can't remember if the reason for the 1.85:1 print is mentioned.

After seeing that the first two films were directed by Chusei Sone I've been looking through my video cassettes for his 1972 comedy film The Virgin Courtesan (also known as Secret Chronicle: Prostitution Market!) which was shown on UK TV in 2001 - I know I recorded it but I've just got to find it (I think I need to urgently catalogue my collection!)

[Mestes]

Re: the 'Angel Guts' box

A few of the films in this release are cropped from 2:35.1 to 1:85.1. Some of them are even censored through digital fogging or just plain old editing. It's a real shame this release turned out so bad, because these films probably won't be made availabe in the proper format again on region 1, or possibly ever.

In response to your suggestion that Artsmagic cropped and/or censored "a few" of the films in this release, I asked Artsmagic to respond, and received the following:

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your email.

The DVD's that were released of the Angel Guts Series were released in the
format we received them in.

They are exact replicas to the masters we had from Japan including the
digitized fogging over private parts etc.

Thanks
Phil Lewis (Web Manager)
Artsmagic Ltd

[colinr0380]

There is also a very good essay on the use of digital fogging in the liner notes to the Synapse Films DVD of Entrails of a Virgin.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The fogging was undoubtedly on the films when they were originally shown in Japan. Until recent years the censorship there was very strict, and not even a single pubic hair would be allowed. Censors would go over film frame by frame with magnifying glasses looking for unacceptable material.

There's also some good background material on such censorship in Thomas Weisser's book Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films.

[Lino]

Teruo Ishii has made some truly masterful exploitation gems and Toei in Japan has recently released a kick-ass 5xDVD boxset featuring what are perhaps his most notorious films (no english subs on Toei DVDs, folks). Go here for excellent reviews of that set with screencaps:

http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=528

[Lino]

A quick question: as I believe, there are 8 Tokugawa films in total (from the Joys of Torture cycle) but were they all directed by Teruo Ishii? I know that at least 5 were (the ones that are on the boxset I mentioned above) but what about the other 3?

[Lino]

The Baby Cart series aka Lone Wolf and Cub will be released in France on a mega-set complete with a DVD solely dedicated to bonus and a booklet as well - all in a very classy box:

http://www.ecranlarge.com/news-dvd-438.php

Out on December, 7th and these releases will be lifted from completely new masters. Watch a trailer for that set here (click on bande-annonce):

http://www.wildsideproject.com/video/fiche.php?id=247

French subs only, of course.