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The Stray Cats are on the Prowl!
The Stray Cat Rock series stars Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Blind Woman’s Curse) who with these five films began her reign as the badass action queen of the era.

In these five tales of rebellious youth she stars alongside the gorgeous Bunjaku Han (Love Letter) and Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses). In Delinquent Girl Boss, the girl gang go up against criminal organisation the Seiyu Group, where following a fixed boxing match blood is shed and friendships are tested. In Wild Jumbo, Kaji and the gang get involved in a kidnapping and the robbery of a religious organization. In Sex Hunter Kaji’s girl gang go up against The Eagles, a group led by Fuji where sex and violence erupt over the treatment of ‘half-breeds’. In Machine Animal gang rivalry is once again the focus with two gangs pursuing some LSD pushers looking to move a big score. The series swansong, Beat’71, sees Kaji framed and sent to prison by her boyfriend’s father and with the help of some hippies she strives to be re-united.

Directed by genre veterans Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song) and Toshiya Fujita (Lady Snowblood) the films feature a psychedelic mix of girl gangs, bikers, sex, drugs and rock and roll with plenty of ass-kicking to boot, all captured in a delirious mash up of pop aesthetics including split screens, freeze frames, injections of colour, frenetic editing and dizzying angles, making these films a riotous joy from beginning to end.

Reviews
"Impeccably stylised and undeniably cool."
- Tom Mes, Midnight Eye

"...Having all five of the Stray Cat Rock films in one release is quite a sweet treat. Each of the films have been cleaned up and have received admirable transfers that bring out much more detail and naturalized colors than any previous releases have."
- ION Cinema

CONTENTS

• Limited Edition Blu-ray (3000 copies only)
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of all 5 films in the Stray Cat Rock series, available in the English speaking world for the first time
• Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays)
• New English subtitle translation of all five films
• Interview with Yasuharu Hasebe director of Delinquent Girl Boss,Sex Hunter and Machine Animal
• Interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji, star of all five films
• Interview with actor Yoshio Harada, star of Beat '71
• Original Trailers
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp

HOOOOLLLLLYYYY SHHHIIITTTTT!!!

The old HVE disc of Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter is incredibly weak, so getting a nice upgrade of that will be nice, but the other four too?! These are some of the most fun, wildy stylish films from the end of Nikkatsu's action film era. The best ones in the serious are all directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, one of Nikkatsu's best directors of the 70's who went on to follow these up with so many fantastic, violent pink films with offensive titles like Rape! 25th Hour!. And of course the gorgeous and stoic Meiko Kaji is the glue that loosely connects all these films, aside from the fact they're all about teen gangs. These are going to be exciting releases and I'll happily rid of my fan subtitled copies for a real release.

This is amazing. Does anyone know yet whether the films will be blu-ray or only dvd?

It would be great if they were released in a box, to compare the different attitudes the films present. Hasebe has one perspective, and Toshiya Fujita, who directs two of the 5 entries, has a very different perspective which he works from--Fujita (who played the lead in Seijun Suzuki's Zigeunerweisen) has a more conservative attitude towards the youthful high spirits of the pictures. Hasebe's films are better, probably because he does not pander too much the way Fujita does--dismaying that "the kids are out of control." For Hasebe, the biker girls are like John Wayne in a western: they're simply the most effective figures in the drama. He is not so concerned with how old they are, and he seems to share the antisocial attitudes the girls possess. Fujita clearly does not, and I think the films he helms are a little weaker for that. They are still fun movies, and seeing them all together is a real interesting mashup of different attitudes from that era.

they mentioned a blu ray box set with all 5 films on Facebook today!!

That is overwhelming! I never dreamed that would ever happen. Best news of the year so far.

This is amazing. Does anyone know yet whether the films will be blu-ray or only dvd?

BD + DVD.

Been waiting years for Home Vision to release the rest of the series which never happened. To get the entire series on BD before Japan? Gold.

The Homevision version of Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter looked wildly visually stylized--like there was a kind of sophisticated color desaturation/boosting going on. I have seen a preview for the film from the Japanese boxset which shows a far wider color range. In fact, all the other films have a much more normative-looking color range, with the slightly saturate yet essentially realistic color that most Nikkatsu films of the era boast. Hopefully this set will restore the look of that film to what it was really supposed to be.

Will definitely buy this (and a pal in the US is freaking out with joy over this news) but it would be even more wild if this could herald further Nikkatsu titles from Arrow. A shame the killjoys at the BBFC would likely prevent the wilder 70's Japanese exploitation titles from getting considered - I'm guessing (but would love to be told otherwise) that stuff like Hasebe's ASSAULT JACK THE RIPPER is too harsh for an uncut UK release. I'd be pleased to see Arrow dig deeper into 70's Japanese (s)exploitation, but I imagine they would have a good idea of what the BBFC will currently let them get away with.

If they do, I have a soft spot for Delinquent Girl Boss: Crazy Ball Game. But I think seeing these pictures released is pretty major. Lots of Toei Pinky Violence pictures have made it out in the U.S., and some of the pink films (including Assault: Jack the Ripper). The Stray Cat Rock pictures had that one mile marker from Home Vision, but it's easy to overlook them, coming as they do between the Seijun Suzuki-era Nikkatsu and the pink films. And I think a whole collection of girl biker gang rock musicals has a pretty special cult value all its own.

I definitely don't want to underrate the interest and appeal of this set - it's a huge announcement and the combination of Arrow and an entire cult Japanese film series - on Blu-Ray! - will make this one of the key releases of the year for me. I will say that I'm getting pretty much all the recently announced Arrow titles excepting THE BURBS, and I might still get THE BURBS.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

- Limited Edition (2000 copies only)
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of all 5 films in the Stray Cat Rock series, available in the English speaking world for the first time
- Original Mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays)
- New English subtitle translation of all five films
- Interview with Yasuharu Hasebe director of Delinquent Girl Boss,Sex Hunter and Machine Animal
- Interview with actor Tatsuya Fuji, star of all five films
- Original Trailers for all five films
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp

Dual-format release: September 8th

Jeez it's only £25! Presumably it's at least 2 discs?

EddieLarkin wrote:Jeez it's only £25! Presumably it's at least 2 discs?

2 Blu-ray, 3 DVD. The films themselves are only 75-80 minutes so plenty of room for them on 2 BD50s

Yeah that's what I figured; say films 1-3 on Disc 1, and 4-5+supplements on Disc 2. Very excited!

EddieLarkin wrote:Yeah that's what I figured; say films 1-3 on Disc 1, and 4-5+supplements on Disc 2. Very excited!

Exactly right!

Though it's out in early September, this limited edition box is (according to Arrow on Facebook a couple of hours ago) nearly 70% sold out already, so I'd probably suggest anyone interested should pre-order it soonish rather than waiting around for the September release date.

Thanks for the heads-up, Anthony. I'll snag it up tomorrow.

Amazon says the release has been pushed back to September 22.

Yes, I got an email from Arrow saying that it will now be released on Sep 22.

I thought to myself "well, it's either Beaver or a delay, most likely a delay".

Well, now it's Beaver.

It seems color space is fine on these compared to Lady Snowblood and Blind Woman Curse.

I was thinking the same thing! I look forward to confirming it when I have the set.