Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
You might think that the women-in-prison genre is so rigid in its conventions that it wouldn’t allow room for much experimentation, but leave it to the Japanese to prove that assumption wrong. The first three films in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, all of which were directed by Shunya Ito, stand out for me as the pinnacle of artistically-rendered 1970s Japanese exploitation. Each film is stuffed full of surrealist imagery, imaginative compositions and breathtaking visual lyricism. Of course, being that they are women-in-prison films, they are also stuffed full of shower scenes, lesbianism and graphic violence.
#1 by Tom Meade on August 13, 2008 - 9:19 am
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“Think Mildred Pierce with lots of tits and gore.”
Oh if only. It seems doubly appropriate since Meiko Kaji is one of only a few actresses I can think of who can match Joan Crawford for looking colossally, righteously pissed-off.
Having said that, I keep meaning to see the Female Prisoner films but never get round to it. This review has definitely tipped me over into springing for them.