- Actors: Meiko Kaji
- Directors: Shunya Ito
- Format: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Widescreen
- Language Japanese
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 3
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Eureka Entertainment LTD
- DVD Release Date: 6 April 2009
- Run Time: 266 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B001S8J572
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 43,801 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Product Description
Beauty brought to its shattered shattered, bleeding knees. Beware the clitoral sting of the latchkey slut! A feast of feral sex, ultra-violence, impulsive lesbian orgies, and mock crucifixions that goes by the name of the FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION TRILOGY. The first three Shunya Ito directed instalments in this extraordinarily influential series are all included here and all feature Meiko Kaji (femme fatale extraordinaire of the Stray Cat Rock and Lady Snowblood series). Three disc set includes Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 & Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable ***Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is Jailhouse Rock for the stay-at-home generation: an amphetamine-fueled descent into the humid cells of a women s lock-up. High-pulse nymphomania, bone-shattering violence, and a gruesomely gynaecological approach to torture rear their collective head in the workyard, in the cafeteria, ... and in the showers of this messed-up big-house more akin to a hen-house where all types of filthy birds come to roost. Take Meiko Kaji for instance (sex-kitten eminence of the Stray Cat Rock and Lady Snowblood series) she s serving time as a result of circumstances that went a little, well ... beyond her control. But whether she s tied down or chained up, Kaji (a.k.a. Nami Matsu the Scorpion Matsushima) knows how to channel her sense of vengeance into that delta-sized libidinal urge known by any prison-vixen of the sensational 70s and thereby makes the most of her incarceration. Director Shunya Itô wields the Scope frame like a phallic weapon in this cock-eyed classic from the era when the Japanese studios went grindhouse and Quentin Tarantino s inspirational ground-zero was formed. So take note: before O-Ren Ishii and Kill Bill, there was Nami Matsushima and the Female Prisoner Scorpion series; this film is instalment #1 in that series; and it will leave you stung, swollen and bruised. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is cinema at its most reckless. ***Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 Those who value balanced brain-chemistry and a regular heart-rate, approach Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 with extreme caution. For within this film lie feral sex, hyper-violence, impulsive lesbian orgies, mock crucifixions. Spoons sharpened into shivs. Eye-melting depictions of the most shockingly jagged DIY abortions. Filmed in colours that tilt without warning from ashen, pale shades into scrambled, lurid hues, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 brings the characters from Tooru Shinohara s popular manga to genital-swinging life. The storyline assumes the form of a quest for vengeance by a woman imprisoned but director Shunya Itô s images and the singular star-presence of Meiko Kaji (Stray Cat Rock, Lady Snowblood) combine to transcend a common B-film revenge-tale and take on an execution that is unadulterated IMPACT. ***Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable An avenging angel... or a seductive siren? Conceive of her as you like either way, she walks alone, this woman wronged by the world... this Scorpion with a taste for vengeance! Beware her clitoral sting! Meiko Kaji (femme fatale extraordinaire of the Stray Cat Rock and Lady Snowblood series) returns as Female Prisoner #701 now escaped from the very authority who would grind her down. With one severed arm dangling from one handcuffed wrist, Kaji takes refuge in the home of a kindred soul... a latchkey slut in want of all the world s sympathy... forced into a back-alley living for the sake of supporting her retarded brother... whose baby grows ever quick in her womb oh life! No, it s not long until old enemies rearrive, new adversaries are inaugurated... and this waking nightmare gives way to a new dawn... soiled by indiscriminate abortion!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
I can't recommend these 4 films highly enough! Absolutely essential viewing for anyone interested in Japanese exploitation cinema - or Asian cinema in general. I'm not particularly fond of modern day Japanese cinema but the output through the 60's and 70's was one of a kind and timeless. Many film makers in Japan today are emulating and re-inventing these classics as 'trendy', 'pop culture' MTV eyesores for the new generation - but Meiko Kaji started it all - and there's only ONE Meiko Kaji.
This "Scorpion" Box set contains just 3 of the four original films - that is parts 1, 3 & 4. Episode 2 isn't included for some odd reason but may be tracked down on another label (Eureka region 2) if you look hard. They all tend to stand alone and can work as individual films or an entire quadrilogy if you prefer.
Not enough can be said to stress the power and presence that star Kaji possesses. The woman is incredible - all dressed in black with trenchcoat and black hat - not to mention 'that look'...... the woman says barely 2 sentences in all films combined but my God the expression, the intensity in her beautiful cold eyes is palpable.
NO other femme on a mission in any other film has ever come close to matching Kaji's screen presence. It's a shame she wasn't cast by Tarantino in "KILL BILL" even though her "Scorpion" films were the basis for it.
Not only does she carry the films she sings the haunting theme song which gladly Tarantino DID use in "KILL BILL"
Some say some are better than others though I liked them all - even "Grudge Song" which some people thought the weakest. I loved it. At the time of this review I've just recieved the missing part 2 "Convict 41" so I've not yet watched it.
The transfers are satisfactory - nothing great but the content of the films more than makes up for anything else.
The 2.35:1 framing is spot on and compliments the superb often surreal imagery and camera compositions really well. To see these in pan and scan would be a disaster.
Absolutely recommended!
This "Scorpion" Box set contains just 3 of the four original films - that is parts 1, 3 & 4. Episode 2 isn't included for some odd reason but may be tracked down on another label (Eureka region 2) if you look hard. They all tend to stand alone and can work as individual films or an entire quadrilogy if you prefer.
Not enough can be said to stress the power and presence that star Kaji possesses. The woman is incredible - all dressed in black with trenchcoat and black hat - not to mention 'that look'...... the woman says barely 2 sentences in all films combined but my God the expression, the intensity in her beautiful cold eyes is palpable.
NO other femme on a mission in any other film has ever come close to matching Kaji's screen presence. It's a shame she wasn't cast by Tarantino in "KILL BILL" even though her "Scorpion" films were the basis for it.
Not only does she carry the films she sings the haunting theme song which gladly Tarantino DID use in "KILL BILL"
Some say some are better than others though I liked them all - even "Grudge Song" which some people thought the weakest. I loved it. At the time of this review I've just recieved the missing part 2 "Convict 41" so I've not yet watched it.
The transfers are satisfactory - nothing great but the content of the films more than makes up for anything else.
The 2.35:1 framing is spot on and compliments the superb often surreal imagery and camera compositions really well. To see these in pan and scan would be a disaster.
Absolutely recommended!
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
I really did like these films and was blown away by the crazy cool visuals which i never expected to see but the way these films are talked about made me think that they were something else. In fact i'm pretty sure that most of the people who talk about these films have never seen them. The way in which people described these films made them seem action packed which tuned out not to be true. Instead what i found out was that these films are actually psychological art-house revenge movies which is fine by me.
So there's nothing wrong with the films its just i thought i had to warn people that they aren't what you first expect. Also that front cover where she is holding a gun is false, unless for some strange reason I've got different versions to everyone else. In fact she never even picks up a gun and does her killing with a knife.
So there's nothing wrong with the films its just i thought i had to warn people that they aren't what you first expect. Also that front cover where she is holding a gun is false, unless for some strange reason I've got different versions to everyone else. In fact she never even picks up a gun and does her killing with a knife.
13 of 22 people found the following review helpful
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In keeping with much of the "pink revolution",time has not been kind to this early 70's bout of subversiveness but the trilogy is not without its compensations.
Meiko Kaji is excellent as the titular heroine who in the first installment Female Prisoner #701:Scorpion is framed by her corrupt cop lover and ends up in prison where she is subjected to all manner of degredation but will not break no matter the provocation and escapes to avenge herself on those she holds responsible for her incarceration.
In the sequel Jailhouse 41 we find Scorpion back behind bars but after securing an escape with some other inmates we are treated to her own particular brand of justice.
In the final and best of the trilogy Beast Stable, Scorpion is at large hiding out from the police and befriending a prostitute Yuki whose own life incorporates having sex with her brain damaged older brother and whose "friendship"allows Scorpion to exact a fitting revenge.
Shunya Ito directs all 3 parts and the first has many striking moments amidst a fairly familiar movie prison environment,Ito throws the kitchen sink at the second with supernatural elements,dream sequences and wild colours which only seem to get in the way but the final part has some real bite with a nicely lurid and balanced narrative with many striking scenes.You will not forget Yuki in the grave yard turning to see Scorpion chewing on a human arm in a hurry.
That said,Female Prisoner is by today's standards fairly tame with only part 3 really holding up in it's violent subversiveness but what does hold up is Kaji as Scorpion whose pact with Ito to have Scorpion say as little as possible works wonderfully well.Kaji is delightfully enigmatic as a result and her homicidal outbursts are deliriously played out to punctuate her deep rooted sense of injustice.
Worth it for Kaji and Part 3.
Meiko Kaji is excellent as the titular heroine who in the first installment Female Prisoner #701:Scorpion is framed by her corrupt cop lover and ends up in prison where she is subjected to all manner of degredation but will not break no matter the provocation and escapes to avenge herself on those she holds responsible for her incarceration.
In the sequel Jailhouse 41 we find Scorpion back behind bars but after securing an escape with some other inmates we are treated to her own particular brand of justice.
In the final and best of the trilogy Beast Stable, Scorpion is at large hiding out from the police and befriending a prostitute Yuki whose own life incorporates having sex with her brain damaged older brother and whose "friendship"allows Scorpion to exact a fitting revenge.
Shunya Ito directs all 3 parts and the first has many striking moments amidst a fairly familiar movie prison environment,Ito throws the kitchen sink at the second with supernatural elements,dream sequences and wild colours which only seem to get in the way but the final part has some real bite with a nicely lurid and balanced narrative with many striking scenes.You will not forget Yuki in the grave yard turning to see Scorpion chewing on a human arm in a hurry.
That said,Female Prisoner is by today's standards fairly tame with only part 3 really holding up in it's violent subversiveness but what does hold up is Kaji as Scorpion whose pact with Ito to have Scorpion say as little as possible works wonderfully well.Kaji is delightfully enigmatic as a result and her homicidal outbursts are deliriously played out to punctuate her deep rooted sense of injustice.
Worth it for Kaji and Part 3.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Well its 70's stuff after all
Well I bought it coz of the price and as an avid Kill Bill fan. I can see where Tarantino might have got some of his inspiration for Kill Bill from. Read more
Published on 14 Feb 2010 by Volvi
Japanise exploitation gem!
This trilogy (especially the first film) is a must see for all fans of Japanese exploitation!
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion: 5/5
Scorpion: Female Prisoner Cage... Read more
Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion: 5/5
Scorpion: Female Prisoner Cage... Read more
Published on 14 July 2009 by Rosten Artturi
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