If you feel like you’ve had enough of artsploitation and would like to try something less elegant it’s hard to think of a better movie than Yukio Noda’s Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs. Not to be confused with the 90’s / 2000’s straight to video crap, this original 1974 film is pinky violence at it’s grittiest. Stylish and groovy combination of 70’s crime cinema and ultra violence, this film is like Fukasaku or Friedkin on acid. Those with a weak stomach stay the hell away.
Red Handcuffs stars Miki Sugimoto (who also appeared in numerous films with Reiko Ike before retiring and becoming a nursery school teacher) as an undercover cop who’s mission is to save a well know politician’s (Tetsuro Tamba) daughter from the hands of six kidnappers, and destroy all evidence of the incident... including the kidnappers themself. The leader of the criminals is played by Eiji Go who gives a wonderful over the top performance. In this movie the bad guys are truly bad, only outdone by some truly sadistic good guys (including Hideo Murota). But that makes it all the more satisfying to see Miki taking care of the human garbage at the end. Pinky Violence fans should also recognize Yoko Mihara as one very bad girl.
Other than sex, violence and style the film also features an excellent soundtrack that perfectly accompanies the images and especially the action at the end. The only real flaw in the film would be the fact that some parts may feel a bit heavy because of the strong content and the lack of humour. The last 20 minutes however is such a stylish showcase of ultraviolent action that you’re likely to forget any flaws that might have occurred earlier. As a nice little spice the film also features some strong political references (the american military presence in 70’s Japan). Such themes weren’t rare in japanese cinema of the time and can be found in some other well know pinky violence film such as Criminal Woman: Killing Melody and Nikkatsu’s Stray Cat Rock films.
When it comes to available dvd releases two respectable options exist; HK Video (from Femmes Fatales box set) and R1 Discotek. Toei unfortunately has not released the film on dvd. The HK Video transfer is unfortunately not among their best (and looks better in those caps than as a whole in real life). There’s too much contrast in bright scenes and in darker scenes characters tend to have very pale faces. Sometimes skintones also have slight purple shade. HK Video has given the transfer a bluish tint which doesn’t make things any better. One scene also features noticable print damage in form of a blue vertical lines (doesn’t last for long). I had to do a lot of adjusting (everything from contrast to chroma and colors) but ultimately I managed to make the image look quite alright for most of the time and very good for beginning and ending.
I’ve been trying compare my HK Video disc to Discotek caps I’ve found from internet and it would seem that while Discotek fixes the pale/purple face problem (and looks far, far superior in some shots) it has been given even more visible, however less strong blue/pink tint. In the end, The HK Video may still be better. I’m gonna keep my HK Video till Toei releases the film... although I recall hearing that the Toei masters are in poor shape and Discotek possibly used a french source (the difference between HK Video and Discotek appears to be huge though and nothing would really suggest they come from the same source). The following screencaptures come from the HK Video dvd.
Hideo Murota
Eiji Go
Yoko Mihara
Tetsuro Tamba... with a purple face
