Bullets 'n' Babes DVD

DVDTimes review of Groper Train: Search for the Black Pearl.

As stated in the official Toei thread... ehm, I mean JP Cult Cinema thread, in April Toei will release 3 pink dramas directed by Yuuji Makiguchi.

玉割り人ゆき (Tamawari nin Yuki) (Virgin Breaker Yuki) (1975)

Starring Jun Masumi
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1975/cy001410.htm
http://www.ofdb.de/film/111914,Gyokuwarijin-Yuki

玉割り人ゆき　西の廓夕月楼 (Tamawari nin Yuki: Nishi no kuruwa yuzuki ro) (Virgin Breaker Yuki 2) (1976)

Starring Jun Masumi
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1976/cz000420.htm
http://www.ofdb.de/film/111916,Gyokuwar ... ukir%C3%B4

らしゃめん(Rashamen) (1977)

Starring Haruko Wanibuchi
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1977/da002630.htm
http://www.ofdb.de/film/111917,Rashamen

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雪夫人絵図 (Yuki fujin ezu) (1975)

Directed by Masashige Narusawa
Starring Yoshiko Sakuma
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1975/cy000960.htm

Sorry if this is not the optimal thread for this post. I noticed four sweet-looking boxed sets of the Japanese TV series PLAY GIRL (1969-74?) for sale at Yesasia. Anyone know how many episodes were produced and what percentage is covered by these sets?

Here is the optimal thread:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4893&start=0

Thanks! Disappointing news, but at least it was right there in the very first post!

Don is revealing [url?http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11237&page=51]more Nikkatsu pink titles[/url]. The highlights include Naosuke Kurosawa's Zoom In: Rape Apartment, which is a pretty stunning pink giallo with amazing cinematography and audio design, and Sex Hunter: Wet Target, which I think was more or less based on the same screenplay as Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter, and directed by Yukihiro Sawada, who did one of the best cop movies of the 70's; Retreat Through the Wet Wasteland. Synapse is also going to release Tatsumi Kumashiro's Lovers Are Wet, which no. 69 on Kinema Junpo's top 100 Japanese movies of all time list.

Synapse titles revealed so far:

Lovers Are Wet (恋人たちは濡れた, 1973) (Tatsumi Kumashiro) (my mini review here)
Zoom In: Rape Apartments (ズームイン　暴行団地, 1980) (Naosuke Kurosawa) (my mini review here)
Zoom up: Beaver Book Girl (ズームアップ　ビニール本の女, probably, 1981) (Takashi Sugano)
Sex Hunter: Wet Target (セックス・ハンター　濡れた標的, 1972)(Yukihiro Sawada)
Fairy in a Cage (檻の中の妖精, 1977) (Koyu Ohara) (DVD Debut)
Rape! (犯す！, 1976) (Yasuharu Hasebe) (DVD Debut)
Rape Shot: Momoe's Lip (レイプショット　百恵の唇, 1979) (Katsuhiko Fujii)
True Story of Woman in Jail: Sex Hell (実録おんな鑑別所　性地獄, 1975) (Koyu Ohara) (DVD Debut)
True Story of Woman in Jail Continues (続実録おんな鑑別所, 1975) (Koyu Ohara) (DVD Debut)
Woman in Heat Behind Bars (檻の中の欲しがる女たち, 1987) (Junichi Suzuki) (DVD Debut)
Female Gymnastics Instructor: Jump and Straddle (女体育教師　跳んで開いて, 1981) (Koyu Ohara)
Nurse Diary: Wicked Finger (看護婦日記　いたずらな指, 1979) (Shinichi Shiratori)
Nurse Diary: Beastly Afternoon (看護婦日記　獣じみた午後, 1982) (Naosuke Kurosawa)
Hunting Female Teacher (女教師狩り, 1982) (Junichi Suzuki)
Female Teacher: In Front of the Students (女教師　生徒の眼の前で, 1982) (Yasuaki Uegaki)
Female Teacher: Dirty Afternoon (女教師　汚れた放課後, 1981) (Kichitaro Negishi)
I Like it From Behind (バックが大好き, 1981) (Koyu Ohara)
Story of White Coat: Indecent Acts (????)
Eros School (????)
Pearl Diver: Tight Shellfish (????)
She Cat (????)

There should still be a few more titles remaining.

Ah, finally have this with subs. Haven't watched the whole thing yet, but did spot-check it. So, apparently the above character is supposed to be 15?! Oops.

Heh, reminded me of Sexy Battle Girls and its 18 year old (according to Pink Eiga's subtitles) protagonist. But in the dialogue she actually says she's 14.

The actress was in her 20's.

Oh, and more Nikkatsu news. Kino / Kimstim are releasing Kumashiro films: the technically interesting but over-rated Ichijo Sayuri (my mini review), which is yet another film on Kinema Junpo's top 100 list, the rather good Yakuza Goddess: Lust and Honor (my mini review) - which features an ultra violent Taxi Driver finale, and a killer ending shot - and, strangly, Lovers Are Wet. There must be some mistake, cause that film is also on Synapse's list.

- http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/forums/showthread.php?t=32222

I wish these were coming out about one per week. I will probably only get a small percentage of them, but I am anxious for them (particularly the Synapse titles, which are probably eons away from release) to start rolling out the chute.

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I haven't been following this story all that closely, but if they are releasing a trailer comp, they should OBVIOUSLY put it out first and as soon as possible.

Wild Side has HQ cover arts and info for the first three titles on their website.
http://www.wildside.fr/video/collection,9

The running times, assuming both Wild Side and IMDB are correct, would seem a bit worrisome. They are the same, but with France being a PAL country their shouldn't be.

Notice that Wild Side claims some of the discs have DTS 5.1. Wait and see...

I've seen one of the films, Hell Fated Courtesan. It's an arthouse pink by Tanaka. Loved by critics, but not me.

As for the other two, The Woman with Pierced Nipples is a Shogoro Nishimura film. I used to think the guy is a hack, but I've since come realize most Nikkatsu directors are worse. That doesn't make Nishimura good, but his films do tend to have a little bit of kick.

Dark Room is kinda interesting for being 122 min. That's an exceptional length for a pink film, and a likely indication of ambition. That doesn't necessarily translate as quality, but it is usually a sign that they are trying to do something different. This film was apparently made to celebrate the studio's 70 years in business.

Makiguchi is hit or miss for me but Toei finally getting around to him is exciting news as far as I'm concerned. I could never figure why they released his 五月みどりの かまきり夫人の告白 (Satsuki Midori no Kamakiri-fujin no Kokuhaku) (1975) in 2005 and then didn't follow that up with anything else, specifically his more notorious efforts... until now. I was lucky enough to already watch the two 玉割り人ゆき / Virgin Breaker Yuki films via a recording made off the Toei Channel. As the title suggests they are about a woman whose job it is to break-in virgins after they've been sold to a brothel. It's period stuff, must have had a decent budget and overall among Makiguchi's better works. らしゃめん (Rashamen) I have never seen and frankly know nothing about. There is a LP / CD with the same title and the movie poster as the cover art and supposedly sung by Haruko Wanibuchi. So is this a musical, a concert film, an opera or what? Guess I'll find out in April.

I hope Toei will not call it quits after this batch for another 5 years and get on with releasing the rest of Makiguchi's not-too-numerous theatrical effiorts later in 2010:

戦後猟奇犯罪史 (1976)

This films (the title translates to something like "Bizarre Crimes of Post-War Japan) is similar to Ishii's Love and Crime, except that it focuses on famous and shocking crimes in the 30 years between the end of WW2 and the mid-70ies. Makiguchi managed to turn it into an entry in the decidedly Japanese genre of "rape comedies". The VHS is comparatively easy to find and I wasn't too impressed with this one. The TV show host who presents the cases seriously got on my nerves.






広島仁義　人質奪回作戦 (1976)

This is the only contemporary action film Makiguchi directed and that's a shame because this proto-heroic-bloodshed effort kicks some serious ass.







徳川女刑罰絵巻　牛裂きの刑 (1976)

Shogun's Sadism, yeah. One of the more mean-spirited films I have seen, party because the second episode is played for laughs. I have some doubts that, should Toei release this in Japan, that they can beat the genuine PAL transfer of the now OOP Dutch DVD.



女獄門帖　引き裂かれた尼僧 (1977)

This weird mixture of period splatter movie and Japanese nunsploitation is about a girl called Omino, a young woman who flees from her master and ends up in a convent full of man-hating, murderous nuns. But not after an obligatory scene of bandit-rape in the forest. Seriously, if you're a good looking chick, don't go and friggin pee in front of sex-starved bandits. There's really only one way that can end.

There was a VHS release in Japan sometime in the early 80ies but it was pan & scan 4:3 instead of 2.35:1 and as such the film is in dire need of a DVD release. It still gets occasional theatrical screenings in Japan and has a dedicated cult following. The complete screenplay along with director interviews and essays was published in the "Japanese Cult Cinema" series of books.











毒婦お伝と首斬り浅 (1977)

Another movie based on the exploits of Oden Takahashi. Her story was also adapted, among others, by Teruo Ishii in Love and Crime and Shogoro Nishimura in Kouyamu. This and Rashamen are the only Makiguchi films I haven't seen yet.

Excellent post, thanks. I had been hoping you'd registed at some point.

I've seen Hiroshima Honor (広島仁義　人質奪回作戦) and it's indeed pretty cool. The ending is pure heroic bloodshed, and I remember there was a terrific dinner scene between the leads.

Mantis Lady I thought was worthless. Not really horribly bad, but I didn't find see to get excited about either.

I just got my copy of Hell-Fated Courtesan, a film I really like even if I'm not a critic! I got some bad news for any prospective buyers, however. The Wild Side DVDs are garbage. Horribly interlaced incompetent NTSC to PAL format conversions. Compared to their R2J counterparts they are all but unwatchable. Here's a quick comparison to back me up:

Geneon NTSC R2J:



Wild Side PAL:



French Menu:



The inside of the DVD booklet has the cover arts for their entire catalugue of upcoming pink DVDs but after the screenshots above, does anybody still care? The French subtitles are the only reason to pick any of them up. And that bit about DTS? Hilarious. At least the DVD back covers themselves correctly list the Japanese audio as being mono.



I agree with you about Mantis Lady. That was my second Makiguchi film and it came as a tremendous disappointment. It's not a horrible film or poorly made, it's just that it is a totally forgettable 70ies sex comedy.

If I am not hideously mistaken, this poster was somewhat incongruously displayed amongst many girl gang posters at a recent pinky violence exhibit in Burbank, CA. The curator was having trouble identifying the film. It looks magnificent.

Soooo...

Anyone roll the dice on HELL'S ANGELS: CRIMSON ROAR? Money is tight, but I am very curious about this one.

Here's a terrific theme song from Koyu Ohara's wonderfully titled Ushiro kara, mae kara (後から前から).

http://sangreyakuza.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... -1980.html

Catchy as hell.

Ushiro kara, mae kara, doozo
Ushiro kara, mae kara, doozo
Ushiro kara, mae kara, doozo
Itsudemo dakishimete iino

Ushiro kara, mae kara, doozo
Ushiro kara, mae kara, doozo...

From the back, from the front, please
From the back, from the front, please
From the back, from the front, please
Whenever you'd like to, hold me

From the back, from the front, please
From the back, from the front, please...



You can buy it from amazon for 39 980 yen. Yeah, I told you these are oop.

Hold ya fucking horses, those overpriced discs ain't gonna be selling for long. Ushiro kara, mae kara will be re-released by Geneon June 25th, with a low price tag of ￥2890. Pink Hip Girl, Pinku Curtain, and a few others will hit the streets the same day. No doubt more will follow.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B003 ... 806&sr=1-2

This kinda gives me some hope. Ever since Geneon stopped releasing more Nikkatsu catalogue titles I was under the impression that they had given up on the genre and were cutting their losses. With these re-releases (which of course indicate that the first pressings did sell out) and the copious amounts of these remasters getting licensed in France, the US and a handful even in Germany, maybe they will eventually consider putting out a couple more batches. There are simply too many great films that should not be consigned to unavailability or VHS rip country.

In other news, the trailers for the 3 Yuuji Makiguchi (Rashamen, Virgin Breaker Yuki 1&2) films Toei is releasing this month can currently be viewed at Toei's trailer page:

http://www.toei-video.co.jp/trailer/index.html

As I said before, I'm most curious about Rashamen and the trailer maddeningly still doesn't really tell me any more about what the film is about or like. It's mostly just pans across gory and sexually explicit ukiyo-e paintings with accompanying narration. I'm kinda bummed that Toei haven't announced the remainder of Makiguchi's filmography for any of the coming months. Yes, greed is a terrible thing.