Female Prisoner Scorpion Trilogy

Introduction

I'd never heard of the Female Prisoner Scorpion films as my knowledge of trash and exploitation cinema is limited to Europe and America. The three films in this trilogy follow the travails of Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji) who was used as bait in a sting operation by her boyfriend, Sugimi (Natsuyagi Isao), a corrupt cop who cast her aside after she was beaten and raped by the gang he was bringing down for drug smuggling. Framing her for murder, Matsushima is imprisoned but her wrath and propensity for violence earns her the nickname Scorpion.

During the three films, a bad guy is established and Scorpion gets revenge in less than 90 minutes, all with a hefty dose of nudity, sex and violence.

In the course of the trilogy, her real target is Sugimi and if a sadistic warden stands in her way, then she'll do anything to remove him as an obstacle, no matter how violent. In some ways this trilogy predates the vengeance movies of Chan-wook Park and Kill Bill - they are an obvious reference point for Quentin Tarantino, a supreme cinematic plagiariser. During the films, all directed by Shunya Ito, the style switches from down and dirty realism to over-saturated and ultra-stylised surrealism with great effect.

Video

Japanese cinema doesn't have a reputation for using the best film stock available or for keeping their films in the best storage conditions so the picture quality is an extremely pleasant surprise. The special effects maker and prosthetics may not be the best you'll ever see, but these are beautifully shot with great attention paid to angles and décor to give the films a look that keeps you wondering what the hell is going on and on edge. The subtitles on the first and third instalments are excellent and much better than those in the second, which are slightly disappointing but par for films of this nature; the subtitles are optional so Japanese speakers will be able to enjoy the movies without captions.

Audio

The soundtracks are surprisingly clear with lovely scores and over-the-top sound effects and there has, as with the picture, been some restoration work.

Extra Features

A bit of a let down on this front with only trailers, galleries and inserts with essays by Japanese film experts included - these are excellent reads but the promised insert in the third case wasn't present. Interviews with members of the cast and crew or even Tarantino would've been most welcome but they are not essential to your enjoyment of the set. The films come in separate Amaray cases in a cardboard slipcase.

Conclusion

I had a great time watching these films and aspiring filmmaker's like Tarantino and Park must've been influenced by the idea of a wronged woman with amazing mental toughness and a mean streak a mile wide to make their own revenge flicks. I hold Park's 'Vengeance Trilogy' in higher regard than Kill Bill, a film let down by its second part and these films stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

Women in Prison films tend to be dominated by style and gratuitous sex and violence, with little regard for substance and social context so these three really stand out against such entrants in the genre as The Big Doll House (Roger Corman), Bare Behind Bars (Oswaldo de Oliveira) or Barbed Wire Dolls (Jess Franco) which are typified by sadistic female wardens and plenty of lesbian orgies. This is not to say that Ito is averse to nudity or sex - there is enough in the films to satisfy genre fans - but these films are more than just skin flicks in a prison, there are well rounded characters that you care about, particularly in the third instalment, Beast Stable.

Prisoner #701 is a great creation and her ability to withstand torture whilst formulating plans for her tormentors' comeuppance is the key to the films and the revenge, when it comes (and particularly at the end of the three movies) proves the sayings 'revenge is sweet' and 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' particularly well. If you like the Kill Bill films and/or Park's vengeance movies then you should definitely watch this and Eureka Video have released the set with a surprisingly low (and very welcome) RRP that makes them very affordable and worth a place on your DVD shelf.