Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)

With the smashing box-office success of Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (alias Joshū Nana-maru-ichi Gō / Sasori, 1972), audiences were clamoring for more and a once reluctant Toei Studios essentially tripped over themselves to oblige, reuniting director Shunya Itō and star Meiko Kaji for Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (alias, Joshū Sasori – Dai 41 Zakkyobō 1972), which hit theaters a mere four months after the premiere of its predecessor.

The sequel picks up a year after the bloody conclusion of the first film, with Matsu (Kaji) back in prison. Now, Matsu has spent that entire year trussed up in the deepest, darkest, and dankest recesses of the prison in solitary confinement. 

And she probably would’ve remained there until she rotted away but her old pal and resident sadist, Warden Goda (Watanabe), has decided to let her out to see the sun one last time before he transfers out via a promotion. (I just love how these two are the constant banes of each other’s existence.)

This does not go well at all. And so, with his promotion derailed, Goda orders a Sisyphean group punishment for all prisoners at a local rock quarry, where he has a skeevy surprise planned for our protagonist as well, to make her an even more abject lesson to the other convicts.

However, and sticking with the theme, this plan also backfires when Matsu and six other prisoners engineer an escape and spend the rest of the film on the run, with Goda and his goons and their own past sins hot on their heels. Again, this does not end well.

Now, I had heard good things about this series but, great googly-moogily, two films in and this is patently ridiculous how great these Female Prisoner Scorpion films have been.

I talked about the international influences of Itô on the first film but we can add traditional Japanese theater, Masaki Kobayashi’s Kwaidan (1964), and I swear to god, the musicals of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly as several phantasmagorical dream sequences just scream, “Man, this really reminds me of the 'Gotta Dance!' sequence from Singing in the Rain (1960)."

But those explosions of color are rare this go ‘round, with a more subdued palette as this one kinda sorta comes off as a ghost story. The scenes where the fugitives hide in the ruins of a village, abandoned due to an apparent volcanic eruption, providing a surreal moonscape, are hypnotic -- though the bit with the stray dog was a tad disturbing.

As are later scenes with the discovery of a body in a river and the waterfall suddenly disgorging a torrent of blood; or where our heroine gets lost in a mountain range landfill that quietly tells you all you need to know about what the director is trying to say. (There’s also an early scene where he shows the passage of time by showing Matsu grind a spoon into a shiv using only her teeth.)

Thus, no matter how many influences you cite, Itô combines them all into one unique, demented, and brain-boggling experience.

Meiko also delivers again, too, as our silent assassin; though I think she only says three words during the whole movie. Never fear, Kayoko Shiraishi says plenty as fellow prisoner Oba, in a performance for the ages in this primal scream and raised middle finger at the entrenched corruption of the powers that be in post-war Japan and its oppressive patriarchal system.

A primal scream that once again had audiences clamoring for yet another sequel. Again, Toei didn’t hesitate and Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973) was soon in production. Stay tuned!

Originally posted on on July 31, 2016, at Micro-Brewed Reviews.

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) Toei Company / P: Kineo Yoshimine / D: Shun'ya Itô / W: Shun'ya Itô, Fumio Kônami, Hirô Matsuda, Tooru Shinohara (manga) / C: Masao Shimizu / E: Osamu Tanaka / M: Shunsuke Kikuchi / S: Meiko Kaji, Fumio Watanabe, Yukie Kagawa, Kayoko Shiraishi, Eiko Yanami, Hiroko Isayama

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)

Despite an escalation of violence and explicit nudity, Japanese cinema, like their American counterparts, was still losing the battle to television at the dawn of the 1970s, and losing badly at winning the hearts and minds and wallets of audiences. 

And while fabled studios like Nikkatsu had abandoned any pretensions and went full softcore Roman Porno (Romance Porn), rival studio Toei fought on and found a modicum of success by amping up the violence and nudity even more. 

And not only that, but Toei would also abandon traditional Japanese themes of honor and tradition and proper gender roles for the more brutal approach of Kinji Fukasaku’s epic treatise Battles Without Honor and Humanity (alias Jingi Naki Tatakai,1973), producer Kanji Amao's line of Pinku eiga (Pinky Violence) films, tales of vengeance fueled by the likes of Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto, and Shunya Itō’s scream into the void Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (alias Joshū Nana-maru-ichi Gō / Sasori, 1972).

Seems when Nikkatsu switched gears to skin-flicks it also saw an exodus of talent; one of those being rising star Meiko Kaji, who had lit-up the box-office with Blind Woman’s Curse (alias Kaidan Nobori Ryū, 1970) and the delinquent bad-girl-centric Stray Cat Rock series (1970-1971), which Toei had hoped would continue by plugging Meiko into a proposed adaptation of Tōru Shinohara’s popular women-in-prison manga, Sasori (alias Scorpion).

However, things got off to a very rocky start as the assigned novice director Itō wasn't all that impressed with Meiko as an actress and felt she was completely wrong for the part. Their first pre-production meeting was a complete disaster. 

But luckily for film fans everywhere, despite the initial rancor behind the scenes, things eventually worked themselves out onscreen as the director and actress delivered a deliriously awesome cocktail of sex, violence, female empowerment, and social commentary wrapped in bun of surrealistic artistry and striking visuals.

Not quite Pinky Violence and not quite Roman Porno, this inaugural entry sets the tone to come with a distinct authority seldom seen from a first time director. And while Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion definitely has the salacious, exploitative sheen of a women-in-prison flick on the surface, you don't have to dig too deep into the nudity, cat-fights, and lesbian interludes to see there's a lot more going on as the film rails against entrenched corruption and the abuse of power.

Of course, all of that is wrapped around the tale of a prisoner, Nami “Matsu” Matsushima (Meiko), who was set-up by Sugimi (Natsuyagi), a crooked police detective. Used as bait in a drug-bust to eliminate his competitors it goes sideways -- so sideways an enraged Nami tries to kill him after. She fails, and the girl is arrested and sentenced to jail, much to Sugimi’s amusement.

Inside the prison walls, for trying to kill a police officer, our heroine is subjected to all kinds of torture and abuse from the guards and the sadistic warden, Goda (Watanabe). But Matsu also gets it from her fellow inmates and trustees, too, when her many escape attempts to get revenge on the man who railroaded her results in punishment for all.

Thus, as Matsu’s few friends are stripped away, along with her humanity, she slowly transforms into the Scorpion. And when one of Goda’s group punishments backfires, resulting in a riot and a prolonged stand-off, Matsu manages one more escape and systematically takes out Sugimi’s narcotics ring, leading to a final fatal showdown with the man who betrayed her, who also happens to be the man she loves.

With her transformation from naïve waif to hardcore killing machine, with such minimal dialogue, watching Meiko Kaji’s performance is both incredible and a privilege as she constantly turns the tables on her tormentors; all stepping stones on the road to her ultimate revenge. I’m telling ya, her silent death glare could vaporize glacial ice.

Itō would freely admit he was mistaken about Meiko. The director put her through all kinds of hell during filming, which the actress never backed away from, earning his deep respect. And the mesmerizing results on film are just brutal, visceral, and visually stunning as Ito's influences range from German silent expressionism to the avant-garde weirdness of Luis Buñuel. I love how Matsu draws a blade across her eyes, with tears for blood, signaling that vengeance is coming -- like the hand swipe that turns the giant stone golem to a vengeful demon in Daimajin (1966).

There’s also the anything goes nuttery of Seijun Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter (alias Tōkyō nagaremono, 1966) and Branded to Kill (alias Koroshi no Rakuin); the hard shell candy colors of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger; to the wild camera angles of William Dozier's TV version of Batman (1966-1968).

As the legend goes, when the film was finished, Toei executives weren’t thrilled with the end result and were on the verge of just shelving Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion indefinitely; but a wild raid and sit-in at a hotel occupied by the brass led by Itō turned things around.

Originally intended as a B-picture, the film proved such a big hit it was quickly moved to the top of the bill to cash-in. Thus, the film that almost didn’t happen -- or not as we’ve come to know it, left audiences clamoring for more. And Toei was quick to answer, reuniting Itō and Meiko for the follow up feature, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972). Coming soon!

Originally posted on on July 31, 2016, at Micro-Brewed Reviews.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972) Toei Company / P: Kineo Yoshimine / D: Shun'ya Itô / W: Fumio Kônami, Hirô Matsuda, Tooru Shinohara (Manga) / C: Hanjirô Nakazawa / E: Osamu Tanaka / M: Shunsuke Kikuchi / S: Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Yayoi Watanabe, Yôko Mihara, Akemi Negishi