Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (1973)

Toei Studios had big plans for the Female Prisoner Scorpion series. After the first three entries scalded audiences and lit-up the box-office, the plan was to extend the series indefinitely.

Unfortunately, things took a major hit when director Shunya Itō bowed out after Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (alias Joshū Sasori - Kemono Beya, 1973), saying he had done all he wanted to do with the character. But! They were able to get star Meiko Kaji to sign on for at least one more, reuniting her with one of her old Stray Cat Rock directors, Yasuharu Hasebe, for what would turn out to be the last entry in the series, Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (alias Joshū Sasori - 701 Gō Urami Bushi, 1973).

Sadly, one can easily sense Itō’s absence in this last installment. It’s good, but not near as good as the others as we once more open with Matsu on the run from yet another new arch-nemesis, Inspector Hirose (Tsukata).

Beaten and bloodied, she manages to elude capture and takes refuge in a strip-club, where she’s nursed back to health by Kudo (Tamura), a former student radical who is also well aware of police brutality, having been crippled, scarred, and beaten into betraying his faction by the very same Hirose. And together, these two lost souls go on the lam and slowly *ahem* stoke the fires and rekindle their lost humanity (-- a theme that actually began in the last installment for Matsu).

Things get complicated when an attempt to ambush Hirose goes awry, where his pregnant wife, whom they were holding hostage, is accidentally killed while trying to escape (-- though she might’ve committed suicide by flinging herself off a balcony. Hard to read that scene, honestly.)

When Kudo is captured he once more caves, giving up Matsu to the police; and as she is once more incarcerated and awaits her execution, constantly tormented by Hirose the whole time, whatever trace of humanity that had resurfaced is now completely destroyed, meaning Matsu is no more and now there is only the Scorpion, who has no intention of walking the gallows steps and will not stop until she’s had her revenge again, again.

It isn’t until the grand finale and final fatal showdown that Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701’s Grudge Song finally reaches the nightmarish delirium of the first three films. If Hasebe had spread that out a bit, then we really might’ve had something here.

As is, parts just didn’t jive; like how Matsu makes several long speeches after barely uttering ten words in the last three films combined. Still, they were trying to show that Matsu was subverting the Scorpion so I guess that kinda works. However, one cannot help but sense this was a film about Kudo that grafted Matsu onto it, a doomed couple on the run that owes more to Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Getaway (1972) than its predecessors.

Thus, Grudge Song falls into that nebulous category of being a pretty good movie but also a pretty terrible sequel. Not a catastrophe by any means -- you got Meiko Kaji being Meiko Kaji after all, but there is a whiff of disappointment that I won’t deny.

Now, when most people try to sell you on a lode of female empowerment that’s wrapped-up in this kind of violence, sexually abusive brutality, and sadistically exploitative packaging, they are usually full of shit; but I’m telling ya the Female Prisoner Scorpion series are the real deal.

And in this four part retrospective, you’re only getting half the picture as no plot synopsis on Earth can do justice to the work Meiko and Itō executed onscreen. And if you need further proof, I will point you to Arrow Video’s Female Prisoner Scorpion: The Complete Collection boxset.

As always, the Arrow discs are jammed packed with extras. No commentaries this time, which is a tad disappointing because I wanted to know more. However, Arrow compensates for this with plenty of featurettes, including several new interviews with Itō and one vintage interview with Hasebe. But the real highlights are a couple of visual essays by Tom Mes; one on the film career of Meiko Kaji and the other an in depth analysis of the evolution of the Scorpion series. 

The boxset also includes a booklet with more critical analysis, an interview with Toru Shinohara, the creator of the Scorpion manga, and a reprint of a rare vintage interview with star Meiko Kaji.

Again, I was well aware of this series but aside from a much later Chinese co-production / failed reboot in the aughts (-- that wasn't very good), I waited way too long for my first official foray into the Scorpion series and I cannot stress enough how much the originals knocked me on my ass. 

There was a bit of diminishing returns as the series progressed, sure, especially the last entry with Ito’s absence. But honestly, the bar was set so high you might not even notice. Cannot recommend this series enough, Fellow Programs. 

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

Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701’s Grudge Song (1973) Toei Company / P: Kineo Yoshimine / D: Yasuharu Hasebe / W: Yasuharu Hasebe, Fumio Kônami, Hirô Matsuda, Tooru Shinohara (manga) / C: Hanjirô Nakazawa / E: Tomio Fukuda / M: Hajime Kaburagi / S: Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei, Hiroshi Tsukata, Yayoi Watanabe, Sanae Nakahara