Joshuu sasori: Satsujin yokoku

Directed by Ikeda Toshiharu
Starring: Okamato Natuski, Nishikawa Mineko, Miyashita Junko, Amihama Naoka

Since Shunya Ito’s original Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion (1972) starring pinky violence superstar Meiko Kaji as the Manga character Sasori, Toei studios Female Convict Scorpion series has seen many incarnations and rip-offs. The most recent version being Joe Ma’s Sasori (2008). Years ago I was very excited when I learned that Evil Dead Trap (1988) director Toshiharu Ikeda was going to put his spin on this classic with Scorpion Woman Prisoner: Death Threat (1991). Ikeda really delivered the gruesome goods with his unique take on the tired slashergenre so this had to be something special. The problem was finding the film.

I scoured the gray video market and Japanese video distributors for many years. When the original Sasori series and other Ikeda films were officially released on DVD in the United States, I had hoped for a renewed interest. No luck. Other Sasori titles did appear but they were run of the mill J-Vid junk. Last week much to my surprise I finally landed the Toei VHS. Oh happy days. Another holy grail this white trash nerd could remove from his must-see-everything list. Ikeda’s film stars Naoko Amihama who is introduced crawling out of a barrel full of cement after she was gang raped and left to die. In flashback we learn the gal was trained by the flashy pimp who found her in this sorry state to become an assassin. I’m just going to call her Assassin from here on because the VHS had no subtitles and I couldn’t make out her real name. Most of the time I think they were calling her whore and bitch.

Death Threat takes some serious liberties with the Sasori tale. The original series had a character arch for Sasori that expanded over four films. Ikeda dismisses the last two films in the series and using restaged and actual clips from the second Meiko Kaji Sasori film Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) has the warden whose eye was plucked from his noggin by her with a sharpened spoon return seeking vengeance against Sasori. Now a bureaucrat he hires the pimp and assassin to infiltrate the prison and kill the aging Sasori who he believes is still locked deep in the caves below the prison. Our heroine goes in as a prisoner and quickly dispatches Sasori with a gun. Wow. That’s it? Not quite. She has been double crossed and will now remain locked up in the tuna town. The guards string her up on a cross where she is beaten by the inmates distraught over the death of their beloved badass Sasori. Our new inmate learns that the woman she killed wasn’t really Sasori. Since the real deal had been cemented into a wall to die years before, our gal forms some kind of cement bond with the legend and becomes possessed by Sasori. Now it’s time to turn the whole camp into a bloodbath, escape and slaughter those who had done her wrong. It could have worked, I guess. Man, it doesn’t for many reasons.

It’s impossible not to compare it to the original series. Ito’s shadow looms heavy here. The first two films from 1972 were the perfect convergence of exploitation and art. They had a lasting effect on me greater than the works of Bunuel and Jodorowsky. In my opinion, Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion and Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 are not only the best W.I.P. films ever produced but two of the greatest films ever made. I’ve been so influenced by them that it sent me on a downward Japanese exploitation spiral and has influenced the garbage I make today more than any other films. So you’re probably thinking I can’t be subjective here but I’ve sat through all nine of Jess Franco’s W.I.P. atrocities and came away with something so I’m pretty damn forgiving. The obvious problem is Ito’s films contain beautifully composed images which blend subversive cinematic techniques akin to Seijun Suzuki and the French New Wave with dashes of surrealist cinema.

Death Threat only attempts to evoke the originals creativity twice with drifting pink snow and falling fire. It’s really pathetic. Despite the severe budget restraints Ikeda and the screenwriter show a clear misunderstanding of the source material and the whole production feels lazy. While other Sasori remakes haven’t delved into experimental cinema like the originals, they do have something going for them Death Threat doesn’t. Sex. I can forgive the rest because they use their bare bones budget to expose some bare flesh. All we get here is one quick lesbian scissoring scene. That is it. Boo! When Naoko Amihama gets it on with her very ugly pimp it’s in silhouette. Boo! When she is gang raped, it’s just the usual leering and some rope work. Triple boo! Amihama is so butch I’m kind of relieved she didn’t disrobe. Her frizzed out metal hair make her appearance more reminiscent of Kip Winger than the drop dead gorgeous Meiko Kaji. Her acting? Forget about it. No presence whatsoever. She couldn’t light Meiko’s farts on a windless day. Most of the gals in this flick are bowfin-esque and wouldn’t even make Joe Sarno’s casting couch. The minimal catfights are poorly staged and action scenes feel like one take affairs. Even a finale at an amusement park is poorly executed. Let me correct myself. It’s not executed at all. Absent is any of the flair from Evil Dead Trap. Yeah, it’s been a disappointment after this 20 year hunt, so I’m doing folks a solid and freeing up your valuable time. There is a clear reason why this thing hasn’t surfaced. It’s dull, limp, and inept. Despite a few arterial sprays and aftermath shots Scorpion Woman Prisoner: Death Threat will disappoint even the most squeamish and pussified.