ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS (1974) (Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray Review).

ZERO WOMAN: RED HANDCUFFS (1974)

aka Zeroka no onna: Akai wappa

Label: Neon Eagle Video 

Region Code: A 

Rating: Unrated  

Duration: 87 Minutes 24 Seconds 

Audio: Japanese 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen 

Director: Yukio Noda

Cast: Miki Sugimoto, Eiji Gô, Tetsurô Tanba, Hiromi Kishi, Yôko Mihara

The Toei Studios produced pinky Violence flick Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) was directed by Yukio Noda (Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon) and based on a popular adult manga comic book, it opens with renegade cop Agent Zero aka Rie (Miku Sugimoto, Girl Boss: Escape from Reform School) working undercover at a club to bring justice to an untouchable German diplomat who likes to bind women with rope and kill them. He takes her back to his place thinking that she's incapictaed by alcohol (perhaps an influence on Promising Young Woman?), catching him off guard, she uses her signature red handcuffs like a crazy flying guillotine on him before shoots him in the crotch, killing him. This non-sanctioned killing gets her in hot water, stripped of her badge and matching red handgun and handcuffs (which match signature red jacket, she's then tossed in the slammer where she is beat-up my a gang of prostitutes. Left to rot she receives a visit from her a secretive government agency who offer her a way out, if she will accept a mission to rescue the daughter (Hiromi Kishi) of a rising-star politician Nagumo Zengo (Tetsuro Tamba, Kwaidan), who has been kidnapped by a group of thugs, lead by the viciously deranged Nakahara Yoshihide (Eiji Go, Black Tight Killers) who has just been released from prison. He's one of those bad guys who are always maniacally laughing like a lunatic, and he wastes no times getting to raping and murdering. Zengo wants his daughter rescued with as little press as possible, and he wants all the gang members dead, that's the deal, and Rei accepts. 

This slice of seedy Japanese exploitation is visceral, fast-moving, stylish and potent, we get sexual assaults, uncomfortable nudity, and plenty of blood-spattered violence, with Rei aka Agent Zero delivering death to the scumbags in furious fashion. In one memorable scene she dispatches the gangs matriarch Madame Sesum (Yoko Mihara, Sex & Fury) by paralyzing her with a hairpin to the spine and then drowning her in a tub filled with her own blood!  Sugimoto is fantastic, she's sexy as Hell and deadly, plus she's pretty stylish, too. I could see how she might come of a bit nonplussed and stone-faced for some, but I think her feminine charm is undeniable, which makes the violence she delivers that much more potent. Interestingly the deranged baddie Nakahara gets more backstory via flashbacks than our almost anonymous protaganist does, she's a bit of a enigmatic presence, her motivations are not clear, but she's a determined lethal-lady and not above putting herself in harm's way to achieve her goals, at one point enduring a multi-faceted sexual assault from the gang to get close to them. The authorities are no angels either, subjecting one of the yakuza to a rigorous torture that involved simultaneous application of a blowtorch, his hand crushed in a vice and water torture! There also some not so subtle political commentary here, for example, when the politician daughter is initially attacked and raped one of the rapist is wearing a U.S. Navy jumpsuit, another has a match box with the statue of liberty imprinted on it, I am pretty sure that is no accident, it also does not have anything nice to say about politicians or the police. 

The film look terrific, very stylishly shot with a kinetic that follows the action quite nicely, with some stylized freeze frames during flashbacks.We also get a terrific score from Shunsuke Kikuchi (Female Convict 701: Scorpion) with some tasty acid-tinged fuzz tones. The flick is action-packed and pretty tense at times, plus we get a twist at the end that sort of up-ends things in an interesting way, with the finale has a car chase, a chase on foot, the bullets are flying, there's arterial spray geysers, and of course the go-for-the-jugular red handcuffs make one last appearance!  

Audio/Video: Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) makes it;s worldwide Blu-ray debut with a region-free disc from Neon Eagle Video, presented in 1080p HD framed 2.39:1 widescreen, sourced from a new 4K scan. This look phenomenal on Blu-ray, the grain layer is thin, tight and unmolested, depth and clarity are pleasing, and the primary colors look terrific, especially the green of Rei's jackets dress and her signature red jacket and the bloodshed, of course. There are a few minor blemished like some blue emulsion scratches, but only very briefly in one specific scene.  Some of the exterior scenes are inherently soft, but the interior shots are very nicely staged with moody lighting and well-saturated colors. Audio on the Blu-ray comes by way of Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well-balanced with decent fidelity and depth, the Japanese dialogue is always clear and precise, I didn;t notice any issues with hiss or background noise. 

Neon Eagle offers up a slim but excellent set of extras, we start of with a terrific and energetic  Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan; then onto an 18-min Sex + Violence = Pinky Violence: TokyoScope author Patrick Macias on Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs that gets into Toei's Pink Violence films and their commercial success, he's typically upbeat and chock full of information, as I am not super-knowledgably about the Pinky Violence flicks in general I was quite happy with it. We also get an Image Gallery of still and movie posters for the flick. The standard edition version single-disc release arrives in a clear Elite keepcase with a 

Reversible Wrap with Alternate Artwork, of which I preferred the original Japanese poster on the reverse, not a huge fan of the new illustration, but it's nice to have options. 

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary by film historian Samm Deighan
- Sex + Violence = Pinky Violence: TokyoScope author Patrick Macias on Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (8:02) 
- Image Gallery (2:43) 
- Reversible Sleeve of Artwork with Alternate Artwork

Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974) is a seedy and violent slice of pinky violence, a top-tier bit of Japanese exploitation that delivers a mysterious femme fatale on a mission, bloodshed galore, and some very unsavory sexualized violence. Neon Eagle Video have done excellent work bringing this to HD disc for the first time anywhere in the world, hard to believe a flick this cool has been out of circulation so long, kudos to the Neon Eagle for getting this pink violence gem into our cult-loving hands. 

Buy it!

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Diabolik DVD 

Screenshots from the Neon Eagle Video Blu-ray: 

Extras: