LOVE & CRIME (1969)
Label: 88 Films
Region Code: A,B
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 92 Minutes 23 Seconds
Audio: Japanese PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Teruo Ishii
Cast: Sada Abe, Yukie Kagawa, Takashi Fujiki, Shôtarô Hayashi, Tatsumi Hijikata, Kenjirô Ishiyama, Yoshi Katô, Asao Koike, Junko Maki, Ken Sawaaki, Kichijirô Ueda, Teruo Yoshida
Japan's legendary "King of Cult" Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men) delivers this sharp-edged Japanese true crime anthology featuring four tales pulled from real-life headlines, most involving crimes of passion committed by or against women from across the decades. The film opens with a medical examiner Dr. Murase (Teruo Yoshida, Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell) performing an autopsy on woman, who it turns out is his own wife Yukiko. During the examination he discovers ejaculate inside her, and looking to gain insight into what could have lead to her death he investigates four past cases of murder involving women who came to unfortunate ends, which also serves as the wraparound story for this sleazy and scandalous omnibus entry.
The first tale takes place in 1961, telling the sordid sex-fueled tale of Kinue Munakata, the first woman executed post WWII. In it hotel owner Chiyu Saito (Mitsuko Aoi, Horrors of Malformed Men) suspects that her schlubby-hubby Kosuke (Kenjirô Ishiyama, Kwaidan) is having an affair, all the while none the wiser that the other woman is actually her own gorgeous assistant, Kinue Munakata (Rika Fujie, Outlaw: Heartless), with whom she confides in, even about her husband's infidelity. The manipulative Kinue uses information she gleans from the wife and plies Kosiuke with sex, whispering in his ear that they should kill his wife, because she plans to sell the hotel and dump him. It's actually Kinue and her secret lover Shibuya (Takashi Fujiki, Shin Gdzilla) who do the dirty works, while they sauna together she strangles her employer in the sauna and then Shibuya emerges from the shadows with a hatchet and finishes her off in bloody fashion. After her death Kinue put up a large sum of money to add an extension onto the hotel, securing her interest in the property, and then revealing to the dim-witted Kosiuke that she has no interest in him any longer now that she has what she wants. In short order the schlubby accomplice is removed from the picture, followed by more murder and betrayal. This one packs a lot of salaciousness into it's segment with femme fatale Kinue getting absolutely horned-up by the thought of murder, having sex twice right next to corpses, including one that;s maggot-riddled! This is a terrific start this gruesome foursome of titillating true crime tales. Rika Fujie is a gorgeous woman, she naked a lot, and the fiery finale featuring her looking absolutely mad as a hatter is terrific stuff.
Next up is the story of Sada Abe (Yukie Kagawa, Yakuza Law) from the 1930s, the tale of a former prostitute turned restaurant waitress who strangled her boss/lover to death and cut off his genitals! The story structure is a bit all over the place, we see her trial, flashbacks the torrid sex-filled affair with her boss Kichizo Ishisa (Eiji Wakasugi, Inferno of Torture), his murder, and we even get a brief interview with the actual Sada Abe in her sixties explaining her motive for the shocking crime! Wild stuff indeed, chock full of sensual kinkiness, some erotic asphyxiation gone wrong, and backstory that informs her characters motivations, including being raped at a young age, becoming a Geisha, and raped again. It does manage paint a sympathetic portrait of the genital-dismembering Abe as someone traumatized by horrific encounters with men, not so much a penis-severing sadist. Interestingly this segment is followed-up with two brief disconnected stories of women who take scissors to the groins of their errant lovers, perhaps indicating that Abe's case inspired copycats?
The next tale changes gears pretty dramatically, so far we've had two tales of female killers, but this story tells the tale of a killer of women, the brutal true-crimes of serial killer Yoshio Kodaira (Asao Koike, Violent Streets), a former military man who murdered at least seven women and young girls before being caught. This one also had a storyline that moves around a bit, at the start he's already imprisoned, and telling the tale of his crimes, savoring the memories as he recounts his crimes, beginning with the rape and murder of a co-worker during an air raid during the war, attempting to rape her, strangling the woman to death, which becomes his signature. He ends up strangling a starving woman looking for food, a young girl looking for a job, and another young woman during a rainstorm. This one is probably the most vile of the tales, it's not erotic at all, and it feels slightly out of place among the other female-centric tales.
The final tale tells the story of the last woman to be executed by beheading in Japan. It starts off with Oden (Teruko Yumi, Horrors of Malformed Men) being set up for beheading during a snowstorm. Through flashback we then get into how she had an arranged marriage to Naminosuke (Shin'ichirô Hayashi, Message From Space), who she does not love, and who develops a grotesque case of leprosy during their marriage. His face looking like something from The Incredible Melting Man, his disgusting appearance does not dissuade him however from trying to have sex with his lovely wife, though it certainly dissuades her, as she can barely look at him without blowing chunks. She eventually takes on a lover, but when he husband catches them in the act he attacks her and the lover intervenes and kills him. They run off together, but he turns out to be a creep and sells her to a brothel. There she meets a kind-hearted man who promises her a better life, however, when he attempts to run off with er more murder follows, and it ends with her bloody beheading by the executioner (Tatsumi Hijikata, Blind Woman's Curse).
The wraparound ends up being pretty silly and doesn't answer many questions, the medical examiner having learned nothing from these four case files about what lead the murder of his wife, at one point musing "Do women's bodies turn men into madmen?", oh brother. Don't expect anything too deep here, there's some social and political commentary for sure if you're looking deep enough for it, but the four tales are pretty much an excuse to cram in a bunch of sleaze and nudity into a commercial true-crime bit of exploitation, and to that end, I thought it was pretty dang effective. An uneasy mix of titillation and tawdry seediness, that doesn't have a lot of redemptive value, but is a surprisingly well-made and attractively shot anthology tale and the amount of unsavory sex crime and gore was pretty surprising for 1969.
Audio/Video: Love & Crime (1969) makes it's Blu-ray debut from Radiance Films in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The image looks quite nice, the source is in good shape, a few speckles and some very faint vertical lines, but otherwise quite nice looking and stable throughout. Colors are well saturated, there's plenty of fine detail and texture in the close-ups, and black levels look very good. The sole audio option is uncompressed Japanese PCM 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well balanced, music cues and dialogue are delivered without any issues.
Extras include an Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp and Amber T.; the 18-min Mark Schilling on Love & Crime; a 1-min Stills Gallery; and the 3-min Trailer. The 2-disc BD/DVD arrives in a clear, dual-hub, full-height Scanavo keepcase with a Reversible Wrap featuring Original and Newly Commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady. The new artwork wraps around the front and back of the wrap, and I love it,
This limited edition set also includes an Individually Numbered Obi Strip, plus a Limited Edition 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new writing by Nathan Stewart, plus cast and crew credits and Blu-ray acknowledgement.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp and Amber T.
- Mark Schilling on Love & Crime (17;50)
- Stills Gallery (0:59)
- Trailer (3:27)
- Reversible Wrap with Original and Newly Commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
- Limited Edition Individually Numbered Obi Strip
- Limited Edition 16-Page Illustrated Booklet with new writing by Nathan Stewart
Love & Crime (1969) gets a first-rate Blu-ray release from 88 Films as part of their Japanarchy line-up, well worth seeking out for lovers of seedy true crime tales.
Screenshots from the 88 Films Blu-ray:
Buy it!
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