Showing posts with label Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

DVD Review: SEX HUNTER: 1980 (1980)



SEX HUNTER: 1980 (1980) 
Label: Impulse Pictures
Region Code: 1 NTSC
Duration: 68 minute
Rating: Unrated 
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Toshiharu Ikeda
Cast: Erina Miyai, Ayako Oota, Teruo Matsuyama

A young ballet dancer named Miki (Ayako Ohta) gains notice of a young and very attractive dance instructor named Kaibara (Erina Miyai) who  invites the young dancer to her mansion/private academy. Once inside the young woman is treated to a recital from Kainara's students and is asked to join the private academy. Afterwards the teacher undresses in front of the young woman with the assistance of  Headmaster Kel and then pours Miko a strange liquor which immediately sends her head swimming, Ms. Kaibara then attempts to seduce Miki who runs into the next room where she happens upon the dancers from the recital who are now entwined like a four-headed beast in an orgy of young flesh. Dizzy and not-quite-herself young Miki is seduced by the erotic-spell of Ms. Kaibara.

After the initial awkwardness of the situation Miki is game to her teachers sex games, that is until she is passed off to Headmaster Kel (Rei Aso) who robs her of her virginity while she's forced to watch in a mirror. He then ties her up performig some kinky rope bondage before greasing her up for more carnality... and then come the soda enemas.

You heard right, Headmaster Kel shoves six fizzy long necks of cola right up her snatch one after the other before hoisting her up on a rope and pulley while forcing her to hold in the frothy mixture.  Miki is swinging like a pinata in the air until she finally erupts in a carbonated geyser of fizzy lifting drinks. Slowly but surely the young woman is transformed from an unwilling participant into a sex-puppet begging for it, literally sucking toes for just a taste of sexual debasement. That seems to be the theme here, the corruption of innocence and beauty transformed through humiliation and sexual degradation and the filmmaker doesn;t pull any punches either.

You get a taste of nearly every fetish you would care to imagine with few stones left unturned. We have a bit of foot-fucking, rope bondage, double-teamed on a swing, tragic wheelchair sex, whipping, urine drinking, cum transferred mouth-to-mouth and incest, of course, there must be incest.

As unflinching and brutal as the film can be it's gorgeously shot with scope cinematography and stylish composition that seems to riffs a bit on Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) if the private academy was run by a perverse headmistress instead of witches, there are also some nice architectural flourishes and colored lighting that brought to mind  that particular Argento classic.

Sex Hunter: 1980 arrives on DVD from Impulse Pictures with an anamorphic widescreen (2:35:1) presentation with a great looking transfer sourced from a very nice print. A very crisp image with vibrant colors, this release definitely deserves a Blu-ray. The Japanese language Dolby Digital 2.0 sounds nice with balanced levels and optional English subtitles. Special features are limited to a trailer and booklet with liner notes from film scholar Jasper Sharp - which was absent from the screener sent for review.

This one's a dark slice of  erotic cinema that comes across as a sex-infused version of Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) and the end result is a satisfying and gorgeous slice of exploitation cinema with excellent performances from the cast. 3.5 Outta 5 

Monday, January 27, 2014

DVD Review: SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET (1972)


SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET (1972)
Label: Impulse Pictures
Region: 1 NTSC

Rating: Unrated
Duration: 69 minutes 
Audio: Dolby Digital Japanese 2.0 Mono
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2:35:1)
Director: Yukihiro Sawada
Cast: Aoyama Miyoko, George Harrison, Isayama Hiroko

My wife loves to says that the erotic and exploitation cinema sent to the Mausoleum corrupts me in some weird way and will not suffer it being watched in the house. What can I say, I'm totally whipped guys but I love her a bunch and she asks so very little of me why not just humor that one request. I usually tuck away the naughty stuff for a rainy day when I'm home alone - which seems to be never - and watch one when I can without fear of upsetting my better half. As it happens I'm out of town on an extended business trip and brought with me a year's worth of naughty cinema so consider this review an early start on what's shaping up to be a very freaky February at the Mausoleum with titles from One 7 Movies, Impulse Pictures and Vinegar Syndrome being reviewed daily. Enjoy!


Sex Hunter: Wet Target (1972) is an early Roman-Porno entry that's a more of a revenge-thriller along the lines of Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1973) than a nasty slice of erotic cinema, but only just barely. A story of vengeance as sought by Okamoto (Jojo Sawada), the brother of Natsuko (Miyoko Aoyama), a young woman gang-raped and hung till death by a trio of drunken American soldiers on a weekend bender in Japan.

The opening scenes of the rape of Natsuko and her best friend Etsuko (Hiroko Isayama) is gut-punching stuff and not for the timid. It only gets worse with each subsequent flashback to the tragic night as more and more details are revealed as details are remembered by eye-witnesses - each new flashback revealing yet another layer of depravity.

Okamoto's is haunted by his sisters nightmarish death and his search for the offenders sends him to work at a strip club where his sister was once employed. Immersed in the underbelly of the seedy nightclub he performs a live-sex show with Etsuko who survived the attack but suffers from some form of brain-damage following the incident. The two join forces along with the club owner, a former lover of the victim who knows more than he initially lets on. Okamoto's single-minded quest for revenge transforms him into a rather despicable person, in fact I found it increasingly difficult to sympathize with a character who mouth-rapes (and quite a bit more) women who are blameless in the matter even if they weren't particularly sympathetic character themselves.

So what we end-up with is a violent rape-revenger wrapped up in the seedy trappings of a trashy exploitation film with a lot of what you might expect. The dark titillation of live sex shows, plenty of nudity, plus the gang-rape and sickening degradation of women. Not only raped but pissed upon afterward and when a man accidentally stumbles upon the crime in progress he is forced to lick the urine from her body- it's dark stuff... and then there's the whole vomiting cum after being mouth-raped scene... 

The DVD from Impulse Pictures looks great with a anamorphioc widescreen (2.35:1) transfer that's solid and a decent Japanese language Dolby Digital tracks with optional English subtitles. Special features are pretty bare with just a trailer and the usual booklet with liner notes from Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp - which are quite informative.

Par for the course for the Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection is how very strange a watch this winds up being. Not so typical is what  damn decent violent, revenge-thriller it turned out to be. Of course, there's the prerequisite naked women and oodles of sleaze plus the added bonus of an compelling story  which cannot be said of all the Nikkatsu movies. A decent watch - even our protagonist is a low-life - if you crave rape-revengers with some strong exploitation elements this just might be for you. 3 Outta 5