4 Star

The Femme Fatale!

Arrow Video brings us two influential films about a female swordswoman who is out on the path of revenge, and also out to bring justice to women that are used as drug mules. This release is a cracking restoration that brings all the blood and flesh into clear view. This is death and violence in the buff 1973 style. Sex and Fury / Female Yakuza Tale release is for the sexploitation fans.

In 1886 Japan’s Meiji era, Kyoko Kasai, a young girl, and her father (a police detective), are walking along a covered pathway when she chases after a ball rolling by. While they are apart, three men kill her father. The girl runs back to him as he dies, and sees he is clutching three blood-soaked animal gaming cards in his hand. The cards feature drawings of a (boar), a (deer) and a (butterfly), respectively, potential clues regarding the killers.

Nineteen years later the young girl has learned some very useful skills growing up on the streets after being taken in by a madam, and her troupe of pickpocketing girls. These days she goes by the name “Ochō Inoshika” (Reiko Ike, Criminal Woman: Killing Melody, Terrifying Girls’ High School: Animal Classmates) —inspired by the animal cards held by her father as he died.

This new century brings the period of enlightenment, letting foreign influences into Japan. The British have influenced them a lot and bring their spy Christina (Christina Lindberg, The Kyoto Connection, Thriller: A Cruel Picture) a young woman that is prepared to do anything to get the information her country wants. She is also a crack shot, and a cardsharp like Ochō. There is also civil unrest as Yakuza syndicates try to take over Japan, and when Ochō helps the assassin Shunosuke  (Masataka Naruse, Yakuza Graveyard, Legend of the Eight Samurai) she sets in motion a deadly series of events as she tries to find those responsible for her fathers death.

Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture, sees the return of Ochō Inoshika, as she carries on her gambling career, and once again the Yakuza are up to their usual traits of kidnapping the daughter of the previous Lord.

There is a woman killer who mutilates their intimate areas, to send a clear message to the girls smuggling drugs from China to Japan, in their vaginas. This will get very bloody as the Katana’s are drawn.

This release is for the fans of the brutal violence that a woman and a sword can do, and an excellent restoration that will have you glued to your seat,

Sex and Fury / Female Yakuza Tale Limited Edition is available on Blu-ray

 

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of both films
Original lossless Japanese mono audio for both films
Optional English subtitles for both films
Archival audio commentaries for both films by Japanese cinema expert Chris D.
Naked Vengeance, a brand-new interview about the films with Yakuza film historian Akihiko Ito
Original theatrical trailers for both films
Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork for both films by Ilan Sheady
Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the films by Asian cinema expert Camille Zaurin