SEX AND FURY

By: BRIAN THOMAS
Review Date: Wednesday, November 02, 2005

No doubt in response to Toho's LADY SNOWBLOOD movies (in fact, the climax apes SNOWBLOOD completely), Toei launched this similar tale of a female outlaw walking the narrow road of revenge in the early 20th century, but with even more overt sex and violence so much so that Panik House has made this the first in their "Pinky Violence" series of vintage Japanese adult action DVD releases. Just as in the United States, the Japanese movie industry responded to the increasing popularity with efforts to give the ticket buying public thrills they couldn't get on the small screen. No better evidence of this can be found than in the first 15 minutes of SEX AND FURY: Our heroine Inoshiko Ocho (Reiko Ike, star of Toei's SUKEBAN ("Girl Boss") series) is attacked by her employer's goons while she's in the bathtub. Unlike Janet Leigh in PSYCHO, Ocho is more than able to defend herself, leaping up to massacre her foes while stark naked and in slow motion. This sequence surely inspired a similar fight scene in Robert Tai's seriously demented NINJA THE FINAL DUEL, though lack of originality there didn't make it any less startling.

What brings on this attack is that earlier Ocho comforted a murdered gambler caught cheating at her table. The dying man revealed that he'd been forced to cheat by his boss Iwakura (perpetual villain Hiroshi Nawa) in order to raise the 500 yen needed to bail out his indentured daughter Yuki (Rie Satomi) from Iwakura's brothel. Ocho vows to grant the man's last wish and buy back Yuki's contract. She finds Iwakura reluctant to give up his virginal prize, but he's so attracted to Ocho that he suggests she play for Yuki against his card champion, with Ocho's freedom on the line.

The poker match commences against Iwakura's European dancer, card sharp and occasional bodyguard Christina (Swedish sex star Christina Lindberg, soon to shake the world in the revenge flick THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE). Their duel is interrupted by an attack by dissidents against Iwakura's boss, politician Kurokawa (Seizaburo Kawazu), which crack shot Christina is called upon to put down, though she balks at shooting their leader Shinosuke (Tadashi Naruse), who happens to be her old boyfriend. In fact, Christina decided to become a spy for England in order to get to Japan and rejoin Shinosuke. Seeing her old beau so distracts her that she loses the poker game.

However, slippery Iwakura doesn't lose well, taking Yuki's virginity before freeing her. Despite the humiliation, this act gives Ocho the information that Iwakura bears a deer tattoo on his back. Years ago, a trio of crooks murdered Ocho's detective father as he obtained evidence against them, and the dying cop left clues pointing to his killers by clutching a trio of animal playing cards: a deer, a boar and a butterfly. Ever since, these hanefuda (flowery design playing cards) became Ocho's calling card and occasional razor-edged throwing weapon, and she's always sought to find the killers by these slim clues. Despite the distractions of a few more knots in the complicated webwork plot, and several time-killing scenes of gratuitous sex, Ocho manages to turn every setback into an advantage that brings her ever closer to her quarry.


In the manner common to Japanese films of its day, SEX AND FURY mixes stylistically fascinating action scenes, beautifully designed visuals, over-the-top shocks and a ridiculously cumbersome story. Director Norifumi Suzuki, who would go on direct Sonny Chiba in THE KILLING MACHINE and the insane nunsploitation epic SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST (a train car loaded with knife-wielding sisters previews that one here), never misses a chance to throw in generous views of flesh and bloodshed, but it's all beautifully shot.

American Cinameteque's Japan expert programmer, and director of the horror film I PASS FOR HUMAN, Chris D. delivers a low key but informative commentrak, well worth listening to by anyone interested in Asian genre cinema. He continues this service with various on-disc production notes and an essay on Toei's "bad girl" movies of the '70s.

Copyright © 2005 Brian Thomas, author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS.
Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at feedback@cinescape.com.