Der Tiger von Osaka

"Rei" (Miki Sugimoto) is an undercover police officer who is working on a case involving the brutal murder of a young woman. One night at a nightclub she makes the acquaintance of a foreigner who buys her several drinks and then takes her to his apartment room where he intends on dispatching her in the same manner he murdered his other victim. Fortunately, she turns the tables on him and kills him first. Unfortunately, when it is discovered that the man was a foreign dignitary the police chief decides to throw her into prison without a trial or charges being preferred to avoid a possible scandal. Her situation changes, however, when the daughter of the incoming Prime Minister is kidnapped and Rei's services are required to rescue her at all costs. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a provocative crime-drama which featured plenty of action along with two attractive actresses in Hiromi Kishi (as the Prime Minister's daughter "Kyoko Nagumo") and the aforementioned Miki Sugimoto. On the flip side, some of the acting was a bit over-the-top as were some of the special effects as well. I should probably also mention that this is an extremely violent film which had several brutal scenes involving rape and nudity which might not appeal to all audiences. In any case, it's an interesting movie and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Don't confuse this with those 90's Zero Woman films, this original film is the cream of the crop! Long unavailable on DVD anywhere in the world, Discotek has finally made it available to Western audiences. Red Handcuffs is based on the original manga series written by Toru Shinohara, who also created the Prisoner Scorpion manga.

This movie is ruff, nasty, raunchy, and as over the top as you can get! Nudity, violence, and sex fills the film from beginning to end. Zero (played by the beautiful Miki Sugimoto) is a rebel cop that is not afraid to shoot first and ask questions later. This kind of behavior gets her thrown in jail with the same trash that she is used to cleaning off the streets. Given a chance at redemption, she is brought back on a secret mission to rescue a high ranking politician's (played by the legendary Tetsuro Tanba) daughter from a gang of crazed rapists.

All hell breaks loose once she's undercover and the blood, clothes, and Red Handcuffs start flying! In order to keep her cover she must endure everything this sick gang of psychos can throw at her. Keeping cool she stays close to the kidnapped girl and close to her weapon of choice while waiting for her opportunity to strike. Climaxing in a blood filled showdown in a windy deserted Navy base, this film is a nonstop ride from beginning to end. The video quality and packaging are top notch. Inside the limited slip cover is an alternate cover that features some of the nastier and naughtier scenes. I've read that these limited versions will be sold out very soon and the packaging won't be duplicated once gone. Highly recommended and a must-have for fans of Japanese cinema!

Once again the Japanese tantalize with extremely well made trash. Nothing like this is apparently possible from American cinema. Excellent photography and art direction go hand in hand with horrific human behavior.

The plot is well summarized elsewhere. The deviance is graphically portrayed with several extended rape/torture scenes. The kidnapped girl is frequently beaten. Zero Woman's police tactics seem to include being beaten and raped until the point she can pull out the deadly red handcuffs. The criminals are crazed and the politicians/cops are crooked and conniving. What a wonderful world.

Much of the film is set in sleazy areas or abandoned neighborhoods giving the film an atmosphere much like Mad Max. Sometimes the colors are vivid to the point of unreality. At one point the director does some very unusual color lighting tricks that work well. Depending on your stomach this is a very well made exploitation film.

The weak points are the ridiculous flying handcuffs that do things that would be unacceptable in a cheap kung fu picture, what was easy to draw in the original manga was obviously hard to reproduce in real life. And the big car chase/shootout that looks like they are driving 15 miles per hour.

The lead actress is very good and has no problem delivering serious lines unclothed. The other actors are good or hammy in a way that fits with the over the top tone of the film.

Recommended for hard exploitation fans.

Yukio Noda's 'Zero Woman-Red Handcuffs' lives up to it's reputation, featuring a truly impressive level of violence mixed in with it's artistic style. I made the mistake of trying to watch this one in the morning. I had to stop it during the scene where a gang member is getting his skin burned off with a blowtorch, by a police detective. When I watched it all the way through I found this to be a very impressive 'pink' film, dealing with revenge, kidnapping, and torture. A gang of thugs who get their kicks raping and killing random people, believe they hit the big time when they kidnap the daughter of an important political figure. The amazingly sexy and tough Miki Sugimoto, the Zero Woman, is hired to bring back the girl, and to her delight, she is given an order to leave none of the kidnappers alive. This sets up the stage for some truly impressive scenes of brutality, and Rei, the Zero Woman has an almost religious devotion to 'justice'. We see this at the films amazing first sequence, where she allows herself to be taken to a hotel room by a wanted rapist/killer, and hands out her own brand of 'justice'. One reason that the film is so disturbing is that everyone, including the cops, is portrayed as wild animals with no compassion for human life. The gang especially, seem like a pack of savage hyenas. And much of the violence is directed at the Zero Woman herself; she is on the receiving end of many beatings and ugly rapes. I actually felt a little queasy in the stomach at times, but Miki Sugimoto is a gorgeous heroine, pure eye candy, and this visual beauty made the films ugly scenes a bit more bearable. Not that 'Zero Woman' is an ugly looking film; This is filmed with a great level of style, and utilizes garish colors especially well. Rei sports a red gun and red handcuffs, and the whole thing is quite surreal. This is the only thing that i have seen from director Yukio Noda, but judging from this one, the guy is a maniac. 'Zero Woman-red Handcuffs' is a fine 'pink film', and should not be confused with the vastly inferior 'Zero Woman' trash films from the 90's. This 1974 classic has absolutely nothing in common with those later films, other than the name. Essential viewing for fans of 'pink' cinema and violent cop dramas, this is a real assault on the senses!

An hour after I watched the movie, I calmed down enough to write this. One hell of a roller-coaster ride. Wow! The story is simple: a politician's daughter is kidnapped. He does not only want to get her back alive, but also the kidnappers must disappear completely so they can't talk to the press and everything can be hushed up. Scandals aren't good for his career. So who would do the job secretly, but with maximum violence? Zero Woman (Miki "Girl Boss Guerilla" Sugimoto)! The ex-detective who loves to strangle bad guys with the red chain of her favorite handcuffs is released from prison, goes to work and whatever she does from now on doesn't stand a chance on a PG rating. She looks great, talks even less than Arnie in "Terminator 1" and is as cold blooded as a snake in Antarctica. Got to love this woman, that is, from safe distance... staying on the other side of the screen. Recommended if you think Stallone was too sweet as Rambo.