Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi

More than practically every film I've seen before in my life, "Grudge Song" emphasizes the essentialness of one certain director linked to a cinematic franchise. Shunya Ito directed the first three installments of the ""Female Prisoner: Scorpion" series and they were simply phenomenal and pretty much flawless. For this fourth entry, Yasuharu Hasabe took place in the director's seat and promptly the narrative ingenuity as well as the stylish characteristics notably lowered in quality. By no means I intend to claim that "Grudge Song" is a bad film – far from it, as you can derive from the rating I've given – but it nearly isn't as breathtakingly awesome as the previous ones. But in all honesty, Hasabe can't be blamed entirely, as he actually just remained faithful to his own personalized style and filming methods. This man also directed uncompromising and vastly outrageous Cat-III movies with delicious sounding titles such as "Rape! The 13th Hour", "Assault: Jack the Ripper" and even "Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter", so you honestly can't expect this man to alter his style towards a more elegant and suggestive type of exploitation cinema. The fourth film is much sleazier and straightforward, with less likable character drawings and visually dazzling gimmicks. Hasabe obviously didn't care too much for the complexities of part three ("Beast Stable") or the deliriousness of part two ("Jailhouse 41") and returned to the gritty in-your-face mentality of the original. The script is largely a re-run of familiar themes. Nami is still a fugitive from the law and she has yet another relentless copper obsessively chasing her. She finds shelter, and even affection, in the arms of a porno theater employee who still has an old score to settle with the police. But when he get captured by the police and brutally interrogated, he betrays Nami's hideout place. Back in prison our heroine picks up her old habits of causing riots, manipulating personnel and fellow inmates and – of course – attempting to escape from the hangman's rope. "Grudge Song" is definitely still a good movie, far superior to the majority of contemporary exploitation movies for sure, but a weaker entry in the series. The plot only offers few surprises and Nami suddenly transformed into a genuine antagonist to the audience as well. You always sympathized with her before, but here she commits a handful of crimes that can't possibly be justified. She also talks a little more in this film, and her silence was part of her charming personality in the other installments. Talking in terms of visual decoration, "Grudge Song" is fairly mediocre with only a couple of noteworthy highlights (like the truly menacing POV-shots of the noose in the middle of the prison's yard). This film also immediately marked the end of the "official" Female Scorpion cycle. The successors, appropriately entitled NEW Female Prisoner, don't star Meiko Kaji in the title role any longer and aren't directed by any of the above-mentioned directors. I'm curious about the remaining two films (which I own in a fancy box set), but I'm keeping the expectations rather low just to be sure.

This begins well enough and has enough going on, a male helper this time, to maintain the interest until the most exciting scenes come along. It is a good idea that Meiko's seeming saviour here has had history with the police already from his days of 60s student rebellion. Flashbacks enable stand-in director Hasebe to double his violent police demonstrations with current and b/w past. This is number four in the series, however, and needed more not less in the way of interesting action and visuals. Gone are the stylish sequences and gone the surrealism. The endings, both false and actual are fun and if this is a disappointment it is no disgrace and while not the greatest of finales, probably a much better fourth episode than many might have expected. Worth seeing.

Grudge Song is the last entry in the "official" Female Convict Scorpion series and is often considered lesser to the other three. This is true, it's not quite as good as those that went before it; but even so, the film is certainly a worthy entry. Grudge Song is directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, as opposed to Shunya Ito who directed the first three. That doesn't really affect the quality, however, as the new director adequately emulates the style of the previous ones and the film certainly fits into the series well. The first three films all had different styles, though this one seems to take the most influence from the one that came directly before it, 'Beast Stable' as the action is fairly slow. The plot once again focuses on the quiet dark haired lunatic that goes by the name 'Scorpion'. She's still on the run and after a run-in with the cops, finds herself injured. She's helped by a young man who takes her in, gives her shelter and forms an alliance with her. However, after another run in with the cops; he's captured and finds himself with a dilemma...

This film is not as surreal as the previous entries as the new director seems to prefer a more direct and exploitative approach, and that's OK with me. The surreal elements are what made the previous films what they are in a way, but I've come to expect a different thing each time from this series so I don't mind that change in style here. Meiko Kaji once again takes the central role and once again does excellently with it. She doesn't say a lot as is usually the case, but she looks so sinister and this is what really makes her performances in these films. This film has less of a revenge theme and more of a political one and it works fairly well. The violence is still the main focal point for me, but this film probably has a bit more 'meat' on it than the previous three. There's still plenty of room for what Scorpion does best, and those hoping to see her get revenge on people won't be disappointed as she certainly gets it once again. Overall, this film is not as great as the fantastic original; but it still fits into the series nicely and overall I'd say it's on par with the three sequels. Recommended!

The fourth and final of the brilliant original "Sasori" films with the unrivaled Meiko Kaji, "Joshuu Sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi" aka. "Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701's Grudge Song" was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe instead of genius director Shunya Ito, who had directed the three ingenious predecessors. Even this fourth "Sasori" flick does not quite reach the brilliance of its predecessors (all three of which are unique and unrivaled masterpieces of Exploitation cinema), "Grudge Song" still outshines almost any other film of the WIP ("Women In Prison") sub-genre by a thousand times. What makes this a little less brilliant than its predecessors is probably the replacement of Shunya Ito as a director. Ito had a great passion (and a great talent) for the use of surrealism, and Yasuharo Hasebe obviously preferred to use these elements to a lesser extent. The first three "Sasori" films were THE proof that making Exploitation and Art-house cinema at the same time was possible, and while "Grudge Song" still is a wonderful example of Exploitation-Art, it does not quite live up to the brilliance of the iconic original "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori" and the ingeniously surreal sequels "Jailhouse 41" and the third masterpiece "Beast Stable", which is arguably the greatest of them all. Nevertheless, this fourth "Sasori" film is an absolute must-see for any fan of Exploitation and serious lover of film in general, that delivers pure brilliance in many aspects.

While Meiko Kaji's character Nami Matsushima aka. "Sasori" was mainly looking for revenge in the first film, the films become more and more political throughout the series. "Grudge Song" is again full of social criticism and broaches issues such as poverty, police brutality, rebellion and the death penalty. The film once again features a lot of violence, as well as very artistic elements. The beautiful Meiko Kaji once again brilliant in the role of Sasori, I just cannot praise this great actress enough. The rest of the performances are also great, and the the film once again has "Urami-Bushi", which Kaji sings, as the main theme song. The photography is also amazing, the film is visually stunning throughout its 89 minutes.

Though it doesn't quite reach the brilliance of its predecessors "Grudge Song" is definitely also an excellent slice of Exploitation-Art and a must-see for every serious lover of cult-cinema in general and J-Exploitation in particular.

And so at last we come to the end of the great Matsu the Scorpion's bloody, weird, and incredibly thrilling saga. This is the only entry in the series not directed by Shun'ya Ito, so I was a bit nervous going into this film; I've really enjoyed all the FPS movies, and I really didn't want the final outing to fall flat on it's face.

To my great delight, this film didn't fall flat; it delivered everything I'd want from an outing with Matsu. At the same time, Matsu's story seems to be wearing a little thin; at this point in the saga she's escaped from prison with others, had her revenge, and in the last entry ("Beast Stable") she even become a kind of savior for oppressed women. In this entry, history more or less repeats itself; the storyline in "Grudge Song" is relatively the same as the first and second entries ("FPS #701" & "FPS: Jailhouse 41"), only the story is compressed into an hour and a half. If you've seen the other entries, you pretty much know what's going to happen in this entry, and while there isn't necessarily a problem (people still line up for Marvel movies, and they're all relatively homogenous), to me, the series has started to loose a bit of it's appeal, and I honestly think ending it here was probably the best choice: go out on a note that is still relatively positive, and people will be keener to return to the franchise. I, for one, will happily go through Matsu's journey multiple times in my life.