Bôkô Kirisaki Jakku

Assault! Jack the Ripper! is a movie the average person will never forget, or actually, will never see. It's a rare, brutal Japanese film that includes rape, sex and murder. For fans of pinky films it's a leader in the genre. And I can see why. It's a well made film with very nice acting from all members of the cast. For anyone who's into video games, there is some great music in this that is very similar to a game called Katamari Damacy. Which is a fantastic game by the way.

The movie is about two restaurant workers who realize that the only way they can have hot sex is through killing someone. Good enough reason for me. But things begin to go seriously wrong for this Japanese Mickey and Mallory.

AJR! is definitely not for everyone. It's a very sexual and violent flick that will most likely only appeal to extreme cinema fans and brave souls willing to widen their horizons. I personally think this film kicks ass in it's depiction of no holds barred sex, violence and mayhem.

ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER is one of those films that just ain't gonna be everyone's cup of tea. It's brutal in it's depiction of rape and murder and has pretty much no redeeming value in terms of "entertaining" cinema - and that's exactly why it is such a "classic" of the pinky genre. At a time when many other pinky films dealt with sleazy subject matter in a more "fun" and tongue-in-cheek manner, ASSAULT! went straight for the jugular, or more appropriately, crotch...

Two restaurant co-workers realize their penchant for brutal rape and murder after a mishap with a whacked-out hitch-hiker. As the two find that murder is their only aphrodisiac - things get out of hand. They continue to "feed" off of each other and pick up random strangers to do their "business" with. Homeboy finds that he has a thing for stabbing the victims in the cooch - this appears to be his major "turn-on". Homegirl starts to get a little to clingy and jealous when she realizes that he's been doing some "moonlighting" on his own. This all results in the end of their relationship, among other things...

There's nothing really comical or fun about ASSAULT! (except for the strange disco soundtrack...). It appears that the main goal of this film is to shock and disgust, which it does appropriately enough - especially for it's 1976 time-stamp. Although the crotch-gouging is not "graphically" shown, the sound FX and inference of what's going on is enough to be disturbing. This is a rare film as it predates a lot of more sadistic films that became notorious throughout the late 70's through today. Again, not a film for all tastes, but for those that are looking for something a little "rougher"...this may be the one. 9/10

During the mid-1970s and early 80's,Nikkatsu-the most important of the pinku eiga studios-launched a series of pink films which were progressively more extreme in their level of sexual violence."Assault!Jack the Ripper" is certainly one of the nastiest pink films I have ever came across.It tells the story of a young waitress and a cook,who after incidentally killing a young woman on a street ends up sadistically raping and murdering women via stabbing them in the crotch.The scenes of rape and sexual violence are truly unsettling,but the film is well-made and acted.Yasuharu Hasebe directed a series of very extreme Nikkatsu pink movies including brutal "Rape!" and horrendously offensive "Rape!13th Hour".In 1979 came Koyu Ohara's "Zoom Up:Rape Site",notorious for a scene in which a rapist shoves a light bulb inside a woman's vagina,then stomps on her stomach until it breaks."Assault!Jack the Ripper" is not easy to find,but for fans of misogynistic Japanese exploitation this sleazy sickie is a must-see.10 out of 10.

Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976)

** (out of 4)

Original Title: Bôkô Kirisaki Jakku

Perversely sexual and violent, this Japanese film has a reputation as being one of the stronger "pinku" movies out there. The story centers on a cook and a waitress who one night accidentally run over a crazed hitchhiker. The two find themselves being turned on by death and blood so they keep killing women and borrow the trademark of Jack the Ripper by cutting them from their private areas on up. I just recently became aware of these pinku Japanese movies so I' doing research on which ones to start with and this here seemed to have pretty good reviews but in the end I was somewhat let down. The one part of its reputation that it lives up to is the rather bizarre sexual nature of the film. There are quite a few sex scenes here, which come off very perverted and sleazy even though nothing hardcore, or really softcore for that matter, happens. The lead actress, who's name I can't find anywhere, has a rather amazing body so seeing her strip off certainly wasn't a negative thing. Her round face also comes in quite handy because she looks so innocent yet is as deadly as they come. Her performance is quite good as is her co-star but yet again I couldn't find his name among various reviews I read. I think the most disappointing aspect is that the film really isn't all that violent. Yes, the aftermath of a woman being sliced up and down is pretty grim but very little of it is actually shown. Usually we see a minor stab wound and then the rest happens off camera and then we go back for the aftermath. I've read reviews saying the film was ultra violent and downright raw and nasty but I didn't find that to be the case. The biggest problem however is that the film runs 71-minutes and really doesn't have enough of a story to fill that short time. The movie starts to feel rather long because we keep going through the same thing of a murder, sex, a murder, more sex and so on.

Man oh man, I had SOME idea of what to expect from this movie, but no idea of it's depravity! Even describing it would cause your mouth to drop open. OK, a pair of restaurant workers discover, quite accidentally, the best aphrodisiac is for the guy to kill (more like gut) females before he does it. Pretty soon, the aphrodisiac wears off, and the guy just wants to kill. It's barbaric, and definitely not for everyone, but DAMN, what an amazing film to watch. Some serious money went into making it I'm sure.. Widescreen, hippy music, crisp direction and editing.. Someone must have known what they wanted and paid a great deal of money to get it. It would be interesting to find out the backstory behind this one.