Nora-neko rokku: Sekkusu hantaa

You don't necessarily expect to find social undercurrents in a film entitled Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter but that is what you get here. In fact it turns out that this sensational and very cool title is pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things, as there is little evidence of sex hunters to be found here. No, the story actually considers the serious topic of racism, more specifically the effects of the occupation in Japan by American soldiers after the Second World War. This led to an increase in mixed race Japanese and it is the persecution of this ethnic minority which much of the plot is built around. A racist male gang called the Eagles, who go around in American army jeeps, terrorise anybody of mixed-race heritage. They are led by a character called the Baron whose racism stems from the knowledge that his sister was raped by black American GIs during the occupation years. This gang of thugs is opposed by a girl gang called the Alley Cats who assist a mixed race man who is trying to find his missing sister while being consistently beaten down by the Eagles.

This is a film which comes under the banner of Japanese exploitation films known as Pinky Violence. These films were essentially crime films which combined elements of sex and violence with a focus on sexy leading actresses. The queen of the genre was the very alluring Meiko Kaji, who stars here as the leader of the Alley Cats. She has fantastic screen presence and is a master of the cold stare. In this one she achieves this while often sporting a fabulously enormous hat. Like in all of these films she starred in Kaji is a major reason they are so good. This one isn't too salacious to be honest, especially taking into account what you might think given its title, although it admittedly does feature the rather awful idea known as a rape party. But its appeal lies mainly in other directions such as its psychedelic musical interlude and its stylish presentation. It also has a bit of a downbeat ending which leaves us with more questions than answers, which only illustrates further that this is pretty left-of-centre stuff. If I had to criticise, it would be to say that there probably wasn't as much girl gang action as I would ideally have liked. But all-in-all, I thought this was pretty good value.

Revered Grindhouse Maestro Yasaharu Hasebe's dynamically delirious, dizzyingly delicious, street fighting fillies fun-a-thon 'Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter' is yet another fiendishly fascinating, darkly downbeat, luxuriously lurid, freakishly freewheeling, thug-trashing thrill-spiller from The Nikkatsu Corporation. As always, the breathtakingly beautiful, exquisitely elegant, sartorially sublime sin-siren Meiko Kaji demonstratively makes for one of the most mesmerizingly magnificent mistresses of midnight mayhem that ever sultrily stalked the silver screen! Watch agog as these super-sexy, knife-sharp savages, led by slinky switch-blade sister supreme Meiko Kaji stridently slash their sweetly sinuous way into psychotronic celluloid history! With its fabulously furry fuzz-tones, kaleidoscopically crazy visuals, eye-poppingly hyperbolic mise-en-scene, and gut-punchingly stark conclusion, 'Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter' is a luxuriously lurid, heroically hard-rocking, glamorously girl-frugging gang banger that you won't want to miss!

I saw this DVD in the front of an independent video rental store. Judging by the cover, it seemed to be a Japanese version of Faster Pussycat. I took it home, popped it in, and the beginning seemed to confirm my suspicion. However, as the movie progressed, it told the story of a gang of teenage/young adult Japanese girls, and their interaction with a gang of xenophobic young Japanese men and their battles with those who are the offspring of Japanese women and US servicemen. A lot of violence perpetrated by the Japanese men, with the girls acting as peacemakers and protectors of the "half-breeds". Like all movies, it comes down to a violent confrontation, and not everyone will live to see the credits roll. All in all, if you are looking for a good non-mainstream movie, it is worth a viewing.

This film essentially revolves around a female street gang led by a young woman named "Mako" (Meiko Kaji) that is having problems with a male gang known as "the Eagles" which is led by a man called "the Baron" (Tatsuya Fuji). To that effect, although the Baron is quite attracted to Mako, what he doesn't like is the fact that some of the local women with connections to her gang are hanging out with certain young men who are of mixed Japanese and Afro-American descent. So, in order to further his racist views, he and his men resort to extremely violent measures to expel them from the area. What he doesn't count on, however, is one particular young man named "Kazuma" (Rikiya Yasuoka) who is willing to endure all kinds of abuse in order to find his younger sister who was separated from him many years earlier. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I thought this film was slightly better than its immediate predecessor due to its more dramatic plot. Having said that, however, I must admit that there were a couple of scenes that were somewhat unrealistic. Even so, I liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Stray Cat Rock:Sex Hunter starts off as local girls running around the city,taking advantage of older men, stealing their money and going out for drinks.The head girl Mako lies outside of a bar and suddenly a man wanders over, singing a sorrowful ballad.They talk and get to know each other, then a pack of male gangs out to rid the city of half-breeds go over to threaten him to leave or get killed.This has a lot going on along with lots of revelations at the end.There's fights,Mako getting stoned with rocks,a hotel "rape party",an underground bar with actual bars, a frustrated gang leader named Baron who can't get it up.

When I realized it was a film made by Yasuharu Hasebe I was shocked since this is actually something early from him, he would later make the violent pinku entries:rape 13th hour,assault!jack the ripper, etc. This was a fantastic action film done by Yasuharu Hasebe he did an impressive job to what we've seen now, but a production from Nikkatsu it was way more like a toei.I didn't get much into Stray Cat Rock until the last 50 minutes,plus it was after watching Rica which I didn't like.But this was better especially Meiko Kaji.She's like Miki sugimoto and Reiko Ike,beautiful and badass.

If you LOVE the Japanese exploitation scene from the 60's or 70's like I do, you should definitely check it out.It's a winner..a real winner