Shin joshû Sasori: 701-gô

The "Female Prisoner: Scorpion" films form an incredibly popular and highly acclaimed franchise amongst the fans of the exploitation genre, but apparently the series simply stops at number four for most people, more precisely when the beloved actress Meiko Kaji stopped playing the character. This is MOST unfortunate because the resumption of the series, simply entitled "NEW Female Prisoner: Scorpion" and starring a new lead actress, definitely remains an awesome viewing experience for all fans of the older films. This fifth film admittedly doesn't add anything new and merely just recycles the themes and story lines of the previous installments, but it's nonetheless a compelling film with plenty of action and suspense, imaginative style elements, vivid sleaze and diabolical villain characters. Nami, a twenty-something and joyful girl, is worried about her older sister who works as a secretary for an obnoxious minister and stumbled upon a malignant conspiracy. Before she properly realizes it, Nami herself becomes entangled in a web of deceit. Falsely accused of murder, the poor and vulnerable girl is sent to a hellish woman's prison and even there other inmates are assigned to kill her. The endless injustice, humiliations and physical harassments make Nami more bitter and pretty soon it's only the thought of extracting blood vengeance that keeps her going. "New Female Prisoner" covers the framing and imprisonment of an innocent girl (part 1), a large-scaled escape plan (part 2), Nami in private (part 3) and an intriguing sub plot involving her romantic misfortune (part 4). The more I think about it, this actually resembles a "best of" Scorpion-compilation! More of the same, but definitely welcome. Ryôko Ema ("School of the Holy Beast") obviously is no match for Meiko Kaji, but she's a cherubic and identifiable person and the script tries hard helping her to equal Kaji. She's an eloquent and caring character now, whereas the old Scorpion barely ever spoke a word. Her intense stares are at least as deadly and menacing as those of Meiko Kaji. Director Yutaka Kohira doesn't dare to experiment with camera angles, color schemes and picture compositions as much, but there surely are some noteworthy stylish highlights. The images of Nami's reaction when hearing the verdict in court, for example, are a masterful illustration of someone undergoing a downwards mental spiral. This is a really good film and I'm sure a lot of fellow cult-cinema/exploitation fanatics would concur if only there was a decent and easily available DVD-edition on the market (like the case for the others).

New Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701 is pretty much on the back foot from the start given that it's given the task of following up Shunya Ito's original series; and the knee jerk reaction is simply to pass this film off as a phoney entry in the series. While that is understandable, and somewhat justified, this 'new' Female Scorpion film is a fun viewing and will surely not disappoint anyone who liked the original. It does have to be said that this is just basically a cash in; several things from the original series are lifted wholesale and the film could even be considered a remake of the original. Once again we focus on Nami Matsushima. This time she has a sister who goes missing and after getting too caught up in doing something about it, our innocent heroine is given a fifteen year sentence for a murder she didn't commit. She's sent to an all women prison where she's not exactly welcome. Her fellow inmates torture, humiliate and try to kill her; but the Scorpion prevails long enough to get some justice.

The unenviable task of following up Meiko Kaji falls to Ryôko Ema and while she doesn't fit the role quite as well; she certainly does at least give it justice and turns in an excellent leading performance. The fact that this film is just a reshuffling of the events of the first film will no doubt annoy some fans of the series; but there's enough originality in there to ensure things are kept interesting and director Yutaka Kohira lays on the style. He doesn't lay it on quite as thick as Shunya Ito did with the original, but the film certainly has plenty of verve and there's no shortage of standout scenes. There's some good all girl fight scenes, as well as plenty of torturing, humiliation and general chaos to keep things interesting. One of the most memorable things about the original was the use of colour. This one doesn't have quite so much of that, but there are still some very beautiful scenes. It's all topped off by a catchy theme tune and plenty of bloodshed. The ending won't come as a surprise to anyone who has seen the original; but even so, this is a good watch and I do recommend it.