Hana to hebi: Jigoku-hen

This is the first of the many remakes of Masaru Konuma's 1974 classic, based in turn upon the writing of Oniroku Dan. Again a big enema scene is at the centre of this telling of the tale and whilst it is a bit wince inducing, it does not quite have the nasty edge of the original. Beautifully, colourfully and gleefully shot, this is an amazingly focused tale of capture, bondage but more especially humiliation. Much is made of the two naked female protagonists being mother and step-daughter and despite the explicit close-ups of the proceedings, there is always room to show the men and women enjoying the 'spectacle'. The serious tone is set at the start and apart from a pause for a disco dance in the midst of all the rape and torture and the eye popping and completely OTT ending, things remain on that level throughout. Amazing and it is only regrettable that the English language does not seem to have words to describe just how amazing Japanese cinema can be.

First, it must be said that neither the story, theme or characters are related in any way to the original 1974 Flower & Snake film and novel by Oniroku Dan. He has a credit in this film only because they used the title.

A spoiled step-daughter that is part of a small female gang pretends to be kidnapped so the stepmother will bring 3 million yen to pay off her gambling debt. The gang then kidnaps the stepmom and proceeds to assault her. The Yakuza arrives to get paid and finds more value in further assaults to the stepmom and then the stepdaughter as well. Turns out one of the female gang is also an expert in S&M and even has a suitcase full of toys.

This shouldn't share the title with the original. It misses all the strong points of the original. The story is just a means to have scenes of sex, bondage and various (I won't give it away) fetishes. All softcore and simulated of course. When those scenes begin in earnest its like they keep checking off one fetish and then another until the two final scenes begin. The sex scenes I didn't find very erotic or interesting. Nor were they important to the story like the original.

The acting of the two female leads are just okay. Often not showing emotion when expected. Just not making it believable.

This still was watchable but I did find myself get bored at times. Had to hit fast-forward a few times. Rated 6 out of 10 is probably being generous. I only recommend this movie to the real fans of Roman Porno.