The Torture Club

There's not a whole lot to say about this one. It exists to show Japanese girls being tortured, generally in states of undress. Because everybody knows that the Japanese love their upskirts, there are torture devices designed apparently to give us a good look.

I didn't really understand the plot, and I'm not sure it had one. It's something to do with a pretty girl who starts at a Japanese girls' school. She apparently tries to steal the underwear of another girl and is coerced into joining the school's "Torture Club". The tortures, while not pleasant, are surprisingly not that violent. It should really be called "BDSM Club". The torture apparatuses used seem less designed to inflict harm on the girls than to display their bodies.

The movie's attitude to torture is bizarre. It's treated like any other hobby a girl might have. The leader of the torture club is an ice cold high school senior, completely heartless and devoted to the humiliation and discomfort of the other members. But our protagonist falls for her, the torture brings them closer together, and they end up in the sixty-nine position.

There is perhaps a statement to be made about Japan's collectivist society intensified through the microcosm of teenagers that "The Torture Club" doesn't make. Why, for example, are there no teachers in the movie, or parents? When you're young, its not their approval you crave: it's your peers. People do all kinds of crazy - and even cruel and sadistic - things in those years because they want approval, they want popularity.

"The Torture Club" doesn't address any of this. It's a cheap exploitation flick, a knock off of all those "pinky violence" flicks from the '70s that were made before bondage porn became available at a mouse click to anyone who's interested. It does have a couple of beautiful girls - not all of the cast are beautiful or even attractive - and they do get naked and undressed a bunch of times. But the lack of any real plot or character development taxed me, and I was just waiting for it to end.

This Movie is s rated R18+ but it actually is very tame. But yes it's a sexploitation movie with a very thin plot. A girl enters a school, falls for another girl and then ends up in an after school club that is about giving and receiving torture where the same girl attends.

So most of the movie is torture and nude masturbation scenes. Not much dialogue. That includes some whipping that has any marks added later and some maggots that don't get too involved. Plus several scenes of rope bondage. Much of the scenes with nudity they use a soft filter that gives a foggy visual. Not sure if it's an artistic attempt (that fails) or to cover up any possible exposure that would alarm the Japanese censorship. Don't expect to see much. Most scenes are not very erotic.

The cast are all attractive and gravure models. Their acting is alright especially considering their only real movie.

The result is a movie that often drags. Not very exciting. No it's not the worst movie. Or even the worst sexploitation movie. It's just not very good.

Right, well I had not heard about the 2014 Japanese movie "Chotto Kawaii Aian Meiden" (aka "The Torture Club") prior to sitting down and watching it here in 2023. It being a Japanese movie that I hadn't already seen, nor heard about, was sufficient for me to watch it.

And I figured that since "Chotto Kawaii Aian Meiden" was listed as a movie of comedy, drama and romance here on IMDb, that it was what I was in for. Imagine my surprise when this was not such a movie, but instead a sexploitation movie. Yeah, that hardly registered as entertainment in my book. And I had to turn off this rubbish after being exposed to a mere 21 minutes of the ordeal.

The storyline in "Chotto Kawaii Aian Meiden" utterly failed to capture my interest. Then again, I am not particularly interested in BDSM and seeing Japanese girls in various stages of undress. It hardly constitutes entertainment. And most definitely not something I would waste my time watching.

Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. Whether or not the actresses in the movie put on good performances, I cannot say. I didn't pay attention, pure and simple. And the fact that the entire movie failed to entertain me in any way just didn't make me put any effort into the story or the characters.

Take heed, this movie from writers Makoto Fukami, Alpha AlfLayla and Kôta Yoshida is not a romantic comedy drama, it is softcore porn, pure and simple. And thus doesn't qualify as entertainment in my book. I believed that I was in for a proper movie, especially since it was listed as a romantic comedy.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Chotto Kawaii Aian Meiden", no doubt about it. I just happened to most certainly not be a part of that particular target audience. I don't enjoy watching Japanese girls being tortured, inflict torture upon others, nor have any interest in the type of sexual behavior that this movie was depicting.

My rating of director Kôta Yoshida's 2014 rubbish movie lands on a one out of ten stars.

The Torture Club is a very well-made sexploitation movie - the cast is attractive (basically it's the four girls only and a rabbit), the camera is mostly at the right place, the torture scenes are not too difficult to take. But the most attractive thing about the movie is that it shows nudity very bravely. Lots of movies in this genre show latex clothing, ropes and other devices/objects and think that they are very sexy. No, they aren't. It is the various stages of nudity which make these films special and Club mixes the torture scenes with the nudity on a high level. Our heroine, the shy new student shows herself sans clothes too - another plus. Lots of movies make the mistake showing only the extras in nude scenes but not the main protagonist. Overall a very brave movie (although the story is quite stupid but who cares), worth buying the uncut dvd/bluray from Shamrock.