Shi shan nu ni

My review was written in January 1982 after a Times Square screening: Originally titled "13 Nuns" in 1977, "Revenge of the Shogun Women" is a first-time U. S. release of this 3-D kung fu pic, aimed at action audiences and fans curious about the current revival of depth films. Incredibly bad English-language dubbing and exaggerated "poke 'em in the eye" 3-D photography mark this item as suitable only for the most diehard fans.

Nominal plot, made incoherent by the dubbing and loose structuring of individual action episodes, deals with young women in China in 1794 who are raped by bandits in a sexploitation featuring nudity and simulated sex in 3-D. Main action picks up in 1797 in Chang-Chow village, where the 13 heroines, looking exotic with nearly shaved-head butch haircuts, are training as nuns in a convent, with martial arts high on their curriculum. Shogun of film's current title is meaningless, lifted from Japanese history to spruce up this picture's superimposed narrative crawl.

Very similar, though not as exciting, to the same production team's "Dynasty" picture, "Women" features attractive sets and costumes amidst its too-frequent thrusting of spears and poles out towards the viewer's nose. Violent content is adequate for chopsocky fans, but the insistence on pointing objects at the audience causes eye-strain as one resists becoming cross-eyed. Enthusiasts of filming-in-depth will have to wait for the next batch of 35mm 3-D efforts, or perhaps the promised twin-70mm super-productions, for satisfaction.

Well, okay, so the film is basically a big lump of c**p. But it's good c**p, ie the entertaining kind. And if you ever have the chance to see the film in a theater IN 3D, then SEE IT! Words can not describe how much more entertaining the film gets, and before this it's already wacked out enough for ten movies, but then you give the nutcases behind the camera the 3D technique, and they use it when ever they can, to hilarious results, scenes that appear to be in the film just so they can show off some 3D stuff. Anyway, I actually gave this movie a 6, even though it really doesn't deserve it in terms of actual quality, but it was so outrageously ridiculous that I couldn't resist...

In ancient China, after being raped and attacked by a gang of rebels, a group of woman become nuns to cope with what happened. But many years later, they find themselves confronted by the same rebels and must choose to either ignore them, or fight them to the death to prevent other woman from the same fate they suffered.

This film sucks. Sorry, it does. Visual quality wise, it's pretty bad - lots of dirt and grime, muddied colors and blurry images. It has plenty of 3D pop out sure and some of it even made me flinch as it shot towards my eyes but it still wasn't clear. The story can be hard to follow at times because a lot of the characters all look the same and the film moves at an awkward pace. The only redeeming aspect of the film I liked was that the movie starts fast, right in the middle of the action and rape scenes actually, and it also uses immediate 3D effects. There is a little bit of a "so bad it's good" effect when it comes to the voice dubbing - the dialouge is so idiotically simple and the voices don't always match the faces that I couldn't help but smile or laugh regularly.

Final Verdict: I really didn't like it. Poor visual quality, bland story and bad (although admittedly unintentionally funny) voice dubbing make this hard to watch. It has effective yet repetative 3D effects and some of the violence is fun in a gory way even if it's totally unbelievable but there isn't any reason to really recommend this in this day and age. Just skip it.