L'aubergine était presque farcie

"Rei" (Miki Sugimoto) is an undercover police officer who is working on a case involving the brutal murder of a young woman. One night at a nightclub she makes the acquaintance of a foreigner who buys her several drinks and then takes her to his apartment room where he intends on dispatching her in the same manner he murdered his other victim. Fortunately, she turns the tables on him and kills him first. Unfortunately, when it is discovered that the man was a foreign dignitary the police chief decides to throw her into prison without a trial or charges being preferred to avoid a possible scandal. Her situation changes, however, when the daughter of the incoming Prime Minister is kidnapped and Rei's services are required to rescue her at all costs. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a provocative crime-drama which featured plenty of action along with two attractive actresses in Hiromi Kishi (as the Prime Minister's daughter "Kyoko Nagumo") and the aforementioned Miki Sugimoto. On the flip side, some of the acting was a bit over-the-top as were some of the special effects as well. I should probably also mention that this is an extremely violent film which had several brutal scenes involving rape and nudity which might not appeal to all audiences. In any case, it's an interesting movie and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Once again the Japanese tantalize with extremely well made trash. Nothing like this is apparently possible from American cinema. Excellent photography and art direction go hand in hand with horrific human behavior.

The plot is well summarized elsewhere. The deviance is graphically portrayed with several extended rape/torture scenes. The kidnapped girl is frequently beaten. Zero Woman's police tactics seem to include being beaten and raped until the point she can pull out the deadly red handcuffs. The criminals are crazed and the politicians/cops are crooked and conniving. What a wonderful world.

Much of the film is set in sleazy areas or abandoned neighborhoods giving the film an atmosphere much like Mad Max. Sometimes the colors are vivid to the point of unreality. At one point the director does some very unusual color lighting tricks that work well. Depending on your stomach this is a very well made exploitation film.

The weak points are the ridiculous flying handcuffs that do things that would be unacceptable in a cheap kung fu picture, what was easy to draw in the original manga was obviously hard to reproduce in real life. And the big car chase/shootout that looks like they are driving 15 miles per hour.

The lead actress is very good and has no problem delivering serious lines unclothed. The other actors are good or hammy in a way that fits with the over the top tone of the film.

Recommended for hard exploitation fans.

I'm not big on Asian cinema, but I went into this film with high expectations anyway considering all that I'd heard about it, and the film certainly didn't disappoint! It reminded me a lot of the Mario Bava masterpiece (and fellow 1974 release) "Rabid Dogs" and it's interesting to consider the difference in style between what are probably the world's two biggest cult film producing nations; the films handle similar topics, yet the style and execution couldn't be much more different. Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs is an exploitation thriller with themes of comedy, action and horror thrown into the mix. The central themes are rape, kidnap and murder and the film excellently blurs the lines between the good and bad guys. The central character is Rei; a lady cop who finds herself in jail after murdering an American diplomat as an act of revenge. Shortly afterwards, a politician's daughter is raped and, after realising who she is, the rapists turn kidnappers and hold the girl for ransom. The Government then has no choice but to send Rei in to kill the gang and rescue the girl...

The film kicks off with a gory cold blooded murder sequence and less than five minutes later there's a brutal rape sequence; which gives a good impression of what this film is all about! Director Yukio Noda really doesn't hold back where violence or blood is concerned and the film features several brutal scenes, most of which result in heavy blood loss - the spraying blood effect is a particular highlight! The central role of course goes to the beautiful Miki Sugimoto, who plays the 'zero woman' of the title. She's a very cool character and looks awesome chewing scenery in her long red coat; although I have to say that she becomes a bit of a disappointment as the film goes on - considering her introduction sequence, the character would have been put to much better use if she were given the upper hand over the kidnappers, rather than being constantly beaten down. Her weapon of choice is a pair of red handcuffs, which she somehow manages to kill people with...the result being 'interesting'. The mellow music really tops the film off; providing a stark contrast to the on screen action. Overall, this is not a perfect film by any means; but its good gory fun and certainly comes recommended to my fellow cult fans!

An hour after I watched the movie, I calmed down enough to write this. One hell of a roller-coaster ride. Wow! The story is simple: a politician's daughter is kidnapped. He does not only want to get her back alive, but also the kidnappers must disappear completely so they can't talk to the press and everything can be hushed up. Scandals aren't good for his career. So who would do the job secretly, but with maximum violence? Zero Woman (Miki "Girl Boss Guerilla" Sugimoto)! The ex-detective who loves to strangle bad guys with the red chain of her favorite handcuffs is released from prison, goes to work and whatever she does from now on doesn't stand a chance on a PG rating. She looks great, talks even less than Arnie in "Terminator 1" and is as cold blooded as a snake in Antarctica. Got to love this woman, that is, from safe distance... staying on the other side of the screen. Recommended if you think Stallone was too sweet as Rambo.

Yukio Noda's 'Zero Woman-Red Handcuffs' lives up to it's reputation, featuring a truly impressive level of violence mixed in with it's artistic style. I made the mistake of trying to watch this one in the morning. I had to stop it during the scene where a gang member is getting his skin burned off with a blowtorch, by a police detective. When I watched it all the way through I found this to be a very impressive 'pink' film, dealing with revenge, kidnapping, and torture. A gang of thugs who get their kicks raping and killing random people, believe they hit the big time when they kidnap the daughter of an important political figure. The amazingly sexy and tough Miki Sugimoto, the Zero Woman, is hired to bring back the girl, and to her delight, she is given an order to leave none of the kidnappers alive. This sets up the stage for some truly impressive scenes of brutality, and Rei, the Zero Woman has an almost religious devotion to 'justice'. We see this at the films amazing first sequence, where she allows herself to be taken to a hotel room by a wanted rapist/killer, and hands out her own brand of 'justice'. One reason that the film is so disturbing is that everyone, including the cops, is portrayed as wild animals with no compassion for human life. The gang especially, seem like a pack of savage hyenas. And much of the violence is directed at the Zero Woman herself; she is on the receiving end of many beatings and ugly rapes. I actually felt a little queasy in the stomach at times, but Miki Sugimoto is a gorgeous heroine, pure eye candy, and this visual beauty made the films ugly scenes a bit more bearable. Not that 'Zero Woman' is an ugly looking film; This is filmed with a great level of style, and utilizes garish colors especially well. Rei sports a red gun and red handcuffs, and the whole thing is quite surreal. This is the only thing that i have seen from director Yukio Noda, but judging from this one, the guy is a maniac. 'Zero Woman-red Handcuffs' is a fine 'pink film', and should not be confused with the vastly inferior 'Zero Woman' trash films from the 90's. This 1974 classic has absolutely nothing in common with those later films, other than the name. Essential viewing for fans of 'pink' cinema and violent cop dramas, this is a real assault on the senses!