Sex & Fury

Sex & Fury (Furyo Anego Den: Inoshika Ocho) (1973)

Runtime: 88 minutes

Directed by: Noribumi Suzuki

Starring: Reiko Ike, Akemi Negishi, Ryoko Ema, Yoko Hori, Christina Lindberg

From: Toei

This is a cult film and I can understand why; that'd be the case even if it wasn't for Kill Bill "borrowing" its most famous scene. I explain all that below:

It was a messageboard discussion which inspired me to see the film; it sometimes happens that way. I've known of this movie for a long while now but there was talk of Thriller-A Cruel Picture. At an Alamo Drafthouse this past weekend (as an aside, they should feel lucky the stories about the gross things going on there-whether or not they feature the man-pig Devin Faraci-broke earlier this year and not around this time... otherwise they'd have gotten a lot more blowback about it than they did) they screened a 4K print of that film, and the lovely Christina Lindberg was there in person for a Q&A. It made me realize I should watch another one of her movies, and this recently was put on Amazon for rental.

The plot... is it even really that important here for this kind of film? The setting is 1905 Japan, and Reiko Ike not only deals with political intrigue and is on the hunt for the men that murdered her father when she was a kid, but Ms. Lindberg is there as part of the former. There's more, but that's the basics. There is indeed both sex and fury... and what I deem plenty of “sexual assault”, which is definitely a hot-button issue now. I know some people who saw this movie and did not like it at all; this was a few years ago but they always are wary at best when it comes to sexual assault in movies, which is more than understandable to me. Our heroine is also tortured and they were uncomfortable with that too.

I won't go into what I know of the whole “pink film” in Japanese cinema and pinky violence, but this was my first pinky violence movie (at least how I define it) and I am not sure if I want to watch this sort of exploitation film too often, no matter which country it is from. Seeing women get revenge on totally awful men is great and all (no surprise that Christina was in something like that, and no surprise her character was also assaulted) but seeing them be horrifically abused is not the easiest thing to watch. Anyhow, there is still plenty of sleaze and trash for those that like such things... such as me, sometimes.

There are some scenes of violence, and they can be quite memorable. How can you forget such things as a group of women dressed as nuns and carrying switchblades? Someone definitely remembered an early scene here where Ike is attacked while taking a bath and they end up going outside and she murders a bunch of dudes as snow is falling... yes, that's why that scene was in Kill Bill. Whether you want to say it was “inspired”, “lifted”, “ripped off”, “a homage” or something else is up to you and will depend on what you think of Tarantino and how he uses his influences.

I can't rate this as better than fine, but I will acknowledge the arty moments that director Noribumi Suzuki interjected into the picture, there is the novelty of Lindberg speaking both English & Japanese, and it does end in memorable fashion. It's not the best of its type in the exploitation field but as long as the sleaziest moments aren't an automatic "nope" for you...