Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1977
Director: Kôyû Ohara
Writer: Seiji Matsuoka
Cast: Hirokazu Inoue, Reika Maki, Rei Okamoto, Kazuo Satake, Naomi Tani, Minoru Ôkôchi

DVD released: March 12th, 2013
Approximate running time: 77 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: NR
Sound: Dolby Digital Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
DVD Release: Impulse Pictures
Region Coding: Region 1 NTSC
Retail Price: $19.95

Synopsis: During WWII a Japanese merchant’s wife is captured by the Military Police and subjected to severe sexual tortures to make her and her presumed accomplice confess their anti-war conspiracy.

This is an important film in Naomi Tani’s (Tattooed Flower Vase) reign as queen of the S&M pinku and roman pornos at Nikkatsu.  Whereas Flower & Snake ’74′ is the story of sexual obedience training, this one is even more controversial as it consists almost entirely of various torture scenarios.  The narrative studies the motivations and perversions of both tormentors and tormented with a few complications injected into the rather simplistic story which do generate an air of suspense and mystery.

The manor (house) in which the spectacle unfolds is quite captivating with trap doors and secret rooms throughout.  Most compelling of all, of course, is the beautiful and bountiful Naomi Tani who gets lots of screen time, the majority of which is naked and bound.  Sometimes subjected to subtle psychological distress and often to physical discomforts of an extreme sort the unpleasantries are always implied more than depicted, though Naomi does indeed appear to be hanging upside down by her ankles.

Director Kôyû Ohara (True Story Of A Woman In Jail: Continues) presents a rather artistic treatment and the screenplay is imbued throughout with a perverse sense of humor that certainly helps make this feature more enjoyable.  Most important for anyone looking for an excuse for this film to exist, other than sheer exploitation and ‘entertainment’ value, is the rather severe suggestion of possible crimes perpetrated by the wartime military upon the Japanese public at large.

The DVD:

Sourced from the original 35mm camera negative with newly translated subtitles that are error free.  There does seem to be one jump cut in the negative, apparently where a forbidden area was revealed.  There is no optical fogging present in this feature.

The Impulse Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection continues to astonish with high quality DVD releases of top tier Japanese softcore films with English subtitles.  So much so that waiting for the next pair of releases is practically TORTURE.