Color, 1973, 88m. / Directed by Shunya Ito / Starring Meiko Kaji, Yayoi Watanabe, Reisen Lee, Takashi Fujiki, Mikio Narita / Media Blasters (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16x9)
The last film from regular series director Shunya Ito, Beast Stable veers away a bit from the colorful, hyper-stylized nature of the popular second installment; here the visual scheme is dark and gothic, with black figures such as ravens, subterranean tunnels, and the villainess' inky ensembles creating wild scope compositions built on the interplay of black and white. The mood here is more akin to a mid-'70s Roger Corman title like Caged Heat, though the extremely sleazy content is far more than most drive-ins would have tolerated. Packed with incest, torture, and a horrific set piece at a grimy abortionist's den (with a memorable crimson-sprayed finale), this is not for the faint of heart but still easily classifiable as artistic filmmaking of the highest order. Poetic touches are also plentiful: dropped matches through a sewer grating turning into an incandescent
Impossible to see in English for decades, Beast Stable appeared on Japanese DVD in the format's early days in a solid anamorphic transfer but without subtitle options. Media Blasters manages to finally satisfy the series' fans with a striking presentation, comparable to the Japanese release but thankfully a bit darker and with better contrast. The optional English subtitles are well-written and nicely-paced. Top marks all around. The mono Japanese soundtrack sounds fine and clear, and yes, that haunting "Urami Bushi" theme song (popularized in the Kill Bill series) is here once again. Extras include a theatrical trailer (which is actually two excellent full trailers with a quick teaser in between), an image gallery, and promos for the company's other titles like The Neighbor No. Thirteen, Deathtrance and the first Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion film.
Color, 1973, 89m. / Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe / Starring Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei, Hiroshi Tsukata / Media Blasters (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16x9)
Something of a mixed bag, Grudge Song is the fourth and final installment in the wild Scorpion series and features a new director, Yasuharu Hasebe (best known for Black Tight Killers and Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter). His trademark operatic touch is in evidence throughout, particularly some stunning landscape shots which find Sasori and Kudo poised against saturated, painterly tableaux straight out of Kwaidan. However, the always excellent Kaji isn't given as much screen time here, and the budget has obviously been trimmed down quite a bit; much of the film is spent detailing the ruthless indoor tactics of the police,
As with other films in the series, Grudge Song first appeared on DVD in Japan without English subtitles, confounding fans who wanted to see how the whole bloody saga played out. Finally Media Blasters comes to the rescue with this solid presentation which, like the Japanese version, is very colorful but looks a bit on the bright side with strangely weak contrast in several scenes. This may have been a deliberate choice on the part of the cinematographer (or more likely a telecine decision given the different calibrations of TV monitors in Japan), but if you tweak the contrast control on your TV a bit, the image can look perfect. Both the optional English subtitles and Japanese mono audio are perfectly satisfying. Bonus material includes the theatrical trailer (along with the first and third Scorpion films), an image gallery, and additional trailers for The Neighbor No. Thirteen and Deathtrance.
This third installment in the outrageous series both in and out of prison for silent, fearless Matsu the Scoprion ("Sasori") finds star Meiko Kaji in fine form, as she
starts the film by using a slyly concealed butcher knife to remove the arm of a cop, Detective Kondo (Narita), with the nerve to cuff her to himself on a subway. She flees to a graveyard where she uses her teeth to remove the pesky limb, only to be discovered by down-and-out hooker Yuki (Watanabe)-- who isn't too surprised, since she spends most of her spare time being sexually assaulted by her mentally-handicapped brother. Meanwhile the mob doesn't take kindly to Yuki's entreprenurial activities and, after death strikes in the building, decides to unleash the venomous, feather-clad Katsu (Lee), who inflicts unspeakable genital torture and tosses Matsu in a stylish birdcage prison. Following a gory breakout, Matsu finds herself hunted through the streets and must eventually hide in the sewers, where the police (led by a pissed-off Kondo) and mobsters collide in the final act as Matsu is 
cornered into carrying out a final plan for revenge.
rain of fire in the darkness, a sea of fire erupting through the sewer canals, the trapped Matsu lying in a birdcage seen overhead as a bleeding prostitute sprawls beside her. Once again Kaji is a marvel in the lead, offering few words but conveying a sea of torment and violence in her expressive eyes. Even if you haven't seen the previous two films, this is a wild, dizzying experience not to be missed.
On the run from the police once again, jailbird Sasori (Kaji) is taken under the wing
of nightclub employee Kudo (Black Rose Mansion's Tamura). Though he initially resists attempts by the police to uncover the whereabouts of this wily "Scorpion," the pair soon end up on the run and accidentally kill the commissioner's pregnant wife in the process. Another trip in and out of prison results as the lovers must determine whether they can trust each other with the law constantly nipping at their heels.
who use torture and rape to elicit information from suspects (and no, Hanzo the Razor doesn't pop up here, unfortunately). It's still a worthy entry peppered with some memorable bits of violence and visual opulence, but one doesn't have to wonder why Kaji decided to call it quits and go off sword-slinging as Lady Snowblood instead. It's also a bit odd to see Sasori letting down her guard and becoming intimate with a man; the result is something like a really perverse Douglas Sirk film, as they emotionally dance around each other in front of glorious splashes of Technicolor. Though the cops are the usual nefarious bunch, the film also makes the odd choice of not establishing another formidable female villain for the story; here it's just a bunch of nasty, macho officers, which is certainly intimidating but not quite as interesting as the over-the-top nemeses Sasori faced in the last two films. Fans of prime '70s Japanese exploitation will still have
a blast, but newcomers would probably be best-served by checking out the other three films first.
