Considering the quality of its output these days, it appears Japan is quickly moving toward the forefront of nations producing quality cult/trash cinema. "Beautiful Target" is no exception. It's full of all the sex and violence that one would expect in a production of this type, but is more intelligent than it needs to be at the same time. Let's all thank our friends over in the Land of the Rising Sun; we've got another keeper here, folks.

"Beautiful Target" certainly starts off with a bang. As the film begins, we see a young Japanese girl tied naked to a sort of makeshift cross. In a sequence that seems heavily influenced by the "Guinea Pig" series, a man then enters with a camera and proceeds to strangle and rape her before driving a chisel into her sternum. Days later, the body of this dead girl is found, and an autopsy is conducted. The police find many clues about the nature of the killing but are left without any evidence that will point to a killer. Of course, it's not long before another young girl--a prostitute this time--is found naked and dead, though another autopsy finds her body similarly devoid of clues.

Quite upset by the actions of the violent serial murderer are both the department's coroner, Kyoko, and Natsumi, the second victim's pimp. Natsumi demands retribution; Kyoko just wants to get away from this nightmare. Later that night, at home, Kyoko sleeps, unaware that she is being stalked by the murderer. The killer breaks into her home using a glass cutter, and proceeds to bind her and rip off her clothing before attempting to rape her. Luckily, Natsumi, having wanted to talk with Kyoko privately, shows up at just this moment, scaring the intruder away. When Kyoko receives a package in the mail a few days later that is full of pictures of her being assaulted, she decides that she must take the law into her own hands. She reasons that Natsumi, though unaware, must have seen the killer as he fled from Kyoko's apartment. Enlisting her help to identify the perpetrator, Kyoko dresses sexily and makes herself bait (a "beautiful target," if you will) for the psychopath. Dressed to seduce, she begins trolling seedy underground S&M nightclubs on a quest for the killer...

From this description the film might not sound terribly original (indeed, I will admit it isn't); however, I must remind those who scoff at the synopsis that the fun of these types of movies is really more in the execution than anything else. "Beautiful Target" takes a story that could just as easily have been an ABC-TV movie and adds a heaping dollop of sleaze to liven up the proceedings. Violence is readily present both in the snuff murders (the close-ups of restraining wires digging into flesh are particularly cringe-inducing) and gory autopsy scenes. Sleazy sexuality is also readily abundant, from the various rapes to scenes in the S&M club to a sex scene between Kyoko and Natsumi that is the very definition of gratuitous. The killer is also given some interesting characteristic traits, namely that of stuffing tied condoms full of semen down the throats of his later murder victims in order to taunt Kyoko.

If you're (as I always am) looking for a good evening's worth of sleazy sex and violence, "Beautiful Target" would fit the bill perfectly. On that note, I would like to thank the fine folks at Central Park Media for bringing it to us here in the US. It's always nice to see another quality work added to America's exploitation canon.

As for presentation, the movie is full-frame, which looks to be the intended ratio. (Since this is part of a direct to video series, a full-screen ratio wouldn't surprise me.) The image is generally crisp, with only some minor dirt and scratches. Audio is presented in the original Japanese with subtitles and in an English dub that isn't the worst I've ever heard but is still far from great.

Extras are limited but fun. A photo gallery is included along with a cute little trivia game that asks various questions about the movie and plays a clip (with a cute caption) based on your response. Finally, two trailer galleries are included, one for various Asia Pulp Cinema releases and a second for many (if not all) of the entries in the "Beautiful" series. (Apparently, there is a series of Japanese videos called "XX" that features exploitation-style movies that center around a strong, sexy female protagonist.) Based on these trailers, I would definitely be interested in checking out some other Asia Pulp Cinema releases, particularly some of the other entries in the "Beautiful" series. For those curious about these films, several other "XX" entries like "Beautiful Beast," "Beautiful Weapon" and "Beautiful Killing Machine" have also been reviewed on Monsters at Play.

For those of you looking for an evening of sexy, bloody fun, this movie should fit the bill perfectly. If you're willing to deal with the rather large price tag, I would definitely advise taking a shot at "Beautiful Target."