“I know better how to torture a woman.”
Masayo (Miki Sugimoto) to her yakuza boyfriend - before extinguishing a cigarette on her naked, bound nemesis in “Criminal Woman: Killing Melody.”

This amazing 4 DVD set from Panik House is truly an eye-opening experience. For those who thought Japanese exploitation in the ‘70’s began and ended with chop sockey, this is a stunning history lesson in foreign grindhouse. Around the same time Jack Hill and Roger Corman were making their classic women-in-prison and girl gang movies, the Toei Company in Japan was making them as well. Though it wasn’t the only company putting out this kind of specialized film, it was evidently one of the best. Like New World Pictures, it had it’s own stable of talent. In fact actresses Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike were the reining sex stars of the company, even more famous than Pam Grier in their native country. Both women shared an amazing chemistry and definitely made the most of their cartoon heroine roles. The first film in this delinquent girl series “Criminal Woman” was the tenth teaming of the two photogenic actresses. It’s an amazing piece of exploitation filmmaking filled with clever photography, great dialogue and a refreshing sense of humor. It’s also got a fun, American pop sensibility - making it a real tragedy that it was never released in the states. With the many horrendous kung-fu films that proliferated in the ‘70’s, you’d think at least a few of the Toei bad-girl movies would have made it abroad. “Terrifying Girls School: Lynch Law Classroom” is a delightfully sick entry that isn’t as great as the first, but it comes close. Reveling in several popular Japanese fetishes, it’s as strong as anything in the “Ilsa” cannon. “Girl Boss Guerilla,” the third entry, certainly starts off well with its Russ Meyer, girl-biker badness. But a weirdly convoluted plot and out-of-place love story softens the punch. The fourth film, “Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess” is pure melodrama until the groovy go-go sword fight at the end. It’s certainly a film that must have inspired Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” to a degree. All four films are worth at least one viewing, but the first two are exploitation gold.

“Criminal Woman: Killing Melody” is the first and certainly best of the batch. Directed by Atsushi Mihori and written by Hiro Matsuda and Fumio Konami, this is drive-in movie perfection. Did they even have drive-ins in Japan in 1973? The plot follows Maki (Ike), a woman whose father was killed by his yakuza bosses. She avenges his death by attempting to kill the crime boss with a knife. Sent to prison for the crime, she meets and befriends several of her fellow inmates including Masayo (Sugimoto). The two women form an uneasy bond with each other after a prolonged catfight. Maki tells her prison mates that when she is released, she intends to destroy Oba Industries (the evil Yakuza front) and will do so at any cost. Little does she know that Masayo is the girlfriend of an Oba crime boss! One year later, Maki is released from prison and joins up with three of her ex-cell mates to take the yakuza down. She prostitutes herself in order to buy guns and then sets up an elaborate scheme to pit Oba and a smaller crime syndicate against each other.

This film was released in 1973 and is directed with such style and energy that it doesn’t come off as dated in the least. In addition to the bad-girl archetypes, several staples of black exploitation filmmaking are here - including the super-cool freeze frames, wild zooms and great music. Director Mihori does a wonderful job with his female cast, faltering only when the story delves into the boring male shenanigans. It’s great to see a Japanese film from this era where the women really kicks some ass. It’s both wildly liberating (from a female perspective) and gleefully mysoginistic; a paradox that plays to “Criminal Woman’s” strengths, though not as successfully in the follow-ups. It’s hands down the best American women’s revenge film never released in the States. Great piece of gonzo dialogue at the end: after the two female leads have beaten the crap out of each other and are bloodied and caked with mud, Masayo turns to her opponent Maki and says, ‘You’ve become a truly ruthless woman. How dare you surpass me.’ How goddamn great is that?

“Terrifying Girls High School: Lynch Law Classroom” was the second in this amazing series and is easily the most sleazy of the four. This entry was directed by Norifumi Suzuki and written by Tatsuhiko Kamoi, though it could have easily been directed by Don Edmonds, the brilliant “Ilsa” guru. In fact “Terrifying Girls” feels a lot like the best of the “Ilsa” movies: 1975’s “Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks.” Both films revel in violent excess and share an ironic, self-awareness. “Terrifying” concerns the School of Hope for Girls, a “rehabilitation” facility for juvenile delinquents. The vice-principal is a corrupt disciplinarian who hires a group of the students to act as the ‘disciplinary committee.’ The girls, of course, are sadistic and have various sick torture techniques for the students who do not obey them. The film begins with the committee slowly draining the blood of a girl – who eventually breaks free, but ends up falling to her death from the roof of the school building. Three new recruits join the school including Sugimoto (who turns out to be a tough gang leader who was friends with the murdered girl). She and a small band of students attempt to take down the vice-principal and his committee with the help of an embittered journalist. Ike has a sort of extended cameo as a gang leader who literally rides into the school on a motorcycle looking to settle a score with Sugimoto. Her participation in the drama is, sadly, minimal this time out. Of the four this is the film that most resembles a conventional women-in-prison movie, though there’s not much that’s conventional about it. There’s an extremely erotic lesbian sex scene (in a toilet stall), rape (school girls on man), torture fun with urination and sadistic violence. Sugimoto gives a great performance here, but the cherubic Ike is underused – to the films detriment.

The third film “Girl Boss Guerilla” was directed by Norifumi Suzuki from a script by Takayuki Minagawa and Suzuki (director of Terrifying Girls). It starts out promisingly enough with an all-girl motorcycle gang called the Shinijuku Red Helmet Gang. This time Sugimoto plays gang leader Sachiko, who takes her members into the city of Kyoto to make some money grifting the tourist trade. The head of a rival female gang challenges Sugimoto to a fight for ultimate dominance of the city. Sugimoto wins, but the rival gang doesn’t want to give up their turf so easily. Ironically, Nami (Ike) former lead member of the Kyoto gang happens to be watching. She stops the fight and demands that Sugimoto be the new leader. Unfortunately, Kyoto’s underworld isn’t run by women, but by those meddling yakuza’s. New leader Sugimoto and her gang must give a percentage of their “earnings” to their male counterparts. The convoluted plot takes a strange turn when Sugimoto ends up falling for a championship boxer who saves her from a yakuza beating. She and her gang follow him to a seaside hotel for a boxing match. There they bide their time until the yakuza end up at the same hotel – to take revenge out against the boxer for defending the ‘Girl Boss Guerilla.’ It’s no surprise when the boxer is eventually killed, leading Sugimoto to a plot to avenge his death. The script here really lets Sugimoto’s character down – allowing her to fall for a silly boxer. Ike is again given a supporting role, turning up sporadically as the nemesis/friend. (Ike must have done something to piss off the Toei company.) In the fascinating audio commentary (offered by several genre specialists on the various discs) we learn that this isn’t far from the truth.

“Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess” has the best title, but is the weakest of the four films. This entry was directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi and written by Norio Miyashita and Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. The lone film not to feature Ike and Sugimoto, it features Reiko Oshida as Rika, a reform school girl who takes a job at a garage owned by the father of one her ex-cellmates. The plot, more melodrama than typical exploitation, follows Rika as she tries to mend the ties between Midori (her school mate) and the father. The yakuza, naturally, show up and attempt to take the garage and surrounding land from the kindly old man. Rika’s bands together with her ex-school mates and, too little, too late, decide to take revenge against the yakuza with a lively Kill Bill-like sword fight. It’s the least violent of the four films and veers the furthest from the exploitation model. “Delinquent” is also missing the great photography and the kinetic energy of the previous entries.

This great little package of grindhouse coolness has several factors going for it. Not the least of which is the great restored widescreen presentations of each film. While there are a few minor flaws in the source prints, in all the quality is impressive. The colors pop and the images are extremely sharp. The films certainly don’t look like they were shot over thirty years ago. The sound is also very clear with little distortion in any of the four audio tracks. Engaging commentary is presented by various genre experts for each film. For “Terrifying” and “Delinquent,” author Chris D offers his learned perspective on the series. “Criminal Melody” features film critics Andy Klein and Wade Major and “Guerilla” offers Panik House president Matt Kennedy and author Wyatt Doyle. These guys know their stuff and give some great behind-the-scenes information as well as intelligent insight on the films and the filmmakers. Included are the original theatrical trailers presented in widescreen, poster and photo galleries, production notes and short biographies. Not included in our DVD screener is a 24-page booklet written by Chris D and, best of all, a music CD by actress Reiko Ike. It’s an awesome package for some of the best drive-in movies never shown at a drive-in. ‘70’s exploitation fans will want to run as fast as their legs can carry them and pick up this package. The first two films alone are worth the price hefty price tag. You are worthless to resist.

PanikHouse.com