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Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion

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Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion stars the beautiful and talented Japanese actress Meiko Kaji, best known for playing Lady Snowblood and singing "Flower of Carnage," the title song to Kill Bill. This movie has everything to be a fine example of the "women in prison" film genre: stabbings, shootings, rape, lesbian sex, torture (scaldings, beatings, burnings, women hung by ropes from their elbows) and lots and lots of female nudity. Good clean family entertainment. What more could you want?

Uttering as few words as possible, Nami Matsushima (played by the stunningly beautiful Meiko Kaji) dispenses with the pleasantries and builds a reasonably impressive body count by the end of "Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion," one of the premiere films in the women's prison genre of films.

Natsuyagi is a cop looking to move ahead in his life, and money, after all, is the root of all evil. He hatches a scheme to use his lovely girlfriend, Nami, to lure the local mafia bosses into a scheme. But when the gang feels something's amiss, they escort Nami into a back room and rape her. Breaking in, Natsuyagi realizes he finally has what he wants: ignoring his fallen girlfriend, he convinces the mob that he can make all of their problems go away if they pay him off. They agree, and Natsuyagi has Nami thrown into prison ... where she undergoes the obligatory beatings, teasing, and other forms of degradation so common to 'girls behind bars' films.

What makes "Scorpion" different is the fact that Director Shunya Ito - in his debut film - decided to ride the fine line between art and trash. He combines the best elements of the vindictive woman's feature along with artsy lighting in order to achieve the effect of a car crash: the viewer really hates to slow down and watch, but there really must be something to see here, right? The violence is gratuitous, if not psychedelic, at times, but it all manages to flesh out (pun intended) before Nami manages to finally break out of prison and go on her murderous rampage, taking out the mobsters one-by-one until her final showdown with the unsuspecting Natsuyagi.

Also, in Kaji's graceful hands, Nami isn't so much a victim as she is an antihero, not at all unlike Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. The viewer is pulled into this world by means of a very beautiful woman who refuses to be a 'prisoner' to the genre. Instead, she's defiant and calculating at every turn, refusing to comply with the warden's demands of good behavior. She challenges every authority, instituting her own code of justice which applies to everyone: her fellow inmates, the prison guards, and even the police outside. Uncompromising in her dedication, she ignores the acts she endures for the sake of focusing on one sole objective: revenge.

... and that's an act she takes with complete seriousness.

NOTE: Apparently, there is an issue associated to subtitling, as has been referred by other reviewers. I had no problem whatsoever, but I would add that the film would not play with the correct aspect ratio of 2:35:1 in my American DVD player. I did have to watch the film in my Region Free player, and I did not experience any problems.

By the end of the 1960s, film ticket sells in Japan had dropped immensely because of the influx of the popularity of television. In order to make ends meet, several of the big studios turned to making "pink films" or "Roman Porno" flicks as they were commonly called. Most of these films were quite cheap and their production time was quite short. A good portion of these films pandered to some of the darker aspects of sexual desire including such themes as rape, S&M, and incest. Obviously, these films were often geared towards a male audience. During the latter half of the 1960s the female characters within these films were often "victims" of physical, emotional, and sexual violence in these films. However, it was often the case that such violence would lead the victim to fall in love with her rapist with an almost maternal affection. However, by the early 1970s, while these films were still full of gratuitous nudity and violence, the female characters began to grow stronger and instead of falling in love with their victimizers would strike back violently against them.



Female Prisoner # 701-Scorpion stars Kaji Meiko, probably most famous for her role as Lady Snowblood, as Matsushima Nami, a young woman sentenced to prison after attempting to kill her detective boyfriend after he used her in a bust that also resulted in her being raped by several members of the yakuza. Now, some three years later, Nami along with her friend Yuki try to escape a women's prison, but are soon caught. Imprisoned once again, Nami suffers torture at the hands of other prisoners, including having scalding miso soup poured on her bare skin. However, her spirit is never broken. Ever silent, Nami waits for the day in which she can seek her revenge.



On the surface Female Prisoner # 701-Scorpion is no different than several other films produced in this genre. It includes such scenes as the rape scene, a vaguely S&M scene, a lesbian sex scene, etc. However, it is evident that Ito, this was his debut film by the way, was trying to make more out of this films parts than the composite whole. The camera definitely shines at certain moments and there is even a scene that is reminiscent of a horror scene that could be found in a kabuki play, albeit one with a female cast and full nudity. Also, like many films from this period, this movie has an excellent soundtrack with Kaji singing vocals on the title and ending track "Urami Bushi" which was also used in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films.



A decent film with several sequels, spin-offs, and imitators, I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in Japanese film from this time period or Exploitation films in general.

The Female Convict Scorpion movies are fantastic and Meiko Kaji is just incredible. I really hope someone release the other two Scorpion movies she made so that we can get the whole saga.

Note to folks who complained about subtitles: on some DVD players, you must ACTIVELY turn the sub titles ON using your DVD's internal function. There is no menu item to do this on the DVD. I have found this to be true with a few of the Media Blaster/Tokyo Shock dvd's. On my player I can do this just using my remote control and hitting the 'subtitles' button.

I have to say this is one of my all time favorite films. I love the opening credits its just naked japanese women everywhere. This movie is loaded with sex, nudity, and violence. If you are a fan of japanese exploitaion films from the 70's you will love this

I saw the second episode in the series (Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41) by chance one evening on tv, looked it up on the internet and decided that I would have to give the whole series a go, starting with the first movie, Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion (not that you have to see them in order to make sense of each story), which tells us how the main protagonist, Nami Matsushima (Kaji Meiko), an apparently nice and rather shy girl, is used by the man she had fallen in love with, corrupt police inspector Sugimi (Natsuyagi Isao), in a plan that badly backfires for her. Sugimi doesn't hesitate one moment between money and his girlfriend and Nami, having just been abused by a gang of Yakuza, is left on her own. Betrayed and humiliated, she seeks revenge, attacking Sugimi with a knife in broad daylight and on the steps of the police headquarters. As expected though her attack fails and she finds herself arrested and sent to jail

These events are actually told in a flashback early on. The movie itself begins with Matsu, as she is usually called in the prison, and fellow inmate Yuki, attempting to escape. They are caught, however, and put in individual cells where they lie tied up on the ground, at the mercy of the guards and the no less sadistic prison trustees. As the head of the wardens uses the occasion to impose punishment on all inmates, the resentment against Matsu grows among the women just as her resilience and silent stubbornness only serve to infuriate the prison wardens even further as all their attempts to break her fail. As tension escalates, only compounded by Sugimi's scheme to have Matsu assassinated by fellow inmate Katagiri, it isn't difficult to tell that the situation is about to get out of hand....

The plot isn't the movie's strongest point, although it is decent enough and does work adequately as the background layer on which the more interesting and successful aspects of the movie are laid. Firstly, it is, undeniably, a feast for the eyes. Pinky movies were typically done on a shoestring budget, and here it shows, but somehow Ito manages to transcend that and make it a strength, rather than a hindrance: the scene of Nami's first time and the transition to the sting operation are great examples of that as it tells you all you need: a four-posted bed and candles would hardly have made more of the scene

It is hard also to believe it was Ito's first movie: no scene is left to waste. At every turn, he will find an angle or come up with a device to turn every moment of this movie into as many visual pearls, helped in that by the excellent cinematography of Nakazawa Hanjiro. Every shot is powerful and what's more, many of them do add to the story, instead of just being exercises in style, even if some might seem absurd, particularly the first time around: that's true of the more psychedelic visuals (the "transformation" of Nami into Scorpion as she lies on the floor) just as much as it is of those which transcend time (trustee Masaki who, in her rage, ironically resembles a Kabuki character; interestingly, this reference to traditional Japanese theatre will be taken one step further in "Jailhouse 41")

Another great strength of the director is his ability to simultaneously embrace the Pinky genre, all the while turning many of its concepts on their heads(once very literally as the scene unfolds upside down). Most WiP standards are present which is to be expected: after all, as it is exactly what the Toei wanted. But they never quite turn out to be what one could expect. Sadistic wardens also turn out to be impotent, their batons having to substitute for their sexes when they hurl abuse at Matsu. On the other hand, when given a chance, the prisoners will have little problem to collectively abuse their jailers by using their bodies, in an almost surreal scene: joyous, with the women not in on the action rhythmically chanting and moving their feet and arms, mimicking what could pass for a ritual dance of old. It all comes in complete contrast with the scene of Nami's rape by the Yakuza gang: very subdued, shot from under Nami's shoulders as she lies on a transparent, glass-like surface. All we see are the grotesque expressions on the yakuzas' faces but that's exactly what makes the scene all the more disturbing and stand out

Of course, for the movie to be at all credible, you'd need an able actress in the titular role. Luckily, Kaji is not just an able actress. In fact, her performance goes beyond the notions of "bad" and "good". She just owns the role completely, managing to make it appealing to both men - her undeniable beauty and sex-appeal - and women - as an avenger of all the wrongs society have committed, and continues to commit, against us. You therefore cannot help but forgive the director for including her in just about every scene, and for the many, many close-ups on her face, and most importantly, her gaze. Matsu never speaks much, although she does utter a few sentences (much more than in the following installment in the series), but her eyes do all the talking, making her presence menacing even though she's, after all, a slender woman without extraordinary physical strength. Her only power lies in her resilience and ability to set her goals and withstand what she has to in order to get there

There are many more aspects of this movie that would deserved to be discussed and expended upon, in particular the implications regarding Japanese society, and, to some extent, developed countries' societies as a whole, in the 70s and beyond: the use and abuse of women as a work- and life force, their instrumentalization (the stain of blood on the white sheet, a result of Nami's defloration, taking the shape of the Japanese flag before becoming diformed, related to the Japanese flag floating at the beginning and conclusion of the movie and to the banner outside the building at the top of which seat the Yakuza boss and Sugimi); the development of post-war, industrial society as one devoid of humanity, and which ultimately "devours" those that make it (forced-labor consisting of repetitively digging the ground only to fill the holes again right after; the symbolic burial of Matsu by the other inmates when she stands alone in the trench)

But at the end of the day, "Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion" is more about an experience for the senses and the mind than it is about words. It is definitely not suitable for children, and the faint of heart may want to give it a miss too. As for everyone else, don't let its Pinky/WiP affiliation fools you, although it is in part the very use - and diversion - of the codes of the genre that makes it both a delectable guilty pleasure and a great and unique movie

PS: this review is based on the French box set where the contrast has definitely been increased compared to the original Japanese transfer. It does results in a slight loss of details in dark or bright scenes and I would guess some of the colors are deeper and more vibrant than initially intended, but it is very pleasant nonetheless. I've had the occasion to see the version presented on this page and the DVD transfer is solid, which is to be expected considering it's the original one from the Toei. There is some ghosting issue though, which comes as a surprise. Sound is the original mono for both version, which is probably a good thing, and in both cases, subtitles are adequate. Not much in terms of extras but that doesn't really come as a surprise, and this movie doesn't need them

I'm not sure why some folks had difficulty with this subtitling, but my copy plays just great! Super film. Not as wild visually as the second Scorpion film, but a must see nonetheless. Here's hoping the third installment (also directed by Ito) is given a similar treatment in the near future.

Meiko Kaji has made a great series of films in the prisoner and the thing is that they dont look outdated despite thier age. The violence fits in very well with the overall plot and i have to say that (a) id watch it again! (b) Id get the sequel which is something dont do that often. One of thebest Asian films ive seen!!

Maybe it was because it was Japanese. Maybe I didn't read enough reviews, but I wasn't expecting a W.I.P. flick. I thought I was walking into a crime thriller. Wrong!!! This is exploitation pure and simple. About the only thing interesting to me was that I thought these kinds of flicks were a purely American phenomenon.

Here's the scoop. Our heroine is locked up in prison after being duped by her detective boyfriend into participating in a sting operation on some drug pedlars that actually ends up putting him higher up on the crime ladder. She has to go to prison so she can't spill the beans and she vows revenge.

This is some pretty awful stuff. It has all the elements of other W.I.P. flicks with an interesting difference. No dyke guards for these ladies. All the guards here are male. They are stupid and exceedingly cruel. Some of the harshness they dish out to the ladies made me uncomfortable. And there's barely a brain cell working in the script either. Our heroine, Matsu, is tough. She can take the crap being thrown at her. Yet she has revenge on her mind and you see nothing of any kind of plan she might be concocting to escape. She got away once with another prisoner only to get recaptured. The other prisoner was shot in the attempt and Matsu helps nurse her back and the two form a bond. This is one of the few nice elements in the film. When she does escape it's by taking advantage of a prison riot. And when she gets out, the revenge she exacts isn't at all clever. She just guns all the bad guys down one at a time.

I suppose these movies have to be brutal, to some degree, by their very nature. But this was nasty. It was cheap too. The directing was hack. The sound mixing was awful. It just stunk to high heaven. I've seen a few American W.I.P. flicks and even the not so good ones (are there any good ones?) were much better than this.

Unless you have to see every W.I.P. flick ever made, I'd give this a pass.