Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song (1973)

Once again on the lam, Matsu is helped by a strip club worker who holds a grudge against the detective who's trying to find her.

Director:

Yasuharu Hasebe

Writers:

Yasuharu Hasebe (screenplay), Fumio Kônami (screenplay)

Stars:

Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei

Cast

Credited cast:
Meiko Kaji	...	Nami Matsushima (The Scorpion)
Masakazu Tamura	...	Yasuo Kudo
Yumi Kanei	...	Kinuyo Kodama
Hiroshi Tsukata	...	Detective Hirose
Yayoi Watanabe	...	Midori
Sanae Nakahara	...	Akiko Inagaki
Akemi Negishi	...	Prison guard Minamimura
Toshiyuki Hosokawa	...	Takeshi Kodama
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Junko Andô	...	Prison guard Mazaki
Kotoe Hatsui	...	Tome Kudô
Hiroshi Hijikata
Hiromi Kishi	...	Bride
Toshie Kokabu	...	Female Prisoner B
Akiko Kuji	...	Prison Guard A
Kaoru Kusuda	...	Prison director Nakasone

Storyline

Once again on the lam, Matsu is helped by a strip club worker who holds a grudge against the detective who's trying to find her.

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Plot Keywords:

fourth part | sequel | violence | police | dark heroine | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)

User Reviews

Even the mightiest Scorpion loses its deadly sting eventually

More than practically every film I've seen before in my life, "Grudge Song" emphasizes the essentialness of one certain director linked to a cinematic franchise. Shunya Ito directed the first three installments of the ""Female Prisoner: Scorpion" series and they were simply phenomenal and pretty much flawless. For this fourth entry, Yasuharu Hasabe took place in the director's seat and promptly the narrative ingenuity as well as the stylish characteristics notably lowered in quality. By no means I intend to claim that "Grudge Song" is a bad film – far from it, as you can derive from the rating I've given – but it nearly isn't as breathtakingly awesome as the previous ones. But in all honesty, Hasabe can't be blamed entirely, as he actually just remained faithful to his own personalized style and filming methods. This man also directed uncompromising and vastly outrageous Cat-III movies with delicious sounding titles such as "Rape! The 13th Hour", "Assault: Jack the Ripper" and even "Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter", so you honestly can't expect this man to alter his style towards a more elegant and suggestive type of exploitation cinema. The fourth film is much sleazier and straightforward, with less likable character drawings and visually dazzling gimmicks. Hasabe obviously didn't care too much for the complexities of part three ("Beast Stable") or the deliriousness of part two ("Jailhouse 41") and returned to the gritty in-your-face mentality of the original. The script is largely a re-run of familiar themes. Nami is still a fugitive from the law and she has yet another relentless copper obsessively chasing her. She finds shelter, and even affection, in the arms of a porno theater employee who still has an old score to settle with the police. But when he get captured by the police and brutally interrogated, he betrays Nami's hideout place. Back in prison our heroine picks up her old habits of causing riots, manipulating personnel and fellow inmates and – of course – attempting to escape from the hangman's rope. "Grudge Song" is definitely still a good movie, far superior to the majority of contemporary exploitation movies for sure, but a weaker entry in the series. The plot only offers few surprises and Nami suddenly transformed into a genuine antagonist to the audience as well. You always sympathized with her before, but here she commits a handful of crimes that can't possibly be justified. She also talks a little more in this film, and her silence was part of her charming personality in the other installments. Talking in terms of visual decoration, "Grudge Song" is fairly mediocre with only a couple of noteworthy highlights (like the truly menacing POV-shots of the noose in the middle of the prison's yard). This film also immediately marked the end of the "official" Female Scorpion cycle. The successors, appropriately entitled NEW Female Prisoner, don't star Meiko Kaji in the title role any longer and aren't directed by any of the above-mentioned directors. I'm curious about the remaining two films (which I own in a fancy box set), but I'm keeping the expectations rather low just to be sure.

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 December 1973 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Tokyo

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1