Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable (1973)

Matsu is sheltered by an incestuous prostitute on her run from the police, her ex-prison mate and a cop whose arm she hacked off.

Director:

Shun'ya Itô

Writers:

Hirô Matsuda (screenplay), Tooru Shinohara (manga)

Stars:

Meiko Kaji, Mikio Narita, Reisen Ri

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meiko Kaji	...	Nami Matsushima (Sasori)
Mikio Narita	...	Detective Kondo
Reisen Ri	...	Katsu Samejima
Yayoi Watanabe	...	Yuki Nakagawa
Kôji Nanbara	...	Sameshima
Seiya Satô	...	Takahashi
Takashi Fujiki	...	Tanida
Tomoko Mayama	...	Yasue
Mitsuru Mori	...	Shinobu
Chie Kobayashi	...	Woman in Nude Studio
Kôji Fujiyama	...	Yamazaki
Kôji Sekiyama	...	Yamashita
Nobuo Yana	...	Adachi
Toshiyuki Tsuchiyama	...	Yagi
Hiroshi Date	...	Sameshima's Henchman

Storyline

Sasori is outside the prison and on the run from the police, wanted for breaking out of prison and murder. She takes refuge with a woman who has a brother with a learning disability. The woman and her brother are also involved in an incestuous relationship. Both the police and an ex-prison mate of Sasori's pursue her.

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Plot Keywords:

thought dead | police | incestuous relationship | prostitute | murder | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 July 1973 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Company

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shunya Ito's final film of the initial trilogy, and was scripted as the finale of the Scorpion series.

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Connections

Followed by Joshuu sasori: Satsujin yokoku (1991)

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Soundtracks

Kuruwase tai no
(uncredited)
Performed by Linda Yamamoto
Can be heard playing on Tanida's portable radio

User Reviews

Third time, not so lucky.

Fugitive prisoner Scorpion (Meiko Kaji) is on the run, pursued by a relentless, vengeful, one-armed detective named Kondo (Mikio Narita). In an attempt to 'blend in' with society, she decides to shack up with Yuki (Yayoi Watanabe), a beautiful young prostitute who lives with her mentally handicapped brother, and get a job. However, when the local prostitution ring gives poor little Yuki a very hard time, our silent heroine decides to seek revenge, and, in doing so, reveals her whereabouts to the law.

Judging by IMDb's current rating (7.6 out of 10), and some glowing comments by trusted, prolific authors, I expected to have my socks blown clean off by Female Prisoner Scorpion: Beast Stable. Indeed, the first few minutes, in which protagonist Nami Matsushima hacks off Kondo's arm (which is handcuffed to her) and proceeds to leg it with the severed limb dangling from her wrist, did just that (I paused the DVD to pop them back on).

Unfortunately, however, the remainder of the film proved to be far less impressive, never matching the sheer audacity of the opening scene. Sure, director Shunya Ito comes close with some exploitative moments including incestuous sex between Yuki and her retarded brother, and a nasty, forced abortion, but, for the most part, Beast Stable is rather boring, being very slow in the telling and uneventful for long stretches.

The film is, of course, very stylish, and always good to look at (the stunning lead actresses certainly help there, with Watanabe obligingly getting her kit off a few times), but compared with parts one and two, this third outing for Scorpion is a tad disappointing.