Assault! Jack the Ripper

During the mid-1970s and early 80's,Nikkatsu-the most important of the pinku eiga studios-launched a series of pink films which were progressively more extreme in their level of sexual violence."Assault!Jack the Ripper" is certainly one of the nastiest pink films I have ever came across.It tells the story of a young waitress and a cook,who after incidentally killing a young woman on a street ends up sadistically raping and murdering women via stabbing them in the crotch.The scenes of rape and sexual violence are truly unsettling,but the film is well-made and acted.Yasuharu Hasebe directed a series of very extreme Nikkatsu pink movies including brutal "Rape!" and horrendously offensive "Rape!13th Hour".In 1979 came Koyu Ohara's "Zoom Up:Rape Site",notorious for a scene in which a rapist shoves a light bulb inside a woman's vagina,then stomps on her stomach until it breaks."Assault!Jack the Ripper" is not easy to find,but for fans of misogynistic Japanese exploitation this sleazy sickie is a must-see.10 out of 10.

Everyone with an eye to see this film will no doubt have heard about how brutal, violent and shocking it is; and after seeing it, I've got to say that Assault! Jack the Ripper lives up to its reputation. I've no idea what the title is alluding to, but to surmise the film; it's an unflinching depiction of murder and rape that is all the more shocking because of the fact that most of the film is really quite realistic. The film is a part of the 'pinky' genre that was popular in Japan around the sixties and seventies, but unlike many of these films; this is not amusing or 'fun' - Assault! Jack the Ripper goes straight for the jugular! The plot focuses on two restaurant employees. While out together one night, they accidentally murder a hitch-hiker. The pair soon realise that murder is their mutual aphrodisiac, and from there the murders continue as the restaurateurs begin an unflinching rampage of rape and murder, with any random stranger unlucky enough to be in their way the victim! Naturally, this relationship doesn't last too long...

The only place the film is lacking is on the actual 'money shots' - we don't get to see the protagonist stab his victims in the crotch, and the reason for that is down to the Japanese penal code - which states that no full frontal nudity can be shown in films. This is a shame both for this film and just about every other Japanese exploitation film ever made. However, director Yasuharu Hasebe doesn't let that stop him delivering the shocks. The lack of full frontal nudity is more than made up for by the brutal violence and the film features plenty. It's not a particularly gory movie, but there's plenty of stabbing and butchery going on to please the gorehounds. The atmosphere is dirty and sleazy throughout and this compliments the brutal action nicely. The film is very short at just seventy two minutes, but this is not really a bad thing. The plot is very thin and while there's more than enough to keep the audience entertained for the time that it's on for, any longer and the film may have ended up grinding to a halt considering the thin plot line. Overall, I'm not raving about this film; but it lives up to its reputation and I wasn't disappointed by it.

Yasuharu Hasebe's BOKO KIRISAKI JACK (aka ASSAULT: JACK THE RIPPER) is as mean as they come and twice as effective.

I have no moral objections to this material because it is what it is, and what it is is a tour de force of violent cinema with not a single cell of poltical correctness to muddy its intentions.

A strong-willed woman coerces a weak man to rape and kill with her.

The man's obsession leads to the downfall of the relationship.

The sexual violence is on a level you haven't seen before if you haven't seen any Japanese Violent Pink films, the production values are high, the performances are amazing and the jazz score is exceptional.

Director Hasebe also directed the excellent RAPE, the satire RAPING!, the solid RAPE 13TH HOUR and the more well known BLACK TIGHT KILLERS.

BOKO KIRISAKI JACK is his crowning achievement, a film that is violent, erotic, funny, perceptive and always entertaining.

The best Violent Pink film ever made.

A shy pastry chef gives a newly employed waitress a lift home. They pickup an attractive, but mentally deranged young woman who is standing in the pouring rain. She gets into the car takes off her clothes and attempts suicide with razor blades. The couple push her out of the car to find she has collapsed and died in the middle of the road. They then hide the body. After the event they find themselves strangely turned on by her death. What follows is Ken murdering men and women using a chef's palette knife and having sex with Yuri afterwards.

The mixture of sex and violence is still strong even by today's standards. The film uses optical censorship, as well as carefully placed objects to obscure the most explicit sex scenes, but there is still frequent nudity and a high number of sex scenes even for a Nikkatsu pink film. The film clearly takes influence from the Italian Giallo films of directors like Umberto Lenzi and Lucio Fulci more so than the "stalk and slash" American horror films of the 70s. The violence is bloody and frequent with much talked about scenes involving a knife being inserted in-between women's legs.

It's all sleazy stuff and aficionados of exploitation films have seen it all before. What elevates this one is nice moody photography, well known faces of Nikkatsu putting in convincing performances and a high level of mayhem.

The DVD from Mondo Macabro features a nice print and some good extras. I'm not sure if this film would pass uncut in the UK.

Man oh man, I had SOME idea of what to expect from this movie, but no idea of it's depravity! Even describing it would cause your mouth to drop open. OK, a pair of restaurant workers discover, quite accidentally, the best aphrodisiac is for the guy to kill (more like gut) females before he does it. Pretty soon, the aphrodisiac wears off, and the guy just wants to kill. It's barbaric, and definitely not for everyone, but DAMN, what an amazing film to watch. Some serious money went into making it I'm sure.. Widescreen, hippy music, crisp direction and editing.. Someone must have known what they wanted and paid a great deal of money to get it. It would be interesting to find out the backstory behind this one.