Many of today’s premier Japanese directors (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takeshi Miike, Takeshi Shimuzu) had their start in this arena and the low budgets of these films (often less than $100,000) allowed them to not only hone their craft but also to develop a unique style and viewpoint. At the other end of the spectrum, older directors such as Masaru Konuma (“Wife to be Sacrificed”), Kazuo Komizu ("Entrails of a Virgin") or Toshiharu Ikeda ("Evil Dead Trap") found some work and a paycheck waiting for them at the end of the day.
From 1994 through 1996 the video arm of Toei
produced six films drawn from the short stories of novelist Arimasa Osawa.
All the titles were prefaced with “XX” and are low-budget entries that
typically have doses of violence, action, sex and often torture. They all
feature strong female protagonists in non-traditional roles – assassin,
bodyguard, pathologist and cop – but one would not claim these as primers
for women’s empowerment because the real purpose here is clearly as spectator
sport. Though these films fall squarely into the video exploitation genre
that one expects, they generally do it with some style, professional workmanship
and a good feel for genre filmmaking – i.e. they give the targeted audience
what they want. Most of the directors have a respected lineage in the areas
of horror and "pinku" films.
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