Genre:
Action + Comedy + Horror

Synopsis:
An Action Asia Flashback! A film so colorful, baroque and operatic that it makes the hyperkinetic cinema of directors like Dario Argento and Sergio Leone seem positively restrained by comparison, Female Convict Scorpion – Jailhouse 41 remains one of the most jaw-droppingly over-the-top viewing experiences in film history. Japanese action, horror, and exploitation films of the '60s and '70s transcended their generic plots with an innovative, intensely stylized visual approach. Nowhere is this technique more evident than in this astounding film. Jailhouse 41 is actually the second, and most stunning, entry in the six-film "Joshuu Sasori" (Female Convict Scorpion) series that ran from '72 to '77 (don't worry, each film stands on its own); the first three entries were directed by Shunya Ito, who made his debut with the original film. The films chronicle the vicious escapades of the silent prisoner "Scorpion" (the striking Meiko Kaji), and in Jailhouse 41, she has escaped along with several fellow inmates, all fleeing the villainous warden. Ito takes standard post-feminist exploitation material and refracts it through a pop-art prism of Kabuki theatre influences, candy-colored surrealism, and crazed camerawork. This theatrical screening -– in all its whacked-out Cinemascope glory -– is a rare treat indeed, and this breathtaking restored print is not to be missed. "An absolutely phenomenal surrealist-cum-exploitation picture...one of the truly genuine masterpieces of violent 1970's cinema".
(from phillyfests.com)

Casts:
Meiko Kaji ... Nami Matsushima (1972-1973)
Yoko Saito ... Nami Matsushima (1997)
Chiharu Komatsu ... Nami Matsushima (1998)

Runtime:
83 min + 90 min + 87 min + 89 min

The Complete Movie Serie:
Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori (1972)
Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô (1972)
Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya (1973)
Joshuu sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi (1973)

Shin joshuu sasori: Tokushu-bô X (1977)

Sasori in U.S.A. (1997)
Sasori: Joshuu 701-gô (1998)

Country:
Japan

Superheroes:
Female Scorpion

Based on the manga:
"Joshuu Sasori" created by Tooru Shinohar

External links:
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