RAPE! is yet another in a long line of rape-themed pinku films - a genre that I've grown to love of late. Mixing stylish cinematography with sleazy sex and violence - I just never seem to get bored of this quirky style of Japanese exploitation film-making. RAPE! is not particularly my favorite of this sort of film, nor is it my favorite of director Yasuharu Hasebe's works in particular - but it's still a "fun" time for fans of this sort of material...
A naive and "inexperienced" office worker is raped in an elevator on her way home from work. The next day at work, her boss (who has a reputation for boning the female assistants) asks her out to dinner and she agrees. After dinner the boss takes her to a "love-hotel" and basically rapes her too - not as blatantly or brutally as the elevator incident - but it's pretty clear that the young lady is not real interested in his advances. After these two harrowing experiences, she is raped yet again by another office worker, which is pretty much the last straw for our poor heroine. Deciding to take her sexuality into her own hands, the office-worker begins to indiscriminately sleep with random people - even those that just ask for her "company" off the street, and including a somewhat sad, yet amusing scene with two young guys who use her as an endurance test. Simultaneously, the film follows the elevator rapist as he goes on a rape spree - and it's also alluded to that he only enjoys raping women who fight back, as opposed to those that begin to "enjoy" the experience. Through random chance, elevator rapist and the office-worker victim are reunited, and the victims unresolved feelings are addressed once and for all...
Not as strong as the hyper-sleazy and violent ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER, and no where near the fun and silly atmosphere of STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER or BLACK TIGHT KILLERS - RAPE! falls somewhere in the middle of the pinku-realm, with tons of sleazy rape material and a bit of violence - but it never quite goes completely over-the-top, nor does it become a parody of the situations portrayed. The storyline is straight-forward and solid, and the acting is on par with other productions of this sort. Neither the sex nor the violence are anything extremely notable, this one relies more on plot and a sort of "twist" ending which works. Personally, I wouldn't rate it amongst the best of the genre, but I would say that it should definitely be sought out by enthusiasts of pinku material...7/10
A naive and "inexperienced" office worker is raped in an elevator on her way home from work. The next day at work, her boss (who has a reputation for boning the female assistants) asks her out to dinner and she agrees. After dinner the boss takes her to a "love-hotel" and basically rapes her too - not as blatantly or brutally as the elevator incident - but it's pretty clear that the young lady is not real interested in his advances. After these two harrowing experiences, she is raped yet again by another office worker, which is pretty much the last straw for our poor heroine. Deciding to take her sexuality into her own hands, the office-worker begins to indiscriminately sleep with random people - even those that just ask for her "company" off the street, and including a somewhat sad, yet amusing scene with two young guys who use her as an endurance test. Simultaneously, the film follows the elevator rapist as he goes on a rape spree - and it's also alluded to that he only enjoys raping women who fight back, as opposed to those that begin to "enjoy" the experience. Through random chance, elevator rapist and the office-worker victim are reunited, and the victims unresolved feelings are addressed once and for all...
Not as strong as the hyper-sleazy and violent ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER, and no where near the fun and silly atmosphere of STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER or BLACK TIGHT KILLERS - RAPE! falls somewhere in the middle of the pinku-realm, with tons of sleazy rape material and a bit of violence - but it never quite goes completely over-the-top, nor does it become a parody of the situations portrayed. The storyline is straight-forward and solid, and the acting is on par with other productions of this sort. Neither the sex nor the violence are anything extremely notable, this one relies more on plot and a sort of "twist" ending which works. Personally, I wouldn't rate it amongst the best of the genre, but I would say that it should definitely be sought out by enthusiasts of pinku material...7/10
