You know, there really ain't a whole hell of a lot to say about this one. The first review I wrote of it had a bunch of chatter about taste, standards and the value of cinema but it was pretty much all a pile of pseudo-philosophical BS. I dug Sex Hell: True Story of a Women's Jail, it isn't a terribly good film and I wouldn't even especially recommend it, but I liked it well enough. Its a pretty basic item from Koyu Ohara, a decent director capable of near greatness in films like Wet and Rope or Fairy In A Cage, I presume the remit was simply to rip off the Female Prisoner Scorpion series but do so with more sleaze and (a lot) less money. The lovely Hitomi Kozue is the nominal lead, her character imprisoned for a jealous murder. for a while it seems like she might be the stoic main figure in a Female Prisoner Scorpion style affair but it soon becomes clear that the film doesn't really care about characters or any plotting. There's some abuse and some notion of intrigue and general interaction but for the most part the film is a seamy mindless fug, pissing fun, a bonkers scene with a tampon and a good deal of surprisingly tender lesbianism as well as a bit of straight sex, and a funny pro-tip for clay dildo makers. Things do build up a bit toward the end with pregnant woman abuse and a bit of a turn around with cynical climax, but it all amounts to little unless you really have a boner for Japanese chicks behind bars. Fortunately I do, in fact my boner for Japanese chicks behind bars could cave your skull in, so I found this to be a real easy watch even though it never especially impressed me. Lack of impression is the big problem here, watching and knowing Ohara is capable of better, heck that many pink directors are capable of better, put me off somewhat from proceedings. Yet I can't say that I wasn't overall relatively satisfied by the experience, I guess ultimately I'm pretty easily impressed and I dig pretty much anything diverting and not irritating. Ultimately its one to watch if you really have to I guess, its pretty obscure and not especially worth hunting down but if you come across it and you need to see it, it probably won't leave you upset.
2 Reviews
Decent Pink WIP Entry
Rapeman1312 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Sex Hell is the product of what happens when Nikkatsu, Japan's oldest production company most recognized for their Roman Porno and Pinku Eiga, decide to have a stab at the Women In Prison genre. Koyu Ohara, director of the legendarily elusive Zoom Up: Rape Site and various other pink films (Wet & Rope, Fairy in a Cage, White Rose Campus: Then Everybody Gets Raped) was tapped to direct. The result is basically a mediocre equivalent to any of Toei's Female Prisoner Scorpion films.
In the opening scenes a busload of inmates are being driven to a reformatory, the bus pulls over and a handcuffed inmate quickly hops out to urinate in the grass (cue sleazy close-up). When the new prisoners arrive at the prison they are subjected to the prison doctor's sordid gynecological examinations then given uniforms and explained the prison rules. We are soon introduced to Mayumi (Hitomi Kozue) who is incarcerated for the murder of her boyfriend's mistress and doesn't want to play by the inmate ringleader Hiromi's rules, for which she is held down and treated to a golden shower facial.
After ample amount of lesbian encounters, cat fights, clay dildo masturbation and a rather messy forced-miscarriage, Hiromi organizes an escape for herself and her lesbo-lover which involves an ex-con on the outside throwing a skeleton key over the wall which her lover is supposed to retrieve and smuggle into her cell. Although on the way back to lockup everyone is subject to a body cavity search from the guards so on a whim Mayumi takes the key and hides it in her bloody tampon (yes, you read that right).
After seducing a guard Mayumi escapes from her cell and together with her former rival Hiromi they set a fire in the prison, causing a diversion which allows them to make a break for freedom. Finally free, Hiromi excitedly goes home to see her man, only to discover him in bed with some young whore, she pulls a knife but decides against it and in return is stabbed to death along with her boyfriend by the young slut. Mayumi also returns to her boyfriend but with revenge on her mind, she fatally stabs him, and as the credits roll we see her once again in cuffs riding a prison-bound bus.
The film was a hit for Nikkatsu and 2 sequels also directed by Ohara and starring Hitomi Kozue (who also sings the films title track) - True Story of Woman Condemned Continues & New True Story of Woman Condemned to Hell - were produced within the following 4 months. Ultimately this is a pretty typical WIP entry and there's really nothing here that fans of the genre haven't seen before. Although still worth a look to Pinky Violence fans and WIP completist's. 7/10
In the opening scenes a busload of inmates are being driven to a reformatory, the bus pulls over and a handcuffed inmate quickly hops out to urinate in the grass (cue sleazy close-up). When the new prisoners arrive at the prison they are subjected to the prison doctor's sordid gynecological examinations then given uniforms and explained the prison rules. We are soon introduced to Mayumi (Hitomi Kozue) who is incarcerated for the murder of her boyfriend's mistress and doesn't want to play by the inmate ringleader Hiromi's rules, for which she is held down and treated to a golden shower facial.
After ample amount of lesbian encounters, cat fights, clay dildo masturbation and a rather messy forced-miscarriage, Hiromi organizes an escape for herself and her lesbo-lover which involves an ex-con on the outside throwing a skeleton key over the wall which her lover is supposed to retrieve and smuggle into her cell. Although on the way back to lockup everyone is subject to a body cavity search from the guards so on a whim Mayumi takes the key and hides it in her bloody tampon (yes, you read that right).
After seducing a guard Mayumi escapes from her cell and together with her former rival Hiromi they set a fire in the prison, causing a diversion which allows them to make a break for freedom. Finally free, Hiromi excitedly goes home to see her man, only to discover him in bed with some young whore, she pulls a knife but decides against it and in return is stabbed to death along with her boyfriend by the young slut. Mayumi also returns to her boyfriend but with revenge on her mind, she fatally stabs him, and as the credits roll we see her once again in cuffs riding a prison-bound bus.
The film was a hit for Nikkatsu and 2 sequels also directed by Ohara and starring Hitomi Kozue (who also sings the films title track) - True Story of Woman Condemned Continues & New True Story of Woman Condemned to Hell - were produced within the following 4 months. Ultimately this is a pretty typical WIP entry and there's really nothing here that fans of the genre haven't seen before. Although still worth a look to Pinky Violence fans and WIP completist's. 7/10
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