News

Like with most remotely successful productions in Japan at the time, the vast commercial triumph of Teruo Ishii’s “Hot Springs Geisha” also prompted its studio Toei to fast-track production on more in the series and just a few months later, “Hot Springs Pimp Geisha” was released, this time helmed by actress/director Misao Arai, although it couldn’t be more different than Ishii’s first one in terms of tone and treatment.

The setting yet again is an onsen (a hot spring) resort town, where the Ocean Observation Tower is one of the popular joints, providing all the services that such a place has to offer. The top girl there is Iku, who has been at the establishment for years and considers it home, but her love for local pickup guy Hide stops her from sleeping with other guests, despite plenty of attention. When her estranged sister Mimi returns...

A mere two months before the release of Teruo Ishii’s “Shogun’s Joys of Torture”, which would kickstart his “Joys of Torture” series and propel him into fame and notoriety, another one of his projects was released, titled “Hot Springs Geisha”. This project would go on to enjoy a large amount of commercial success and spawn five sequels, even if Ishii would not return to direct another feature in the series.

In a small seaside resort town live a group of geishas who court businessmen that come to the resort town for the weekend, on business tours or holidays. Required to provide massages and raunchy entertainment by the day and companionship by night, these ladies’ days are spent trying to gain patronage from their regular clients in hopes of a comfortable life away from the trade, bickering with rival geisha troupes and, in the case of Chiyo,...

Teruo Ishii’s Shogun’S Joy Of Torture (1968) will be available on Blu-ray February 23rd from Arrow Video

From the outrageous imagination of cult director Teruo Ishii comes this infamous omnibus of three shocking tales of crime and punishment based on true-life documented cases set during the reign of the Tokugawa shogunate.

The first tale sees the beautiful Mitsu (Masumi Tachibana) going to horrifying lengths to tend to her older brother Shinz (Teruo Yoshida), a carpenter injured in a work accident, but the law catches up on them and metes out a terrifying retribution after they violate the ultimate taboo. In the second, unfettered passions in a Buddhist nunnery are not allowed to go unpunished after abbess Reih (Yukie Kagawa) and her attendant Rintoku (Naomi Shiraishi) encounter a virile young monk from a neighboring temple. In the closing segment, a sadistic torturer (Fumio Watanabe) attempts to show a tattoo artist (Asao Koike...

Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei s abnormal love film series. Ishii s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.

Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord...