Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song

And so at last we come to the end of the great Matsu the Scorpion's bloody, weird, and incredibly thrilling saga. This is the only entry in the series not directed by Shun'ya Ito, so I was a bit nervous going into this film; I've really enjoyed all the FPS movies, and I really didn't want the final outing to fall flat on it's face.

To my great delight, this film didn't fall flat; it delivered everything I'd want from an outing with Matsu. At the same time, Matsu's story seems to be wearing a little thin; at this point in the saga she's escaped from prison with others, had her revenge, and in the last entry ("Beast Stable") she even become a kind of savior for oppressed women. In this entry, history more or less repeats itself; the storyline in "Grudge Song" is relatively the same as the first and second entries ("FPS #701" & "FPS: Jailhouse 41"), only the story is compressed into an hour and a half. If you've seen the other entries, you pretty much know what's going to happen in this entry, and while there isn't necessarily a problem (people still line up for Marvel movies, and they're all relatively homogenous), to me, the series has started to loose a bit of it's appeal, and I honestly think ending it here was probably the best choice: go out on a note that is still relatively positive, and people will be keener to return to the franchise. I, for one, will happily go through Matsu's journey multiple times in my life.

This begins well enough and has enough going on, a male helper this time, to maintain the interest until the most exciting scenes come along. It is a good idea that Meiko's seeming saviour here has had history with the police already from his days of 60s student rebellion. Flashbacks enable stand-in director Hasebe to double his violent police demonstrations with current and b/w past. This is number four in the series, however, and needed more not less in the way of interesting action and visuals. Gone are the stylish sequences and gone the surrealism. The endings, both false and actual are fun and if this is a disappointment it is no disgrace and while not the greatest of finales, probably a much better fourth episode than many might have expected. Worth seeing.

Yasuharu Hasebe (Black Tight Killers) took over for director Shunya Ito for this, the last Female Convict Scorpion picture starring Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood). The film opens with Nami Matsushima (a.k.a. Matsu, a.k.a. Scorpion) once again on the lam. The police track her down at a wedding, but she manages to escape. Badly injured, she is saved by a man who works in a strip joint and holds a grudge against the police for torturing him. Can the Scorpion trust a man again? Should she?

One of the reasons Kaji decided to stop doing the Scorpion pictures is that Toei kept slashing the budget with each new installment. This film is smaller in scale and more straightforward than the first three chapters. It is easily the least of the four Scorpion films featuring Meiko Kaji; however, it is still engrossing whenever she is on the screen.

After narrowly escaping brutal Detective Kodama Sasori hides out in a seedy strip joint in the back streets of Tokyo.There she encounters Kudo who was humiliated and tortured by Kodama and his cronies years ago.The two strike a bond and soon set out to exact Kudo's long dreamt-about justice against detective Kodama.But their plan is not going to end happily."Female Convict Scorpion Grudge Song" is filled with sadness and unrelenting nihilism.Yasuharu Hasebe,the creator of violent pink sub-genre directs with a sure hand and Mejko Kaji is fantastic as a relentless Sasori.She even kills a cop with a white rose.There is also sleazy gang-rape scene and plenty of nudity.If you enjoyed previous installments of "Scorpion" pinky violence series give this one a look.8 out of 10.

Grudge Song is the last entry in the "official" Female Convict Scorpion series and is often considered lesser to the other three. This is true, it's not quite as good as those that went before it; but even so, the film is certainly a worthy entry. Grudge Song is directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, as opposed to Shunya Ito who directed the first three. That doesn't really affect the quality, however, as the new director adequately emulates the style of the previous ones and the film certainly fits into the series well. The first three films all had different styles, though this one seems to take the most influence from the one that came directly before it, 'Beast Stable' as the action is fairly slow. The plot once again focuses on the quiet dark haired lunatic that goes by the name 'Scorpion'. She's still on the run and after a run-in with the cops, finds herself injured. She's helped by a young man who takes her in, gives her shelter and forms an alliance with her. However, after another run in with the cops; he's captured and finds himself with a dilemma...

This film is not as surreal as the previous entries as the new director seems to prefer a more direct and exploitative approach, and that's OK with me. The surreal elements are what made the previous films what they are in a way, but I've come to expect a different thing each time from this series so I don't mind that change in style here. Meiko Kaji once again takes the central role and once again does excellently with it. She doesn't say a lot as is usually the case, but she looks so sinister and this is what really makes her performances in these films. This film has less of a revenge theme and more of a political one and it works fairly well. The violence is still the main focal point for me, but this film probably has a bit more 'meat' on it than the previous three. There's still plenty of room for what Scorpion does best, and those hoping to see her get revenge on people won't be disappointed as she certainly gets it once again. Overall, this film is not as great as the fantastic original; but it still fits into the series nicely and overall I'd say it's on par with the three sequels. Recommended!