Film in Japan has gone through various genres of their own that have shown both creativity and a certain sense of strangeness in the eyes of those around the world. “Pink films” for obvious reasons referred to the films there in the 60s that featured nudity in them. A sub-genre of that came from Toei Studios and was known as “pinky violence”. These films combined eroticism with tales of violence and action. But before those films came into being, director Teruo Ishii made the film SHOGUN’S JOY OF TORTURE.
The film was considered an example of the ero-guro or erotic grotesque film. Set in the Edo period the film offers three separate stores that involve, yes, torture and violence. This is painfully obvious with the film’s opening credit sequence showing the crucifixion and beheading of a woman. The first story involves a woman trying to care for her older brother who has taken ill. To take care of him she agrees to become his boss’s mistress. As he heals the bond between the two grows until it reaches the incestuous stage. What follows is not pleasant.
The second story tells the tale of two lesbian nuns. This breaks all sorts of boundaries beginning with breaking their vow of celibacy. When caught by a monk, he too takes part in their sexual encounters. To say that they pay for their transgressions is to put it lightly.
The third and last story about a sociopathic tattoo artist determined to create his most famous work. He kidnaps a young woman and begins tattooing various depictions of violence that his supporter and lord allow him to watch. Encouraging him on to more violent acts he eventually convinces him to pose as an ogre for his masterpiece. But when one goes too far there are repercussions that come into play.
There is little doubt as you can tell be reading this that this is not a film for the faint of heart nor those who find offense in things of this nature. While the descriptions I’ve provided don’t discuss them in depth, the scenes of torture that take place with the various characters here are somewhat extreme even by today’s standards. And this movie was made in 1968.
The one thing the movie does is show the difference in outlooks about film from one country to another. While films in the US were just beginning to add nudity to their films this film and others like it were crossing more extreme barriers. It might not qualify as a horror film but the gruesome moments in the film could easily be found in a number of horror films that were released the following decade in the US.
All of this makes it hard to determine if the film is entertaining or not. No doubt sadists and masochists would love it. But what about the main movie going public? I suspect not quite. Still for those interested in film from around the world and seeing the way movies are made in other countries there is a certain amount of curiosity that will be answered with this film.
Arrow Video has done a fantastic job with the film with a
1080p blu-ray presentation along with several interesting extras. Those include
and audio commentary track by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, “Teruo Ishii:
Erotic-Grotesque Maestro” an exclusively filmed interview with author Patrick
Macias, “Blind, Torture, Thrill” author and critic Jasper Sharp discussing the
history of torture in Japanese exploitation films, the original trailer, an
image gallery, a reversible sleeve with newly commissioned artwork by Jacob
Phillips and for the first pressing only an illustrated booklet featuring new
writing on the film by Mark Schilling.
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