Dir. Shun’ya Itô
1972, Japan, 90 min
Rated 18A
The Female Prisoner Scorpion cycle charts the vengeance of Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji, Lady Snowblood), who becomes an avatar of survival and an unlikely symbol of female resistance in a male-dominated world. Spiritually akin to Ms. 45, Coffy, and The Bride Wore Black, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (the second film in the series) finds Nami continuing her quest for dark vengeance and becomes an unlikely symbol of female resistance in a male-dominated world.
Content warning: This film includes challenging and/or triggering subject matter, including depictions of graphic violence and sexual violence.
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“Shunya Itô’s psychedelic, offbeat direction makes his Female Prisoner films much more than politically aware exploitation movies, positioning them somewhere closer to arthouse cinema than to some of the genre’s crass, demeaning counterparts.” – Sarah Cronin, Electric Sheep Magazine
