FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION
Color, 1972, 87m.
Directed by Shunya Itô
Starring Meiko Kaji, Rie Yokoyama, Yayoi Watanabe, Natsuyahi Isao
Arrow Video (Blu-ray & DVD) (US/UK RA/RB HD/NTSC), Media Blasters (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC), Eureka (UK R2 PAL) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41
Color, 1972, 90m.
Directed by Shunya Itô
Starring Meiko Kaji,
Arrow Video (Blu-ray & DVD) (US/UK RA/RB HD/NTSC), Image, Discotek (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC), Eureka (UK R2 PAL) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: BEAST STABLE
Color, 1973, 87m.
Directed by Shunya Itô
Starring Meiko Kaji, Yayoi Watanabe, Reisen Lee, Takashi Fujiki, Mikio Narita
Arrow Video (Blu-ray & DVD) (US/UK RA/RB HD/NTSC), Media Blasters (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)

FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION: GRUDGE SONG
Color, 1973, 88m.
Directed by Yasuharu Hasebe
Starring Meiko Kaji, Masakazu Tamura, Yumi Kanei, Hiroshi Tsukata
Arrow Video (Blu-ray & DVD) (US/UK RA/RB HD/NTSC), Media Blasters (US R1 NTSC), Toei (Japan R2 NTSC) / WS (2.35:1) (16:9)

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A pinky violence series that transcended the label to become a key chapter in classic Japanese cinema, the four-film chronicle of Female Prisoner Scorpion is the ultimate showcase for the great Meiko Kaji, an indelible presence from her pair of Lady Snowblood films, the Stray Cat Rock series, and other titles like Blind Woman's Curse. A stoic and imposing figure, she combines unexpected bursts of violence, defiant resilience, and killer fashion into one of film's great female action characters. The concept of her moving in and out of prison and often confronting female villains never becomes formulaic, even avoiding the conventions of women-in-prison films popular at the time; there's really nothing else quite like them. Each film has been released separately on DVD over the years, but all are collected together for the first time for English-speaking viewers in a 2016 dual-format Blu-ray and DVD set from Arrow Video in both the U.S. and U.K.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion introduces us to silent inmate Matsu, aka Sasori ("Scorpion"), a resourceful outsider who stands by and watches her enemies fall into their own traps, striking out herself only when they least expect it. Here she's fallen in love with a corrupt cop, Sugimi (Isao), who screws her over for mob money with a gang of drooling yakuza assaulting her for good measure. Bent on revenge, she goes after him at work with a knife and ends up in the slammer for her trouble; there, as we see from the framing flashback device, she must work with fellow inmate Yuki (Watanabe) to plot an escape and get back at the man who did her wrong once and for all. A perfect fusion of art and sleaze, this is a wild, attention-grabbing calling card for Kaji and first-time director Shunya Itô, featuring wildly stylized lighting and backdrops including a very impressive sequence depicting how the Scorpion came to be. It also introduces the striking music score approach (combining elements of fuzz guitar and evocative strings) and a memorable theme song "Urami Bushi," sung by Kaji, which would appear in later entries and turn up in Kill Bill Vol. 1.

Media Blasters released this first installment on American DVD in 2004 under its Tokyo Shock banner, complete with the trailer, a gallery, and liner notes by Chris D. This was the second of the series to hit American video, with the same basic presentation as the (non-subtitled) earlier Japanese release and the later UK DVD from Eureka. The Arrow version piles on a heap of new extras, all worth checking out, starting with a new 24-minute video appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid) about his exposure to the films in his growing explorations of Japanese cinema, the sequence he accidentally copied (and then discarded) for The Raid 2, and the ways the films echo previous classics like Tokyo Drifter but still pop up in Japanese cinema in unexpected places. "Shunya Itô: Birth of an Outlaw" is a newly-tweaked cut of a 2006 interview originally conducted for the non-subtitled German DVD release, covering his combative attitude to the studio when was starting out, the global upheaval that informed his work starting from the late '60s, and the climate of Toei at the time. A new interview with assistant director Yutaka Kohira, "Scorpion Old and New" (14 mins.), covers his work on the first and last titles in the series, as well as his work before and after (on some projects that might surprise you.) Trailers for all four films are included on this disc as well as the others in the set, as well as a list of full credits with all of the crew members' names translated (which weren't possible on the feature itself with the crucial translated song lyrics already appearing at the same time).

Things get really wild with the second film, Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, which goes straight for the jugular right from the beginning and never lets up. While trapped in solitary confinement with only a sharpened spoon to whittle away the hours, Sasori is interrupted and dragged out into the prison courtyard by the brutal warden (whose left eye she has already claimed in a previous skirmish). The visiting officials are appalled when the female prisoners revolt thanks to another Sasori attack, and the woman are all punished by going on work detail. The fellow prisoners don't take very kindly to Sasori's efforts, but they all band together to stage a rousing escape which sends them fleeing into the wilderness. They seek refuge for the night near a dilapidated shack where an old woman relates each woman's tragic criminal history, followed by a surreal morning in which the fugitives hijack a bus and embark on a final, outrageous attempt to flee the warden's clutches.

Written words cannot adequately do justice to the dizzying spectacle of this film, the first of the series to make a splash in American when it played in major cities in the early '00s as Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 after a new print was imported by the American Cinematheque and hit DVD from Image Entertainment. The expansive camera compositions from Japanese ghost stories mingle with the furious violence of European crime dramas and the vibrant, unnatural candy colors of Mario Bava, tossed in with stylized, aesthetic violence most akin to a fusion of Dario Argento and Sam Peckinpah. The scope frame constantly erupts into split, swirling imagery which keeps the viewer's eye entranced from one edge of the frame to the other, and the delirious soundtrack (a mixture of fuzz guitar and catchy songs) perfectly captures the balance between gritty tragedy and over the top, hilarious excess. Many characters exhibit a surprisingly black sense of humor, with each female prisoner firmly establishing her own identity in a society which could not possibly care less about her fate; it's one of the purest, most delirious cinematic comic books you'll ever see. The Image DVD from 2002 featured burned-in subtitles but was a fine intro for American viewers who couldn't see it on the big screen, while a reissue from Discotek helped in find another generation of fans in 2010. The Arrow version is much more robust on the extras front, adding on a newly filmed 28-min. appreciation by the great Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women), who recalls being smitten with this film at Fantasia in 2000 and notes how this series works within the international tradition of female revenge and women-in-prison films and doesn't really adhere to the conventions of rape/revenge exploitation. Articulate Japanese film critic Jasper Sharp (a name familiar to any collector of Japanese video releases) gives a handy 10-minute rundown of Ito's career (ranging from thrillers to anime), and very humble production designer Tadayuki Kuwana chats about his work on the first three films in the 16-min. "Designing Scorpion," explaining how he and his director swapped ideas and came up with some audacious visual concepts as well as the prison look that would become a memorable recurring presence.

The third installment, Beast Stable, finds Kaji in fine form as she starts the film by using a slyly concealed butcher knife to remove the arm of a cop, Detective Kondo (Narita), with the nerve to cuff her to himself on a subway. She flees to a graveyard where she uses her teeth to remove the pesky limb, only to be discovered by down-and-out hooker Yuki (Watanabe)-- who isn't too surprised, since she spends most of her spare time being sexually assaulted by her mentally-handicapped brother. Meanwhile the mob doesn't take kindly to Yuki's entrepreneurial activities and, after death strikes in the building, decides to unleash the venomous, feather-clad Katsu (Lee), who inflicts unspeakable genital torture and tosses Matsu in a stylish birdcage prison. Following a gory breakout, Matsu finds herself hunted through the streets and must eventually hide in the sewers, where the police (led by a pissed-off Kondo) and mobsters collide in the final act as Matsu is cornered into carrying out a final plan for revenge.

The last film from regular series director Shunya Itô, Beast Stable veers away a bit from the colorful, hyper-stylized nature of the second installment; here the visual scheme is dark and chilling, with black-themed compositions involving ravens, subterranean tunnels, and the villainess' inky ensembles creating wild scope tapestries built on the interplay of black and white. The mood here is more akin to a mid-'70s Roger Corman title like Caged Heat, though the extremely sleazy content is far more than most drive-ins would have tolerated. Packed with incest, torture, and a horrific set piece at a grimy abortionist's den (with a memorable crimson-sprayed finale), this is not for the faint of heart but still easily classifiable as artistic filmmaking of the highest order. Poetic touches are also plentiful: dropped matches through a sewer grating turning into an incandescent rain of fire in the darkness, a sea of fire erupting through the sewer canals, the trapped Matsu lying in a birdcage seen overhead as a bleeding prostitute sprawls beside her. Once again Kaji is a marvel in the lead, offering few words but conveying a sea of torment and violence in her expressive eyes. Even if you haven't seen the previous two films, this is a wild, dizzying experience not to be missed.

Impossible to see in English for decades, Beast Stable appeared on Japanese DVD in the format's early days in a solid anamorphic transfer but without subtitle options. Media Blasters satisfied the series' fans with a respectable presentation in 2006, comparable to the Japanese release but thankfully a bit darker and with better but still imperfect contrast. The optional English subtitles are well-written and nicely-paced. Extras include a theatrical trailer (which is actually two excellent full trailers with a quick teaser in between), an image gallery, and promos for the company's other titles like The Neighbor No. Thirteen, Deathtrance and the first Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion film. The Arrow version adds a worthwhile 25-minute video appreciation by critic Kat Ellinger (who ties in its kinship to the horror genre and points out its most audacious moments of stylized lighting), "Shunya Itô: Directing Meiko Kaji" (a refined 17-minute edit of his German interview session, covering everything from his negative first encounter with his leading lady through the fierce bond they formed over their three films together), and "Unchained Melody: A Visual Essay by Tom Mes" (21 mins.), an arresting study of how her image transformed over the course of her career (which also included TV and pop albums).

Something of a mixed bag, Grudge Song is the fourth and final installment in the wild Scorpion series and features a new director, Yasuharu Hasebe (best known for Black Tight Killers and Assault! Jack the Ripper). His trademark operatic touch is in evidence throughout, particularly some stunning landscape shots that turn into saturated, painterly tableaux straight out of Kwaidan. However, the always excellent Kaji isn't given as much screen time here, and the budget has obviously been trimmed down quite a bit; much of the film is spent detailing the ruthless indoor tactics of the police, who use torture and rape to elicit information from suspects (and no, Hanzo the Razor doesn't pop up here, unfortunately). On the run from the police once again, jailbird Sasori is taken under the wing of nightclub employee Kudo (Black Rose Mansion's Tamura). Though he initially resists attempts by the police to uncover the whereabouts of this wily "Scorpion," the pair soon end up on the run and accidentally kill the commissioner's pregnant wife in the process. Another trip in and out of prison results as the lovers must determine whether they can trust each other with the law constantly nipping at their heels.

It's still a worthy entry peppered with some memorable bits of violence and visual opulence, but one doesn't have to wonder why Kaji decided to call it quits and go off sword-slinging as Lady Snowblood instead. It's also a bit odd to see Sasori letting down her guard and becoming intimate with a man; the result is something like a really perverse Douglas Sirk film, as they emotionally dance around each other in front of glorious splashes of Technicolor. Though the cops are the usual nefarious bunch, the film also makes the odd choice of not establishing another formidable female villain for the story; here it's just a bunch of nasty, macho officers, which is certainly intimidating but not quite as interesting as the over-the-top nemeses Sasori faced in the last two films. Fans of prime '70s Japanese exploitation will still have a blast, and as far as swan songs go it's certainly worthy; just make sure you watch the other three films first.

As with others in the series, Grudge Song first appeared on DVD in Japan without English subtitles, confounding fans who wanted to see how the whole bloody saga played out. Media Blasters brought out a solid, subtitled DVD in 2006 (following a few fan-subbed bootlegs floating around) which, like the Japanese version, is very colorful but looks a bit on the bright side with strangely weak contrast in several scenes. This may have been a deliberate choice on the part of the cinematographer (or more likely a telecine decision given the different calibrations of TV monitors in Japan), but if you tweak the contrast control on your TV a bit, the image can look perfect. Both the optional English subtitles and Japanese mono audio are perfectly satisfying. Bonus material includes the theatrical trailer (along with the first and third Scorpion films), an image gallery, and additional trailers for The Neighbor No. Thirteen and Deathtrance. The Arrow set adds on considerably once again, starting with a new 11-minute filmed appreciation by filmmaker Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Kichiku). It's an odd piece that focuses more on his own career and influences (including another Kaji film, Jeans Blues: No Future) than the films at hand, though he does touch on how their "fake" aesthetic impressed him in his youth and how they fit within the Toei approach at the time. Yasuharu Hasebe gets covered in both "Finishing the Series" (20 mins.), a new edit of an interview conducted for the 2006 German DVD, and an overview of Hasebe's cinema from Jasper Sharp (17 mins.). From his early apprenticeship with directors like Seijun Suzuki at Nikkatsu through his cinematic influences (favorites are Don Siegel and Sam Peckinpah) and his desire to show more of the "charm" of Kaji in his lone Scorpion outing, you get a clear, interesting portrait of a pivotal filmmaker whose work is still growing in significance. Another Tom Mes visual essay, "They Call Her Scorpion," goes very deep for 40 mins. into the films' status as a natural outgrowth of the turbulent state of Japanese cinema and society in general, with its antiauthoritarian stance and flamboyant visuals influencing many films in its wake.

That just leaves us to address the quality of the video presentations, which are bound to be controversial given the films' histories. All have turned up in 35mm and have past video incarnations with color timing more or less in line with other Toei titles, meaning a wide array of vibrant reds, blues, and greens, with natural flesh tones. What's obvious in this set is that all of the films have tipped very heavily to the blue and green side, with Arrow noting before the set's release that the cyan appearance is inherent to the low-contrast 35mm prints transferred by Toei and can also be attributed to fading over time. It's definitely a dramatic shift from how the films have looked in the past, with Jailhouse 41 in particular looking completely different. Oddly, the torture flashbacks in Grudge Song that have been tinted rose in prior releases are now standard black and white; which version is correct is one for the experts to suss out. Image detail is dramatically improved over past releases, and the framing has been corrected with a significant vertical squeeze on the first, third, and fourth films now adjusted back to the original proportions. (Check out the frame grabs from the DVDs below to get an idea.) The major bump in detail also results in significantly heightened film grain, some of its heavily washing over the screen in waves that look like crosstalk at times, while whites are now pushed higher and tend to look much harsher in contrast. The pale black levels of some of the past editions have been adjusted, resulting in much deeper blacks. Definitely expect these transfers to generate a lot of debate for quite a while. The Japanese LPCM mono audio tracks sound fine and faithful to the original source, with optional English subtitles.

As should be obvious, this is a lovingly assembled set with a robust slate of extras worthy of Arrow's past Japanese releases, providing the most extensive treatment to date for a series that deserves to be mentioned with its nation's all-time classics. The box also comes with a double-sided poster of two original art designs, reversible sleeves for all four titles with new covers by Ian MacEwan and the original poster art, and a booklet with a series-spanning essay by Chuck Stephens, an archive interview with Kaji, and a new interview with Toru Shinohara, creator of the original manga on which the films are based.