Last Updated on June 13, 2021 by rob
One rainy night a wimpy pastry chef named Ken (Yutaka Hayashi) reluctantly gives fellow restaurant worker – the dominant Yuri (Tamaki Katsura) – a lift home. But when the pair witness the gruesome death of a woman they’d stopped to help they find themselves sexually aroused by the accident. But what begins as a perverse sexual kink (killing as aphrodisiac) triggers a fetish in Ken for stabbing his female victims in the groin and the urge becomes so uncontrollable that Yuri is unable to keep him in check even as the authorities launch a manhunt for the crazed killer.
A most effectively written/directed sexploitation piece with thankfully little in the way of gore and the ghastly nature of the stabbings conveyed through wince-inducing sound effects and careful staging/editing. The performances are decent too with Hayashi convincing as the shy nerd who slowly becomes completely unhinged and Katsura effective as the amoral, manipulative boss. What I liked about the film is that within the genre demands for naked boobs and a killing every 10 minutes or so writer/director Hasebe spins enough variations on the formula to keep the viewer engaged. For instance the way the initial balance of power between the pair gradually shifts as Ken’s mania takes hold or how what starts off as hunting and killing young girls for mutual pleasure gives way to Ken sneaking out behind Yuri’s back and indulging in spontaneous attacks that greatly increase the risk of his capture by the cops.
There’s a memorable moment when Yuri realises with a shock that not only is Ken no longer under her thumb but she’s been supplanted in his affections by the knife he uses to kill his victims! Hasebe does well by the rape-murders, offering a sufficient variety of scenarios – including one horrific rooftop stabbing that sees Ken escaping just in time – and carefully escalating the viciousness of the killings culminating in a multiple murder spree at a nurses dormitory. The final shot offers a blackly comic punchline. It’s Ken walking happily off into the sunset chatting lovingly to his beloved knife. What’s seemed all along like a twisted love affair between a man and a woman turns out to be a bonkers love affair between a killer and his weapon!
This amused, entertained and at times (genuinely) startled me. The widescreen framing is also, if you’ll forgive the pun, a cut above the average and despite the tastelessness of the thing I’m always charmed by the Japanese censorship rules which strictly forbid any glimpse of genitalia or pubic hair. Even when the girls are stripped naked and having a knife plunged between their legs you can guarantee their bush’ll be tactfully concealed by some well placed prop in the foreground. That old fashioned sensibility towards the sleazier aspects always makes me smile. Anyhow, well worth a look if your tastes run to this sort of stuff.
