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Released By: Discotek Media
Released On: October 25, 2005
Director: Yukio Noda
Cast: Miki Sugimoto, Eiji Go, Tetsuro Tamba, Hideo Murota, Yoko Mihara
Year: 1974
The Movie:
Before the Zero Woman films of the 1990s, came this entry from 1974 directed by Yukio Noda (of Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon). The way too cute Miki Sugimoto plays Agent Zero, a cop who tends to shoot first and ask questions later. After she kills a would be rapist, she's sent to prison for her unorthodox methods. Soon though, when the daughter of a prominent Japanese politician (played by Tetsuro Tamba) is kidnapped by a gang of lowlifes, the politician has Agent Zero sprung from prison so that she can infiltrate the gang and save his daughter on the down low, without causing a lot of publicity and thus avoiding a big scandal.
The plot isn't overly complex but Noda throws in a nice twist at the end that, although I saw it coming, suits the gritty nasty tone of the movie very nicely and somehow seems very appropriate in this cinematic world of punks, rapists and backstabbers. The story exists mainly to move the action along, and it does so at a rapid pace. Seemingly every five to ten minute someone is killed, raped (the rape scenes in this film are pretty violent and graphic), burned with a blow torch, beaten over the head with a bottle, or shot up with a machine gun. Agent Zero herself is responsible for her fair share of the carnage, slicing bad guys open with her sharp boots, or using her 'Flying Guillotine' like red handcuffs to choke and kill her opponents.
The film has a lot more to offer than just sex and violence though. The direction is strong and slick, the action scenes often punctuated by handheld camera work and the odd freeze frame scene in much the same way that Kinji Fukasaku (Graveyard Of Honor) stylized his Yakuza films of the same era. Performances are pretty decent as well - Miki Sugimoto makes a great anti-heroin, playing her part with a sense of coolness unavailable to most mere mortals. A scene where the cops are chasing the gang leader through the underground tunnel in which she is standing, doing nothing only to burst into an unexpected flurry of violence, demonstrates what a smooth operator she is. The always reliable Tetsuro Tanba (seen recently in a few of Takashi Miike's films and star of too many Japanese films to mention) does a great job of playing the cold, calculating, cigar smoking father of the kidnapped girl.
There are a few strange moments of anti-Americanism that pop up in this otherwise very un-political film. Two of the thugs can be seen pissing on a US Army scene towards the later third of the movie and when the gang rapes a girl, the camera makes sure that we know one of the rapists is wearing a US Army jacket while he's doing so. Whether or not this is a coincidence or a thinly veiled political statement is marginally debatable but it certainly appears to be there on purpose.
Overall though, the real reason to watch the film is for the highly stylized sleaze. An almost pretty bathtub murder, a brutal scene in which brother kills brother with a beer bottle, and a gory bloodbath of a finale that would bring a tear to Sam Peckinpah's eye all combine with some great camerawork, some wonderful color compositions, and a great go-go dancing beginning to make Zero Woman - Red Handcuffs a solid entry into the upper echelon of seventies Japanese exploitation, and it deserves its place alongside such classics as the Female Convict Scorpion series and the Yakuza films of the same decade.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film is presented in a very nice 2.35.1 widescreen transfer that is enhanced for anamorphic sets. The colors come through nice and clean, the image is free from all major print damage and aside from a perfectly acceptable coat of film grain, the picture is very clean and detailed looking. The reds don't bleed at all, which is very important in maintaining the 'cool' of the lead character and the black levels stay pretty deep as well. The image quality on this release is a pretty noticeable improvement over the PAL release that came out in 2004, and there's a much stronger level of fine detail present on the image. Line shimmering does occur once in a while but it's never too overbearing and edge enhancement and mpeg compression issues are never too noticeable either.
The film is presented in its original Japanese language in a reasonably clean sounding Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack. Removable subtitles are available in English only and thankfully, these subs are a VAST improvement over the horrible job that Japan Shock did with their English translation of the film. The end result is that the film is much more enjoyable and much more coherent. As far as the quality of the track goes, it's fine. There's a bit of tinniness to the mix in the high end but that's not uncommon for older Japanese exploitation films. Dialogue sounds fine, as does the film's excellent score.
The only supplements on this release are the film's original theatrical trailer, and a trailer for the live action Lupin III movie coming soon from Discotek. Inside the package is an insert containing chapter stops and some brief historical liner notes from Thomas Weisser, and the keepcase is housed inside a nice slipcase that is highlight by some nice painted cover art from Wes Benscotter.
The Final Word:
While I really would have loved to have seen a bit more effort put into the extra features on this release, Discotek launch their new line in style by giving Zero Woman - Red Handcuffs a very nice transfer and proper English subtitles. The film is an amazing piece of artistically rendered Asian sleaze and should find a place on every exploitation movie buff's shelf.
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