Bakushi Explores Lives of Rope Masters

Before I get started with Bakushi, there's some catching up to do.

I hadn't really planned to allow this much time to go by between posts -- just worked out that way. Summer is always a bitch in this part of Japan and it was just too tempting to stay in air conditioned comfort than go out and snoop around for news. Even a trip to the local video store was a sweaty, uncomfortable task (the store closest to me ain't that close).

I did get together with this young lady for tonkatsu and some drinks at a nice bar. She complained that this summer was not hot enough for her! True, it was a bit cooler this summer than usual but it still had me sweating like a pig in a sauna. But she thrives in the humidity.....and I shrivel.

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Shima Izumi Shines in Hebi no Ana

Here comes another Nikkatsu classic with the word snake in the title. Hebi no Ana (Snake Pit) is another film based on a story by Oniroku Dan. This one stars the lovely Shima Izumi who appeared in several other Nikkatsu SM Roman Porno flicks in the glory days.

The interesting thing about this movie, for me at least, is that I first saw scenes from it in another movie entirely. I had thought that other movie was Shocking Asia but then I realized that Shocking Asia came out years before Hebi no Ana.

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Image of a Bound Girl

Here's another pretty decent flick from the long list of stories by Oniroku Dan adapted to the big screen by Nikkatsu. Shoujo Shibari Ezu (Image of a Bound Girl) was released in 1980 and directed by Masaru Konuma. Konuma is well known for having directed some very famous SM movies, including the two Woman in a Box movies and the original Hana to Hebi (Flower and Snake).

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Saotome Hiromi Ageless SM Princess

Hindsight is 20/20 vision.

When I think back to 1984 I can remember where I was and what I was doing. The thought induces a certain pang of regret that I didn't make my way to Japan much sooner. I feel that I was about a decade late.

Besides being the title to a famous novel, 1984 was the year Saotome Hiromi appeared in her first big time SM movie, a film called Nawa Shimai: Kimyo na Kajitsu. I'm afraid I don't have the English title handy just now. I get the "nawa" part but after that I'm lost.

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Blood Ritual: Devil Worshipers vs. Naked Girl

Yes, zombies devil worshipers, a naked girl and a sacrificial altar upon which she is eventually tied. What's not to love?

This is the second review in a row featuring a Hong Kong flick, interestingly enough. Most of my collection consists of Japanese sinema. But this one is just too good to ignore any longer.

I picked up the VHS tape of this film in Chinatown I don't know how many years ago. Everything was in Chinese on the cover, of course, so I don't even know the name of this one and I haven't been able to get any more info about it. (Update: The movie is called Blood Ritual. See comments).

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