Rating: ***
Review Date: 3/31/24
Cast: Etsuko Shiomi, Mach Fumiake, Hisayo Tanaka
Shinobu Yashiro (Etsuko Shiomi) is a champion race car driver who is asked by the Japanese Secret Service to help take down a drug smuggling operation that is somehow related to her father's incarceration and murder. The racing angle has absolutely nothing to do with the film, and is dropped immediately after the opening credits. By donning various disguises as a gambler, a gangster, a cleaning woman, an office lady, a nun, and an old crone, Shinobu manages to break into the bad guys' headquarters to steal some important evidence, and discovers that a Catholic convent is being used as a front for smuggling drugs hidden in human corpses. After being captured and tortured by the bad guys, a childhood friend who is in cahoots with the villains (pretty Hisayo Tanaka) helps Shinobu escape, which sets up an explosive showdown including a nunchaku fight and a harrowing (but overly long) climax aboard a suspended ropeway.
Similar in style and structure to Etsuko Shiomi's earlier "Sister Street Fighter" films, it's a showcase for her martial arts skills and is teeming with 70's exploitation sleaze and general campy weirdness. Without subtitles, it's difficult to figure out the details and nuances of the story, but that's not required to enjoy the cinematic mayhem. The villain's henchmen are a colorful bunch, including a bald guy who attacks with his super hard head, a guy who throws lethal playing cards, a knife thrower, and a Native American who uses a blow dart gun. They also dress up as nuns when they're at the convent, which adds another level of absurdity. The head villainess spits lethal needles from her mouth and the head nun at the convent favors a bullwhip as a weapon. Mach Fumiake shows up as a singing wrestler who works at one of the bad guys' clubs, but her role only exists as an excuse to stage more fight scenes before she abruptly disappears from the script. The film's most bizarre scene involves Hisayo Tanaka having sex with a guy wearing a bear suit, underneath a portrait of Hitler while listening to Mozart. How's that for kinky? The bear suit guy later rapes one of Shinobu's friends and locks her in a suit of medieval armor, which is probably the film's most disturbing sequence.
Overall, it's a fun and quirky exploitation film with all of the sex, murder, rape, torture, drugs, nudity, animal cruelty, and moral depravity that you would expect from the genre and the time period. Etsuko Shiomi is charming throughout, even if her 70s wardrobe is hideous and unintentionally hilarious. She also wears a Dallas Cowboys shirt several times, which is a really odd choice. While her fight scenes are fun and exciting, the execution tends to be overly soft and the lack of physical contact is glaringly obvious. Her various disguises are amusing, but the comedic elements fall flat and I'd much rather just see her as herself. It's a good-looking and well-made film with nice cinematography and a funky soundtrack that heightens the 70s vibe. Unfortunately, continuity is a problem, especially during the confusing climax. The fight starts at an undisclosed location (or maybe the convent?), then moves into a forest, which suddenly changes into a rock quarry that's booby-trapped with explosives, and then leads to a mountain top ropeway where Shiomi dangles precariously over a great drop. One of the villains also inexplicably explodes, after presumably falling on a land mine? It's not clear. If you're a fan of obscure 70s grindhouse cinema with a flair for the absurd, or just a fan of Etsuko Shiomi, "The Great Chase" might be worth checking out.