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Audio Format: DD 2.0 Stereo Video Format: Widescreen 2.35:1 (Anamorphic) Languages: Japanese Subtitles: English Region Code: 1 Year Made: 1974 Running Time: 88
 The incredible thing about 1970s cult and genre cinema in Japan was the outrageously strong cinematic qualities of such a high proportion of the films produced. When watching 1970s genre movies from the West there is often a Russian roulette quality to viewing ? you never know when you might be faced by tawdry work from an utter hack. The consistently strong basic cinematic workmanship, an army of talented leftfield directors and a profusion of delirious visual stylistics (beautiful enough to make Argento blush) make 1970s Japanese cinema a veritable gold mine for genre fans.
Heavily influenced by the stunning films of Shunya Ito's Female Prisoner cycle of the early 70s, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs is a minor exploitation masterpiece which is, almost criminally, currently available only in a Japanese language version.
Agent Zero (Miki Sugimoto) is sent undercover to infiltrate a violent gang, responsible for the kidnap of a rich Industrialist's daughter. Out of this unoriginal premise Yukio Noda fashions ninety minutes of the most delightful cinematic bedlam. The proceedings are chock full of action, nudity and violence, with beautiful bright red blood spurting in massive geysers from almost every part of the human body in a series of shotgun deaths and vicious knifings. Characters are tortured, strangled, burnt alive, bottled and violently dispatched by Agent Zero's titular Red Handcuffs weapon. One victim simultaneously has his hand crushed in a metallic vice, his mouth stuffed with a high power water jet and his body burnt to cinders with a blow torch. This is a film imbued with an unrestrained spirit of total excess and it is ferociously entertaining.
 Noda brings an aggressive anti-American stance to the proceedings which reaches its zenith with the image of three Japanese men pissing over the word 'US Army'. As with so many Japanese films of the era, the violence is partly used as a metaphor for the Americanisation of Japan, the destruction of its traditional culture. Indeed, during the almost inevitable rape scene, American jets fly overhead, eclipsing the sun.
Vague political motivations aside, there's a splendid 70s soundtrack on offer (which features a gorgeous theme song) and performances which are consistently strong and, where necessary, suitably unhinged. Noda's direction is excessive and satisfyingly visceral, featuring plenty of excellent handheld camerawork as well as a number of audaciously conceived, outrageous set pieces. Visual inventiveness is strong throughout and the windswept, deserted refuse dump location of the final blood-soaked showdown is an absolute surrealistic knockout.
Ninety minutes of stylish mayhem and ultra-violence, Zero Woman is unreservedly recommended viewing.
Special Features:
- Collectible Slip Cover & Limited Edition Booklet
- Theatrical Trailer
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