Criminal Woman: Killing Melody (1973)

Reiko Ike stars as the daughter of a man who has been pushed into drug dealing by the local Yakuza mob. Having outlived his usefulness to the gang he is murdered and Reiko is gang raped, leading her to attempt a knife attack on the Yakuza boss (Ryoji Hayama) at a swank nightclub. Failing to kill him she ends up in prison, where she befriends a crew of other malcontents (including Yumiko Katayama and Chiyoko Kazama) and meets the Yakuza boss's girlfriend (Miki Sugimoto). Upon release Reiko reassembles her mob and launches a Machiavellian scheme to engineer a gang war between Hayama's Oba Industries and the formerly dominant Hamayasu Clan. The rival gangs begin killing each other off and Reiko works her way closer to her ultimate vengeance.

IMDB

“

Fine all action, sex and violence Japanese style with real style. Simple yet effective this is, for once, a fairly straight forward tale of revenge with the super women to the fore. Big cat fight at the start is matched by a rematch at the end and everything in between is just pure fun. Bits of nasty violence, the cigarette stub and threat of chainsaw were surprises but mainly fast moving with decent mix of s&v. Nice sequence to illustrate our heroine having to go on the game to earn the dosh to set up the action. Instead of any boring build up with sad undertones we get a quick montage of humps and payments from US soldiers uniform pockets.

”

“

Staying true to the series Mihori does what is called for when presenting the final act and a couple of moments leading up to it: prostitution, extortion, rape and torture, which includes gleeful chainsaw mayhem and plenty of Yakuza to foil. With all of this it spreads out its exploitative parts in a similar manner as Delinquent Girl Boss, even using comedy to good effect, although it’s mainly dominant during the prison act. But like the films before it Criminal Woman stays suitably fantastical and doesn’t make any effort to explain some of the sillier parts strung throughout, such as Maki suddenly becoming an ace marksman; then we have the surprising, albeit ludicrous twist that lures the baddies into her final trap. Still, Criminal Woman is a solid entry into the genre and excels because of its simplicity and care free nature.

”

“

The plot may be simple but it is laid out with style and pizzazz. Ike and her girls carry out their work in skin-tight leather, club gear and motorcycle gang chic. The battles between Ike and Sugimoto are catfights extraordinaire. Some unnecessary S&M scenes aside, the sleaze factor is high but not ridiculous (and this is one the few women-in-prison films ever to not feature at least one shower scene). There are also plenty of exciting action scenes, and Takeo Chii as Tetsu is a force of nature. Criminal Woman does not break any new ground, but it’s still a blast.

”

No more mirrors below, please!