Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

mevmijaumau Perfectly titled Sex and Fury, directed by cult director Norifumi Suzuki, and later gifted with a sequel by Teruo Ishii, is the epitome of '70s sexploitation Japanese cinema known as pinky violence, a sub-genre created by the studios to cash in on surefire ways to attract the audience now that TV has replaced cinema as the number one source of entertainment. These ways of attracting the audience often include gratuitous nudity, stylish violence and bizarre fetishism.Sex and Fury is like a less refined version of Lady Snowblood (today best known for inspiring Tarantino for Kill Bill); both films take place during the Meiji era, feature bloody sword-fights, and follow a young heroine in her vengeful quest of avenging her murdered parent(s) by eliminating the responsible killers one by one. The two films even end similarly, with the main character ending up wounded on a snowy terrain. I don't think I even need to mention that Sex and Fury's final scene is a sleazier counterpart to Lady Snowblood's - Reiko Ike's character Ocho cleans her blood-splattered boobs with a handful of snow while Lady Snowblood just collapses onto the snow.If we're going to mention Kill Bill, then I guess Tarantino owes some homage to Sex and Fury as well, because of the iconic scene where Ocho, fresh out of the bathhouse, slices up some villains with her sword while butt-naked in slo-mo. Now, Ocho is quite a character - not only is she a tattooed pickpocket, a gambler and a master sword-fighter, but also gets involved in some kind of a political scheme involving British spies, one of whom is played by Christina Lindberg, quite awfully, I must say. Yes, the acting is severely cringe-inducing for the most part, which only makes the already lazy dialogues worse.So, what are some attractions? Well, aside from awkward dialogue, slaughtered politicians and all-around nudity, there's an annoying comic relief guy, lesbian sex which borders on being soft porn, nuns bearing flick-knives in an attempt to border on nunsploitation, a playing-card leitmotif repeated in many creative shots, a disturbing rape scene, a carefree jazzy soundtrack met with psychedelic rock, crappy bondage scenes (one of which occurs in a flashy disco-like setting), a dramatic family-tied reveal, a guy dying by licking poisonous German perfume off of Ocho's tits (I'm not kidding), only after that same guy oils a girl's vagina with a nymphomania-inducing cream (???), not to mention there are condom jokes, a mustachioed British bad guy in an attempt to bring Downton Abbey-like level of class to this mess, and, surprisingly, the film offers some really splendid production values and cinematography, color work and framing to nicely wrap this chaos up. It's actually really well done on a technical scale. That doesn't change that it's senseless to the core, less in the realm of entertainment and more in the realm of awkward weirdness. Did I mention there's an anti- colonialism message?6,5/10

lazarillo The blurb on the back of the DVD claims that this film "inspired" Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill". While there were no doubt any number of female martial-arts revenge films that probably "inspired" that recent Hollywood blockbuster (i.e. the "Female Scorpion" series, the "Lady Snowblood" series, "Zero Woman, Red Handcuffs") the opening fight scene of this movie does look A LOT like the fight scene at the end of "Kill Bill Volume 1". And while it's not as elaborate as the one in "Kill Bill" and certainly doesn't have Hollywood-level production values, it's more impressive in the sense that actress Reiko Ikke does the whole thing bare-ass naked! (And call me crazy, but I prefer a naked, nubile Japanese girl to a fully-clothed, anorexic-looking Uma Thurman). Ikke's character is seeking revenge on three yakuza with animal tattoos on their backs who are responsible for the death of her father, and she's willing do anything (including putting poison on her own delectable body for one of the yakuza to unwittingly lick off)in order to get it.What really sets this apart from other Japanase female revenge films, however, is the added presence of Swedish sex star Christina Lindberg (whose most famous Swedish film "They Call Her One Eye" was also a big influence on "Kill Bill"). While Ikke splits her time evenly between fight scenes and sex scenes, Lindberg packs a mean pistol, but is principally here for the sex, which as always the voluptuous Scandanavian does very well. Hilariously, Lindberg's character is supposed to be a "British" spy, even though when she tries to speak English, her accent is even more awkward and stilted than pidgin English of the Japanese guy who plays her boyfriend (but each time she disrobes, I'm sure you'll find it in your heart to forgive her).The plot of this is rather non-sensical, and people expecting a more traditional martial arts flick might be irritated by all the sexual digressions. But if you're at all like me and you don't really care that much for martial arts/revenge films in general, this one also has some very nice bonus features.

Witchfinder General 666 "Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô" aka. "Sex And Fury" of 1973 is a great example for "Pinky Violence", the Japanese exploitation sub-genre often featuring hot female assassins, and always featuring lots of sleaze and violence. One of Japan's greatest exploitation goddesses, the ravishing Reiko Ike, stars in the role of Ochô, a sexy gambling-lady, thief and swords-woman who is out for bloody revenge. I don't want to give too much of the storyline away, but I can assure that "Sex And Fury" is an absolute priority for lovers of Japanese cult-cinema. The film has several resemblances to Toshiya Fujita's exploitation-masterpiece "Shurayukihime" (aka. "Lady Snowblood", 1973) starring the great Meiko Kaji, and while both films are blood-soaked and immensely stylish, this one is incomparably sleazier. As it is the case with "Lady Snowblood" this is often cited as an inspiration for Tarantino's (great) "Kill Bill". And it is indeed true that "Sex And Fury" clearly inspired the film. While I enjoyed "Kill Bill" immensely, however, I don't think that films like "Lady Snowblood" (the main inspiration) and "Sex And Fury" need this attribute. If I was considered, every "Kill Bill"-DVD-cover would say "Inspired by Japanese Exploitation Classics such as 'Lady Snowblood' and 'Sex And Fury'" instead (I am well aware that this is not how things work out, however).As mentioned above, the stunningly beautiful Reiko Ike is both incredibly sexy and super-cool in the leading role of the seductive and lethal lady Ochô, who often fights bare-breasted (or completely nude), exposing her very presentable tattoos. European sex-star Christina Lindberg stars as a young Western agent. Many might disagree with me here, but Lindberg and the cheesy love story her character is involved in, were pretty much the only elements I didn't like about this film. Lindberg is a beauty, but her voice is annoying as hell and made me understand why her character in "Thriller: En Grym Film" was mute. The supporting cast includes several regulars of Japanese exploitation cinema, such as Yôko Mihara, who often played female bully characters in films such as "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori" (aka. "Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion", the first of the brilliant Sasori films starring Meiko Kaji), and "Zero Woman Red Handcuffs" (1974). Without spoiling anything of the plot, it is secure to say that "Sex And Fury" combines all the elements admirers of 70s exploitation made in Nippon should appreciate: merciless revenge, tons of stylish and ultra-bloody carnage, lots of sleaze and female nudity, constant action and great camera work, a funky soundtrack, fantastic style in all aspects and a vengeful and ravishing heroine played by none other than the great Reiko Ike! In short: Pure Japanese exploitation greatness, and an absolute must-see for all my fellow Cult-cinema-enthusiasts!

spacemonkey_fg Well, if blaxploitation films exploited the black culture and nunsploitation films exploit the nun image, then Sex and Fury falls under the sexploitation genre because it very decidedly exploits sex. And that ain't a bad thing in my book. Anyhows, Sex and Fury is a film that also falls under what is called Pinky Violence. Essentially what Pinky Violence is, is a bunch of Japanese films that came out in the 70s that dealt with hot lady killers who went out and distributed large amounts of vengeance on evil doers. It eventually died out, but boy what a legacy of films it left behind. Sex and Fury was one of the good ones.The story is about this little girl called Ocho Inoshika. When Ocho sees her father get murdered right before her eyes by a bunch of Yakuza leaders she grows up to be a vengeful spirit. She does nothing else in this life but search for her fathers killers. And that she does, but not without helping a soul or two along the way.At first when Sex and Fury started out, I thought it was going to be a rehash of the story I had seen before in the truly excellent Lady Snowblood. Its a very similar story dealing with a little girl who grows up to be a stone cold killer because she had an extremely traumatic childhood experience, but the only thing is that Sex and Fury amps up the sleaze and the tits and ass a whole lot more. Suddenly, without no apparent reason Ocho begins to fight and loose her clothes. Suddenly and without warning a bad guy slashes away the top part of her gown and Ocho begins to swordfight topless! Or in another sequence a bunch of hoodlums attack Ocho as she takes a bath and she proceeds to fight them buck naked! And not just a flash, I mean the fight sequence goes on for a long time and shes totally naked, gotta admit Id never seen that in a movie before, but it rocked! Of course it does add a level of sleaze to the movie because its obviously gratuitous nudity we are seeing here solely for the purpose of titillating the males in the audience. But so what, I gotta say it works.So I'm like oooh, OK. So thats what this is all about! A movie that purposely shows a woman fighting and killing while naked. OK, I can go with that. But it wasn't only that. This movie has some sex scenes that scratch on being porn. Suddenly and without warning these two chicks start to make out on screen, necking each other. So I was thinking "thats probably as far as they are going to go with this cause this movie is old". Boy was I wrong, that sequence totally turned out to be an extended lesbo action sequence that was practically soft porn! I was like alright! This movie is pushing boundaries, its going all out and I dug that very very much. So be on the look out for certain kinky scenes.And as for the violence, well its plentiful. Blood sprays body parts fall and the snow is sprinkled with red on more then one occasion. Its pretty freaking obvious this one was also a heavy influence on Tarantino. The whole ending sequence is extremely similar to Oren Ishii and Beatrix Kiddos showdown in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Both in terms of music and shots. It was crazy but I was having flashbacks. Anyhows that came as no surprise to me since I had heard about this movies and Lady Snowbloods influence on Tarantino.The only thing that hinders this film a bit is the acting from Christina Lindberg an American actress that appears in this film playing an English spy. For those familiar with Grindhouse films, she appeared in another bad girl film called Thriller: A Cruel Picture. Anyhows Christina Lindberg does some pretty bad acting on this flick and it was really the only thing that kind of messed things up for me on this movie. But its a small imperfection on an otherwise cool flick.So, if your into film with naked chicks going around on revenge killing sprees then this my friend is a film for you! I'm off to check out its sequel: Female Yakuza. Hope its every bit as good as this one.Rating: 4 out of 5