SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST is another great mid-70's Japanese film in the same vein as the pinky-violence/exploit films of the era. This one takes a religious turn instead of samurai's and what not, but has the same feel as many of the 70's "classic" Japanese underground films that deal with love, hate, betrayal, and revenge ...
This one deals with a young woman who joins a convent. As the story goes on, we see that the convent isn't what it's cracked up to be. Lesbianism, flagellation, rape, and tons of other sacrilegious "fun" stuff ensues - which all revolves around our main "heroine" and her background that ties in beautifully with the rest of the film. Needless to say, our main girl is a woman scorned and has a few scores to settle...
I've been watching a lot of Japanese stuff from this era lately, and what gets me most is how well done these films are. The sets are always lush and beautiful, the costumes are top-notch, the acting is very good, the cinematography is breathtaking, and the story-lines are always very deep and interesting. I love exploit style films from all over the world, and my only gripe is that the Japanese don't show full frontal nudity or more explicit sex scenes...but being from '74, this film delivers on a lot of different levels. There are plenty of sleazy torture and topless scenes that are filmed so well that it looks like an art-film. SCHOOL has plenty of twists that are somewhat unexpected, and proves to be pretty "controversial" without ever becoming overly "schlocky". I highly recommend this one to any exploit fan, and especially those that dig Japanese films from this time-frame such as LADY SNOWBLOOD, SEX AND FURY, FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION, or even the ZATOICHI and BABYCART films. 8.5/10
This one deals with a young woman who joins a convent. As the story goes on, we see that the convent isn't what it's cracked up to be. Lesbianism, flagellation, rape, and tons of other sacrilegious "fun" stuff ensues - which all revolves around our main "heroine" and her background that ties in beautifully with the rest of the film. Needless to say, our main girl is a woman scorned and has a few scores to settle...
I've been watching a lot of Japanese stuff from this era lately, and what gets me most is how well done these films are. The sets are always lush and beautiful, the costumes are top-notch, the acting is very good, the cinematography is breathtaking, and the story-lines are always very deep and interesting. I love exploit style films from all over the world, and my only gripe is that the Japanese don't show full frontal nudity or more explicit sex scenes...but being from '74, this film delivers on a lot of different levels. There are plenty of sleazy torture and topless scenes that are filmed so well that it looks like an art-film. SCHOOL has plenty of twists that are somewhat unexpected, and proves to be pretty "controversial" without ever becoming overly "schlocky". I highly recommend this one to any exploit fan, and especially those that dig Japanese films from this time-frame such as LADY SNOWBLOOD, SEX AND FURY, FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION, or even the ZATOICHI and BABYCART films. 8.5/10