Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Movie Review

The Illustrated Woman?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 9, 2020

In one of those weird coincidences that sometime accrue in the annals of film history, two movies with tattoos at the center of their stories opened within just a few weeks of each other in spring of 1969. The Illustrated Man appeared first, offering a kind of portmanteau science fiction effort culled from a well regarded set of stories by Ray Bradbury about a man whose body is covered in tattoos (or “skin illustrations”, as he insists on calling them), with each drawing alluding to a different tale (the film only adapted a trio of Bradbury’s larger work). A few weeks after The Illustrated Man had debuted, and probably well after The Illustrated Man had already departed from United States movie houses if not global cineplexes due to its less than rapturous response by both critics and audiences, Teruo Ishii’s Inferno of Torture opened in Japan, just the latest in Ishii’s so called “Joys of Torture” series. There’s no science fiction content in Ishii’s film, which probably goes without saying, as the film takes place in the nineteenth century and involves a hapless woman named Yumi (Yumika Katayama) who is forced to go to “work” as a geisha girl in order to satisfy an unpaid debt. Unfortunately, Yumi finds that she has actually consigned herself to near slavery in a brothel run by (among others) an imperious Madam named Otatsu (Mieko Fujimoto). The brothel caters to Western clients and one of the “specialties” it offers is that the women are all variously tattooed, something that is depicted as being evidently very appealing to prospective customers.

The film actually begins with two prologues of sorts, neither of which is overly explained. As the credits unfold, a bunch of women are literally crucified, impaled and beheaded in a scene that is context free and which frankly is really completely irrelevant to the main story at hand. Once the "real" film starts, there's another brief vignette that seemingly takes place after the bulk of the film's story which will soon unfold (I'm frankly still uncertain as to when in the timeline this is supposed to be taking place, though the clearly identified grave marker of a character who dies "later" in the film suggests this is a coda being presented as prelude, so to speak). But this very uncertainty, like some other elements in Ishii's sometimes disjunctive approach, is not really clarified even by the end of the film. Suffice it to say that this vignette suggests Yumi may have solved one problem in her life, but still has other hurdles to overcome (or at least devices to unlock). Most of the rest of the film takes place in the brothel where Yumi finds herself a pawn in a game that she clearly doesn't completely (and maybe even partially) understand.

WIth various “palace” (and/or brothel) intrigues playing out in the background which involve Oatsu and some of the men who also run the place including Samejima (Haruo Tanaka) and Genzô (Shin'ichirô Hayashi), Yumi, or perhaps more accurately Yumi’s back, becomes the “canvas” for tattoo artist Horihide (Teruo Yoshida). However, there’s another tattoo artist named Horitatsu (Asao Koike) whose motives are perhaps more nefarious. Two star-crossed love affairs (both involving Horihide, kind of comically and/or tragically) enter the fray, along with regular interstitial scenes offering copious naked women being brutally assaulted for no apparent reason (commentator Tom Mes doesn’t shirk from describing the film as misogynistic).

In a way, the various "plot points" don't really matter, and in that regard Ishii simply exploits the whole Edo era and a tale about obsessive tattoo artists as the stuff of near fever dream delirium imagery. Some of it is downright cartoonish, but some scenes of bound mostly naked women being pummeled with various objects and weapons will probably upset more sensitive types. However, in that very regard, the film would seem to be trafficking in some of the same confluences of sexual ecstasy and infliction of pain that suffuse some of the films included in the recently reviewed release by Arrow of Solid Metal Nightmares: The Films of Shinya Tsukamoto.

Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Inferno of Torture is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains only the following fairly generic verbiage about the transfer:

Inferno of Torture [ Tokugawa irezumi-shi: Seme jigoku ] is presented in its original aspect ration of 2.35:1 with mono audio. The film was restored by Toei with additional picture remastering by R3Store Studios, London.

From a damage standpoint, this release is commendably free of any larger signs of age related wear and tear, though eagle eyed videophiles may catch sight of brief distractions like flecks or hairs in the gate. The palette looks just a little skewed toward yellow to me, with reds ending up looking slightly orangish at times. Densities and saturation are generally solid, and aside from a few opticals and effects shots, the grain field is well resolved. There are a few passing moments that look a bit softer and dupier than the bulk of the presentation (see screenshot 18). In close-ups, fine detail is typically quite good.

Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Inferno of Torture features a serviceable LPCM 2.0 mono track in the original Japanese (with optional English subtitles). This is a pretty dialogue heavy film, and as such the mono track suffices perfectly well. There are occasional moments of underscore and sound effects, and at least a few ardent screams of anguish along the way, but the track, while narrow and not especially deep sounding, provides all elements without any issues.

Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Tom Mes


• Erotic Grotesque Nonsense & the Foundations of Japan's Counterculture (1080p; 29:55) is a fantastic redaction of an evidently even longer presentation Jasper Sharp did for the Miskatonic Institute of Horror. This covers a wealth of valuable information, including but certainly not limited to Ishii and the so-called "ero-guro" movement. This is also almost charmingly "old school", with Sharp at what looks like a lectern with a kind of PowerPoint presentation in the background (unfortunately the camera angle doesn't catch all of the slideshow in the frame).


• Trailer (1080p; 2:54)

Additionally, Arrow offers a nicely appointed insert booklet with cast and crew information, an essay by Chris D., and a Teruo Ishii filmography, along with some generic technical data on the transfer. The release also includes a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jacob Phillips.

Inferno of Torture Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you've seen some of Ishii's other "Joys of Torture" outings, you'll be more prepared for some of the carnage than newcomers, but I have to say I think this film could have been quite enticing, and arguably more enticing, without any of the bodily harm interludes, since its bizarre tale of "dueling" tattoo artists in an already dissolute Edo period is fascinating on its face (and/or back, as the case may be). There's quite a bit in this film which frankly didn't make total sense to me (to cite just one of several examples, who is the boy/young man seen lying on the floor next to Yumi when she's about to be forced to join the brothel?), but Ishii once again crafts an almost hallucinatory offering that is provocative if occasionally a little on the silly side (my favorite scene in that regard is the kind of almost "pirate fight" between topless tattooed women on a boat). Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package, while not huge, very interesting, for those considering a purchase.