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Eureka! Classics | The Original Kill Bill…

Starring cult icon, Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Yakuza Graveyard)

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is the first film in the Japanese sexploitation Scorpion series, and is the debut feature by director Shunya Ito.

Based on the manga of the same name, The story follows Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji), known as Matsu, the fiercest inmate in the Japanese women’s prison system, and for that matter, all women in prison films. Having been used as bait for wanted yakuza gangsters by her first and only love, a hotshot police detective, Matsu seeks revenge. Taking matters into her own hands, she attempts to kill her former lover and lands herself in prison.

Tormented by both sadistic guards and jealous women, Matsu endures physical and mental punishment. Driven solely by the thought of revenge Matsu waits for her chance to escape and see her vengeance fulfilled.

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Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion was one of the main influences for Quentin Tarantino to make the epic 2-parter Kill Bill (Quentin Taratino, 2004). The scene where the bride first wakes up and kills Buck is very much in the spirit of Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion, though as a sexploitation series, the Scorpion films go a little deeper and darker in tone than Tarantino does.

At one point in the film, where Matsu starts her killing spree, her victim’s faces are flooded with green light when they recognise her- another device used in Kill Bill. Fans of Tarantino’s 2-parter will also recognise the inclusion of main theme tune to Female Prisoner #701, which was written by the director, Shunya Ito, and sung by it’s star, Meiko Kaji.