Starring - Shun Domon (Daitokai - Tatakai no hibi), Natsuko Yashiro (Women in Prison, Rape!), and Asami Ogawa (Woman Who is Used, Attacked!)
Release Date - 1979
Genre - Horror
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I know this is going to sound corny or cheesy but I've learned a lot about myself after reviewing all these movies over the last decade or so. My intentions with my blog, almost a decade ago, was to focus on 70s and 80s action and exploitation flicks that time has forgot. However, my love for horror soon took over but over time I've received some CAT III and pinku releases that really opened my mind to international films. Impulse Pictures, the sister company to Synapse Films, has released The Nakkatsu Erotic Films Collection on DVD and blu. I started receiving them some years back and fucking loved them. I often jump at a chance to check out the newest releases so when I heard that 1979's Star of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter I was quick to request it. I want to thank MVD and Impulse for sending this one over!
The film follows a young man who is the result of a rape when a deranged man escaped incarceration and broke into the home of a wealthy scientist and his wife. The scientist resented the child his wife birthed and when she commits suicide he is extremely cold and bitter toward the child. However, when he dies and leaves his fortune to his "son" he discovers in his diary entries that his father was a life long criminal and rapist. This sparks a bloodlust in him. He converts his basement into a torture chamber where he would lure women to their own hell before death.
Star of David: Beautiful Girl Hunter didn't really give me much of an idea as to what I was going to get myself into when it arrived. I figured it followed a man who kidnapped and tortured women hence the name. However, I was very curious where the Star of David alternate title came from but it quickly made sense once the film started rolling. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and it's probably my favorite of the Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection. The acting in this one is surprisingly well done considering that a good portion of the film consists of actresses known for adult films and other pinku flicks. The female characters are pretty cliched and unoriginal but the cast really does dive straight into it. They don't hold back which makes these scenes really intense. Also, the film wouldn't be as entertaining if it wasn't for Shun Domon. His portrayal of the product of rape is nothing short of brilliant. He manipulating, charming, calculating, and ravenous. It's a damn shame he never appeared in more of these films. The story for this one rides the line like most of the other films in this collection where someone, regardless of who they are, kidnaps or lures women to a hidden place where they are raped, tortured, and murdered. What sets this one apart from the others is having the man being a product of rape and having his studies into the holocaust stirring the homicidal urge inside him. It is a bit of a character study but at the end of the day it is a classic torture porn. Finally, the film has some surprisingly bloody moments but the real focus is the bound and tortured women. The blood and bright red and the effects are very minimal. Overall, Beautiful Girl Hunter a raunchy, violent, and depraved film that genre fans should take seriously. I really enjoyed it and this release from Impulse is fantastic. I would have preferred some more supplemental material with this release but I'll take it as it is.
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