Starring the iconic and beautiful Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat
Rock) in a role that came to define her career, the four-film Female
Prisoner Scorpion series charts the vengeance of Nami Matsushima, who
assumes the mantle of "Scorpion," becoming an avatar of vengeance and
survival, and an unlikely symbol of female resistance in a
male-dominated world. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion introduces Nami, a
gullible young woman unjustly imprisoned, who must find a way to escape
in order to exact revenge upon the man who betrayed her. The visually
avant-garde Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 sees director Shunya
Ito and star Meiko Kaji re-unite as Nami and six other female convicts
escape prison once more. The Gothic horror-inspired Beast Stable finds
Nami branded public enemy #1 and on the run. She soon finds refuge with a
sympathetic prostitute, but runs afoul of a local gang. The final film
in the series, #701's Grudge Song (from director Yasuharu Hasebe,
Retaliation, Massacre Gun), shows a gentler side of Nami as she falls in
with Kudo, an ex-radical suffering from physical and psychological
trauma caused by police torture. Spiritual kin to Ms. 45, Coffy and The
Bride Wore Black, Female Prisoner Scorpion is the pinnacle of early
1970s exploitation cinema from Japanese grindhouse studio Toei, and one
of the greatest female revenge sagas ever told.
