Joshû sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô
Tags: cult, cruelty, violence

Plot synopsis:
Nami Matsushima (Meiko Kaji) is locked up and bound in underground solitary confinement. She makes a weapon out of a spoon by holding it in her mouth and grinding it against the concrete floor. The chief warden, Goda, is to be promoted to a higher post shortly. When an inspector visits the prison, Matsushima is brought out of confinement for one day. During the inspection, Matsushima makes a surprise attack on Goda and scratches his face. The other prisoners start to riot, but the guards defuse the situation. The prisoners are punished by being sent to an intensive labour camp. Goda believes that Matsushima may inspire the other prisoners to revolt. He assigns four guards to publicly rape her. Returning from the intensive labour camp, Matsushima is in a van with six other convicts, one of whom is Oba (Kayoko Shiraishi). The other convicts beat Matsushima, who falls lifeless and bleeding. The guards are alerted that Matsushima is feared dead. When they stop the van to inspect her, Matsushima strangles and kills one of the guards, and Oba and the other convicts get the other guard and blow up the van. When Goda sees the van's ruins, he sends search parties to look for Matsushima.
The convicts escape to an abandoned village, where Oba reveals her crime: when she found her husband cheating on her, she drowned her 2-year-old son and killed her unborn baby by stabbing herself. In the village, the convicts find a mysterious old woman wielding a dagger. A surreal sequence follows, where the crimes of each of the convicts are explained. The old woman gives Matsushima her knife before she dies. Her body then turns into leaves and is blown away by the wind. The convicts see a town, where they decide to steal new clothes from to escape. Waiting for nightfall, they hide out in an abandoned hut. One of the convicts, Haru sneaks out of the hut and into her own home, which is nearby. There she is reunited with her son, but also two jailers. They offer to set Haru free if she reveals the others' locations. Distraught, Haru goes away. One of the guards follows her while the other returns to Goda. Matsu kills the guard following Haru.
A tourist group is passing through the region for sightseeing. They are warned to look out for the convicts. Three men in the group are especially rowdy and sexually aggressive, sexually harassing the tour guide. One of the convicts is returning from the river when the three men find her and rape her repeatedly. They throw her down a cliff into the river. The other convicts find her body and give chase to the men. They find the tour bus and hijack it. Oba and the convicts torture, strip and bind the three men. They also harass the other passengers, and another surreal sequence shows the convicts being ostracised by society, for which the convicts are taking revenge. As the bus approaches a checkpoint, Oba throws Matsushima out of the bus as a decoy. Matsushima is captured, but Goda's men arrange a roadblock in front of the bus, consisting of a large truck with Haru's son on it. The bus is stopped and Haru rushes out to meet her son. As the guards try to catch her, Haru is shot by sniper guards. Oba then orders the convicts to kill the hostages. Oba kills the bus driver and drives the bus, circumventing the roadblock.
At night, the bus is cornered by the police. Goda sends Matsushima to the convicts to learn the hostages' status. Matsushima lies that the hostages have been killed, and the police lead a charge on the bus. The convicts throw the three men out, who are killed by police bullets. In the ensuing fight, all the convicts except Oba die. Oba is injured and set to return to prison in the same vehicle as Matsushima. Goda orders the guards to kill Matsushima on the way as if she had attempted to escape. The guards stop at a junkyard and are about to shoot Matsushima, when Oba saves her by biting the guard. Matsushima kills the guards. The next morning, Oba dies in the junkyard. Matsushima is finally loose.
Goda is promoted and now has a job in the city. Matsushima tracks him down and kills him by stabbing him several times. The film ends with a surreal sequence of all the female convicts of the jailhouse wearing their striped prison dresses running free in the city, passing Matsushima's dagger amongst each other.

Review: I think it is important to view the Scorpion films in the proper context: They are excellently produced potboilers which are very pleasing, and their use of Meiko Kaji as an unapologetically aggressive and vengeful woman looking out for herself, while praiseworthy today, was particularly innovative 35 years ago..
It's difficult to describe a movie like Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41.
In this same class I have seen Touch of Evil and several other "classics."  I was amazed to see that this film only had 6 votes(7 including mine), so I had to add my own comment.This film is masterfully shot in a classic Japanese style that emphazises color and full use of the widescreen presentation.
Exaggeration of many shots and the characters themselves.The story itself is very unique, following a group of escape female convicts lead by an awesome character named Scorpion.
She doesn't speak because she knows that actions speak louder than words.Anyway, I highly recommend this film for anyone who is a fan of foreign films, and I also recommend it to those who like stories based on comic books.
I believe that this film is based on a series of Japanese comics; it is put together like a comic book, so it is obvious that many shots and the story are out of this world, as movies such as The Matrix have proved to the main-stream audience..
Jailhouse #41 is the first sequel to said masterpiece and sees the successful reunion of director Shunya Ito and star Meiko Kaji.
I'm guessing that the first film was a big success in its native Japan (and rightly so) as the pair obviously wasted no time in making this sequel, seeing as it was released the very same year!
The two films have obvious similarities and follow something like the same plot formula, but the two couldn't be much different in terms of style as while the first film was your 'by the book' women in prison flick, this one takes a more risky approach!
The film starts as the last one left off with a scene that sees our heroine Matsu (a.k.a. Scorpion) being tortured by the merciless prison guards - lead by the one eyed guard that Matsu had a hand in disfiguring in the first film.
She's brought out of the dungeon to attend the visit of a high ranking official, but after a riot breaks out, Matsu takes her chance to escape along with six other prisoners...As was the case with the first film, this one excellently straddles the line between trash and art.
Meiko Kaji excellently steps back into her role, and this time she is required to look daggers more often and speak less often as she has very few words in the film.
Overall, I can't say that I liked this film as much as the original; but it's certainly a good follow up and comes recommended to anyone who enjoyed the first in the series..
The first film in this acclaimed Japanese exploitation cycle, entitled "Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion", literally perplexed me because it was such an atypical W.I.P accomplishment.
The second entry in the series, entitled "Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41", actually astonished me even more!
Most of the action takes place outside the prisons' walls, during an escape that gradually changes into a wild and surreal 7-headed girl-power road trip across the desolate Japanese countryside.
Meiko Kaji's performance is once again marvelous and she receives excellent support from Kayoko Shiraishi (who's overacting actually works) as Oba and Fumio Watanabe as the sadist head warden.
The Toei Series Joshu Sasori (aka Female Convict Scorpion) is based on a 70's comic series which ran in the Japanese Adult Manga Magazine Big Comics.
Joshu Sasori Dai 41 Zakkyobou (Female Convict Scorpion-Jailhouse 41) is the second movie of the series (Kaji would star in two additional sequels).
Matsu (Meiko Kaji) is the Scorpion of the title and is the near silent heroine of the movie.
In classic Japanese exploitation fashion she is subjected to all sorts of cruelty and punishment at the hands of a sadistic prison warden and his equally sinister underlings.
During the course of the movie She joins a gang of other female convicts and escapes from prison.
Effortlessly cool, visually stylish, and brutally violent, Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41, the sequel to Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, opens with Meiko Kaji's Matsu locked in an underground cell, where she has been imprisoned by her vengeful one-eyed warden.
However, after attacking the warden once again, she is taken to a quarry for some extreme punishment (strapped to a tree and gang-raped by three guards); it is here that she seizes her opportunity to escape, along with six other desperate women.As the seven fugitives race for freedom though a barren Japanese landscape, they are closely pursued by the warden and his men, who are hell-bent on recapturing their prisoners.Part shameless exploitation flick and part experimental art-house classic, this film has 'cult' stamped all over it: the film features plenty of scenes of rape, murder, and general gratuitous violence for those who enjoy extreme cinema, yet still finds time to include some amazing cinematography, a few wonderfully surreal and trippy hallucinogenic moments, and a beautiful haunting soundtrack.
Something for everyone!With a totally entrancing central performance by the beautiful Kaji, plus great support from the rest of the cast (especially the woman who plays the psycho child killer with the scarred stomach), Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41 is an unmissable treat for fans of 70s Japanese cinema.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb..
The Western of the series; Scorpion breaks out of a prison van with six other girls and they're all on the run from newly promoted Inspector Goda.
Female Prisoner Scorpion, Take Two. Matsu, known to the prisoners as Scorpion, is locked away in the bowels of the prison as revenge for disrupting the smooth operation of the prison and for her disfiguring attack on the warden.
But the punishment gives her an opportunity to escape along with six other female prisoners.Jasper Sharp notes that while the 1970s were full of women in prison films all around the world, the Scorpion films were "far better made and far less exploitative, and adopting an almost fantastical approach to the material".
He also notes that this second part, interestingly enough, spends a great deal of time outside of the prison.There is is a definite shift from the first film.
After beginning the brilliant "Sasori" series starring the great Meiko Kaji, with "Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori" in 1972, director Shunya Ito carried on to make this first sequel, "Joshuu Sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô" aka.
"Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41", which comes very close to the brilliance of the first part.
Brutal and beautiful, sleazy and visually stunning, full of violence as well as full of symbolism, "Jailhouse 41" is another true gem of Exploitation-Art.After disrupting a prison ceremony, which was to impress a government official, Female prisoner 701, Nami Matsushima aka.
Sasori endures the torture with her usual stamina, and takes the first chance to escape with six other female prisoners...As the first film, "Jailhouse 41" is again very violent.
Brutal tortures, murders and rapes are featured as well as visually stunning artistic elements, symbolism, and dream-like sequences.
As the first part and the sequels to follow, the main theme song is the iconic "Urami-Bushi", which Kaji, who is not only a brilliant actress but also a wonderful singer, sings herself.Personally, I still prefer the first "Sasori" film, and the third part "Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya" aka.
Not counting the soundtrack, which she sings most of.I didn't expect much from a cheap women-in-prison exploitation flick, but this film would barely be a passable effort by a high-school film class..
Meiko Kaji plays the title role, a stone-faced badass in the Man With No Name mode, in this bizarrely stylized adaptation of a popular _manga_, brimming over with gore, nudity, gratuitous sadism, bad-trip fantasy scenes, chain-fu, spoon-fu, dog-fu, bus-fu, anything-they-can-get-their-hands-on-fu, and more castration imagery than one can -- pardon the expression -- shake a stick at.And I'm not even going to TRY to describe the musical numbers.Truly this has to be seen to be believed, and even then it's going to take some effort..
Second in the series and another extreme and eventful exploitation film with much imaginative innovation.
Wild and brave film making with another excellent performance from Meiko Kaji, although come to think of it, I don't think she says very much.
The second film in a series of Japanese exploitation features, this regales us with the further adventures of a sexy young female convict named Matsu (Meiko Kaji), who's earned the nickname "Scorpion", as well as awe and admiration from her fellow prisoners.
Their tale is somewhat episodic, as, among other things, they encounter a sickly old woman, come across an abandoned settlement, take a bus full of hostages, and attempt to punish some horny tourists / rapists.This is a very stylish film, and people will marvel at the sharp "dutch angles" used by the filmmakers, and the various oppressive visuals.
Is this yet another sleazy Japanese exploitation film or was it secretly directed by Nagisa Ôshima under the influence of LSD?
Bizarre oneiric interludes and crazy camerawork abound in "Jailhouse 41," the standout of the four part "Scorpion" film series.
Jailhouse 41 is the second film in the Scorpion series directed by Shunya Ito and of course starring Meiko Kaji along with plenty of other actors and actrices from the first film.
Meiko (Matsu) has been locked away in the bowels of prison for her countless attempts to escape and of course her disfiguring attack on the warden.
Leading to even more punishment and humiliation, but also giving her the opportunity to escape with six other female prisoners.Prisoner #701 was pretty much located in and around the jail, but this time Shunya Ito decides to take it one step further and have them explore the almost surreal landscape of Japan.
It takes the visuals to a whole new level with crazy colored lighting and/or moving set pieces, it's the sudden switch that makes it work.Taking you from one gorgeous place to another, Jailhouse 41 is an exciting thrill ride just like the first one.
Wow. Meiko Kaji rocks as the Scorpion.This movie is great.
The acting by Kaji aka Matsu/Scorpion is great.
A bunch of female inmates manage to escape (it helps that all the male guards are morons as well as evil) and commandeer a bus armed with, as I recall, one knife, a pair of chopsticks and a really mean looking origami creature (okay, I made that up).
("I like Noh theater."  "What do you have against theater, Mike?".....)Anyway there's a climax of sorts with the Scorpion chick and the warden which I won't give away although I'm not sure it makes any difference.
The director immediately follows that up with a closing shot of all the female convicts running along in their striped uniforms that look like those of soccer players, as though slyly acknowledging that the whole point of the enterprise was watching a bunch of cute chicks.
That would've been a blast.There seems to be a Japanese word for everything, and one I especially like is KOROSHI, "death by overwork."  So gentlemen, along the way to this inevitable end of ours, feel free to partake in some cheap thrills as in "Scorpion," artfully filmed cheap thrills at that.
Considered by most as the pinnacle of the series Meiko Kaji revises her role as prisoner 701: scorpion.
Another Sergio Leone influenced film in which the protagonist is the sort of character who would traditionally be a villain - a steely eyed, unsmiling killer (lead actress Meiko comes off like a female Charles Bronson) - who happens to be the only principled person in the film's bleak landscape of casual, opportunistic violence.
At any rate are few movie heroines unbreakable like these are as they are somehow restoring some justice in a male chauvinist world, those pigs deserve it.Kaji Meiko is as cold as the blade of her butcher knife and is great as mute and tougher than Clint, the others were well cast also, but I could wish for some better acting, in specific from the child killer.
Don't get me wrong, it's nothing like the Kill Bill series in terms of plot or story, it's just the whole look and feel.
There was one scene in particular in which the camera transition made me feel like I was having De Ja Vu...I'm curious if it's the same transition mentioned in a previous comment.Outside of that, I thought this movie was rather entertaining.
I've seen my share of female prison films, and like most before me said it's probably the most interesting of the lot.
Second Entry in the "FEMALE SCORPION" series....
FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION: JAILHOUSE 41 - the sequel to the equally excellent FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION - is another winner in the 70's Japanese exploit-style genre.
Along with having fun, sleazy, violent, sexy story lines and characters - there is still a real emphasis on QUALITY cinematography and storytelling that is lacking from a lot of modern shot-on-video, micro-budget, "underground" and exploitation films.
This added dimension gives these 70's films a quality of "respectability" and seriousness, despite usually containing some pretty off-the-wall subject matter...FEMALE CONVICT continues the tale of Matsu (aka Scorpion by the other prisoners and guards)- a hard-ass, unbreakable inmate who's short on words and long on action, and has a penchant for violence and creative jailbreak.
In this installment, Scorpion has been in the "hole" for a year since we last saw her in the FEMALE PRISONER film.
A prison Official is coming to check up on the prison Warden (the guy that Scorpion stabbed in the eye in the last film) - so they decide to dust Scorpion off as the prison Official wants to do a meet-and-greet with the convicts.
As punishment, Scorpion is subjected to a public gang-raping from some of the other prison guards.
Free again, Scorpion exacts revenge on the sinister prison warden in much the same fashion as the end scene of the first film...There's all kinds of stuff going on in FEMALE CONVICT.
This doesn't impact the film negatively - in fact, they're kinda cool - it just gives FEMALE CONVICT a little less straight-forward feel then FEMALE PRISONER.
Overall - another winner for fans of such films as SEX AND FURY, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE, LADY SNOWBLOOD, of course FEMALE PRISONER #701: SCORPION, or pretty much any 70's era Japanese pinky/exploit-style films.
Meiko Kaji returns as Nami Matsushima aka Scorpion, this time singing two theme songs (one of them being the classic "Urami bushi") and saying only two lines of dialogue, continuing to suffer abuse and humiliation only to slaughter everybody with her knife.
Jailhouse 41 is the second film in the Scorpion series, way more surreal than the first one (also directed by Shunya Ito).This film has far less nudity and seemingly lower production values than the first one, but it's a bit more violent in comparison.
Matsu escapes with six more convicts and is trailed by the vengeful warden whose eye she has stabbed in the first film.
The final scene has one of the coolest screen transitions I've seen; Matsu simply slices the screen in half and moves to a different location.The story to this film is a lot weaker than the one in the first film, and there is some awkward editing, but it's still entertaining and worth a watch..
JAILHOUSE 41 is the second of the FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION films and sees Meiko Kaji returning to the role of Matsu, a prisoner dominated and abused by both prison guards and her jealous, vengeful peers.
I found this to be a superior film to the first, because the story is more action dominated and there's more backside-kicking from the empowered females rather than endless torture and humiliation.There's a jailbreak at the film's outset and the rest of the narrative follows the plight of a bunch of women on the run.
In this sequel to "Female Prisoner #701-Scorpion", the inmate known as "Matsu" (Meiko Kaji ) has been captured after her escape and placed into a harsh isolated confinement by the warden.
She uses this opportunity to attack the warden and cause a riot among the prisoners after which she is tortured and then raped.
Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an artistic "Women-in-Prison" film unlike anything else in the genre.
This is one of my favorites in Japanese exploitation cinema, the second part out of four from the scorpion series created by Shunya Ito. I consider this movie as a masterpiece, because of its surrealism, color, camera angles, its intensity and its main character, played by Meiko Kaji (also known from Lady Snowblood).Despite its simple plot, its exaggerated violence and eroticism and everything else related to exploitation cinema, Ito manages to create something poetical, original and captivating.
Meiko Kaji's second appearance in the Scorpion series is in my opinion the best one.
In the first part (Female prisoner 701), Matsu is a poor woman, betrayed by her lover, looking for revenge.
In this episode the scorpion woman is more bitter, way more dangerous, and insanely mysterious The plot is simple: the prison director, Inspector Goda, is mad at her (she stabbed out his eye in the first part), and wants to make her suffer and drive her crazy.
A rape, a murder And a final bloodthirsty, but very satisfying vengeance.Meiko Kaji (also the singer of the original soundtrack song) is delivering an ecstatic performance playing Matsu's character so intensely with only 2(!) lines of text..
Unlike any other women-in-prison film I've ever seen!.
The Scorpion character is put in solitary confinement, raped, nearly beat to death then betrayed by her fellow inmates before ending up (appropriately enough) in a garbage dump at the end of the film.