Ken Takakura
was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the "Super Giant" series, and for his films in the "Ero guro" ("erotic-grotesque") subgenre of "pinku eiga" such as "Shogun's Joy of Torture" (1968). He also directed the 1965 film, "Abashiri Prison", which helped to make Ken Takakura a major star in Japan. Referred to in Japan as "The King of Cult", Ishii had a much more prolific and eclectic career than was generally known in the West during his lifetime.