Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
Director: Shunya Ito
Year Released: 1972
Rating: 2.0
Intensely campy exploitation film that has the gall to think it's revolutionary but still contains enough goofy fun to keep it from being painful. "Scorpion" (a crazed woman who says but five words in the entire picture and stares in the most exaggerated way at all) is mistreated by prison officials for continuously trying to escape; one day, she and some of her wicked inmates actually make a break for it after killing some police officers. The concept, while interesting, never goes anywhere - men are simply portrayed as corrupt, sex-driven pigs, women as their mindless, "silent" victims. Running a slim 89 minutes, it is more interested in depicting overwrought sleaze than really going anywhere with the "story" (male cops chase after convict women and kill them) or setup. Deserves praise for its visual style and moody lighting, but the horrid Street Fighter/Sonny Chiba sound effects kill the audio - to keep from being distracted, put the TV on mute.
