Female Prisoner Scorpion | The Complete Collection | Blu-ray

By the time the 1970s came around Meiko Kaji had already built a successful career as an actress, largely on the back of the huge popular Ninkyo Eiga “Chivalry Films” of the 1960s. It’s only as cinematic tastes started to shift toward exploitation pictures, however, that her career really began to take off.

Kaji’s first major star turn came in the Stray Cat Rock delinquent girl-gang series, of which she made 5 entries between 1970-71. The Female Prisoner Scorpion films followed shortly thereafter, chased by Lady Snowblood to solidify Kaji as one of Japanese cinema’s premiere acting talents.

To that end, the Female Prisoner Scorpion series is Kaji’s signature style piece. A blend of sexploitation ‘women in prison’ setting, spaghetti western plotting, and avant garde styling, this is a truly unique collection of films.

Special Features (via arrowvideo.com)

• Brand new 2K restorations of all four films in the series presented on High Definition Blu-ray (1080p)
• Original uncompressed PCM mono audio for all films
• Optional English subtitles for all films
• Reversible sleeves for all films featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ian MacEwan
• Newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Gareth Evans (The Raid)
• Shunya Ito: Birth of an Outlaw, an archive interview with the director
• Scorpion Old and New, a new interview with assistant director Yutaka Kohira
• Theatrical Trailers for all four films in the series
• Newly filmed appreciation by critic Kier-La Janisse
• Japanese cinema critic Jasper Sharp examines the career of Shunya Ito
• Designing Scorpion, a new interview with production designer Tadayuki Kuwana
• Original Theatrical Trailer and Teaser
• Newly filmed appreciation by critic Kat Ellinger
• Shunya Ito: Directing Meiko Kaji, an archive interview with the director
• Unchained Melody, a new visual essay by Tom Mes on the career of Meiko Kaji
• Original Theatrical Trailer and Teaser
• Newly filmed appreciation by filmmaker Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Kichiku: Banquet of the Beasts)
• Yasuharu Hasebe: Finishing the Series, an archive interview with the director
• Japanese cinema critic Jasper Sharp examines the career of Yasuharu Hasebe
• They Call Her Scorpion, a new visual essay by Tom Mes on the film series
• Original Theatrical Trailer