There are four films total based on the manga series written by Tooru Shinohara. I’ve been hooked on this series. So far I watched 3 out of 4. Not all films are directed by Shunya Ito. Female Prisoner Scorpion: 701’s Grudge Song was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe. No wonder the style is noticeably different. (I had to do some research to see why it was off). I have one more film to watch to complete this series.

Female Prisoner Scorpion Beast Stable is the most animalistic, metamorphically speaking, but most artistic out of all the film series so far. The angle, the shots, the unspoken words between the characters, and the color scheme made it an enjoyable film to watch solely for art’s sake. Don’t be fooled by the cover though. The color placement of blue and orange is purposely done to enhance the tone of the film. You see the colors in the character’s attire and background decors. It’s no accident. Blue is a complementary color to orange according to the color wheel. The colors are so popish. Sometimes I forget I am watching a film because it looks like a perfume ad or a fashion catalog or a photo album. I am not complaining. I do appreciate good art.

Yes, Scorpion is on the loose again and she is being hunted by the detectives. In this film, Scorpion becomes friends with a girl name Yuki who happens to be a prostitute and who shamefully commits incest to keep her brain-damaged brother satisfied. When I said the film is animalistic, this is what I meant. It’s unnatural and would make any average person recoil. Even Yuki locked her beastly brother away as if he is a farm animal and attempted to kill him but didn’t have the heart to do so.

There are other characters, apart from Scorpion, who is unmistakably referred to as an animal. The female pimp dresses like a crow. She is a bully, a scavenger. She even has a cage to keep her fellow crow mates locked away, which just shows how corrupted she is. There is a scene where she forces one of the prostitutes to get an abortion. Why? A pregnant woman is bad business! Even Scorpion has to make money! She works at the sweatshop. On a side note, I don’t know if it was intentional, but the clothing, the red lipstick, and the laborious sewing are quite suiting in this film. Women are enslaved to make clothes and look beautiful for prostitution and thus attract predators. Hmm… I always thought fashion is a form of woman empowerment, not an invitation for sex. Regardless, Scorpion made the sweatshop glamorous. There is nothing more attractive than a beautiful woman who knows how to dress well. Scorpion is like a fashion model in this film.

Overall great film. Great cinematography. I enjoyed it. If you appreciate the late 60s to early 70s pop fashion or if you just appreciate beautiful women, then I recommend this film if you haven’t seen it already.

If you just happened to stop by my blog, please check out my other reviews for this film series, and thank you for reading:

Female Prisoner Scorpion 701’s Grudge Song (1972) Review: Your “Thingy” Will Get Sting

Female Prisoner Jailhouse 41 (1972) Review: Bad Boys Are Dogs!