Female Prisoner Scorpion Box set from Arrow in July

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

They just posted this on Instagram... coming in March.

"LE PINS SCORPION DESSINÉ PAR XAVIER DESBARATS EN CADEAU POUR L'ACHAT DU COFFRET SCORPION 6 FILMS.

• ÉDITION LIMITÉE À 1000 EXEMPLAIRES.
• Joshû 701-gô: Sasori / La Femme Scorpion / 1h27 / 1973
• Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô / Elle s’appelait Scorpion / 1h29 / 1973
• Joshuu sasori: Kemono-beya / La tanière de la bête / 1h27 / 1973
• Joshuu sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi / Mélodie de la rancune / 1h28 / 1974
• Shin joshuu sasori: Tokushu-bô X / La nouvelle Femme Scorpion : Prisonnière 701 / 1h27 / 1976
• Joshuu sasori: Satsujin yokoku / La nouvelle Femme Scorpion – Cachot X / 1h26 / 1977
• 6 BLU-RAY - 1920x1080/23,976p
• Japonais DTS-HD MA 2.0
• Sous-titres français"

Looks like it isn't going to be English friendly.

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

Goddamnit.

[Alison Jane Girl Boss Jane Find all posts View Profile Close Alison Jane]

Wait... March? Or July?

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Wait... March? Or July?

March 2023 is when the new French set is coming out. This thread is old.

[Alison Jane Girl Boss Jane Find all posts View Profile Close Alison Jane]

March 2023 is when the new French set is coming out. This thread is old.

Ah. Didn't notice the first twelve pages.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Some pictures of the French set popped up on twitter.

[PaganBaby Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PaganBaby]

Nice packaging. Hanging out to see some screenshots. Expectations are low.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

New Female Prisoner Scorpion 701 (1976):

Am I right in thinking this one flown under the radar a bit for good, legitimate releases?

If so, that's a damned shame. This reboot from just a few years after the original series does a most excellent job of recapturing the spirit of the original series.

It's shot in 2.35, it's super stylish, there's some very bloody vengeance to be had and our girls going to do it all while remaining mute.

We know the drill as this one feels like a cross between the first two films of the series. Nami gets framed for a murder, sentenced to 15 years, shes abused and raped in prison, escapes and exacts painful retribution.

One of the refreshing things about the original series is how they lean out of the traditional exploitation tropes to create women in prison films that feel damned near feminist. I was concerned early on with this one that it wasnt following the same path. There's seductive music behind some of the early assualts that had me thinking i was watching a very conventional WIP. That doesnt come to pass though.

Admittedly theres a brutality to this film thats not in the originals. For instance the prison wardens instruction to: " stick it in her arse and fuck her till she screams" is way heavier than anything in Jailhouse 41 but that scene winds up being shot without nudity or obvious exploitation and the nastiness of these scenes just makes the inevitable vengeance that much more satisfying.

But this is good stuff that will feel very familiar to Scorpion fans. The prisoners are in the traditional shades of blue garb, Nami dons the broad brimmed hat and coat for the final killings and I felt like I had just sat through a proper Scorpion film.

Not as good as the first two, possibly better than the next two.

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

New Female Prisoner Scorpion 701 (1976):

Am I right in thinking this one flown under the radar a bit for good, legitimate releases?

If so, that's a damned shame. This reboot from just a few years after the original series does a most excellent job of recapturing the spirit of the original series.

It's shot in 2.35, it's super stylish, there's some very bloody vengeance to be had and our girls going to do it all while remaining mute.

We know the drill as this one feels like a cross between the first two films of the series. Nami gets framed for a murder, sentenced to 15 years, shes abused and raped in prison, escapes and exacts painful retribution.

One of the refreshing things about the original series is how they lean out of the traditional exploitation tropes to create women in prison films that feel damned near feminist. I was concerned early on with this one that it wasnt following the same path. There's seductive music behind some of the early assualts that had me thinking i was watching a very conventional WIP. That doesnt come to pass though.

Admittedly theres a brutality to this film thats not in the originals. For instance the prison wardens instruction to: " stick it in her arse and fuck her till she screams" is way heavier than anything in Jailhouse 41 but that scene winds up being shot without nudity or obvious exploitation and the nastiness of these scenes just makes the inevitable vengeance that much more satisfying.

But this is good stuff that will feel very familiar to Scorpion fans. The prisoners are in the traditional shades of blue garb, Nami dons the broad brimmed hat and coat for the final killings and I felt like I had just sat through a proper Scorpion film.

Not as good as the first two, possibly better than the next two.

Need to give this one a re-watch, I found it to be a bit dull compared to the artiness of the Shunya Ito ones. But perhaps I should have been looking for blood and boobs instead of art!

[Takuma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Takuma]

New Female Prisoner Scorpion 701 (1976):

Am I right in thinking this one flown under the radar a bit for good, legitimate releases?

There shouldn't be any legal issues. They came out on French DVD almost two decades ago (still got the 6 film Pathe box set), followed by Toei's own DVD releases some years later. They are frequently on TV as well.

I think they just went under the radar for no particular reason. Happens all the time. I mean some of Sonny Chiba and Etsuko Shihomi's best karate films never received home video release anywhere in the world until the recent Shout sets (talking about 13 Steps of Maki and The Defensive Power of Aikido).

For me the first NEW film is the most disappointing movie in the series. I do love the last 15 minutes, but everything that comes before feels pretty dull. Yumi Takigawa was great in School of the Holy Beast, but here she's as menacing as a wet kitten. Somehow I wasn't surprised at all to hear the director complain how he doesn't understand women. Perhaps that's why the 2nd NEW film worked better IMO. That's a super macho guy film (with Takeo Chii, Hiroshi Tachi and Masashi Ishibashi fighting over who's got the biggest dick) that forgets it's supposed to be a Female Prisoner Scorpion film, and all the better for it with this director at helm.

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

Whilst we're on the subject, does anyone know how that French blu-ray set from earlier this year panned out?

Even if it's missing English subs, I'd be interested to know whether it uses the same FUBAR transfers as the Arrow set, or something more presentable...

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

Whilst we're on the subject, does anyone know how that French blu-ray set from earlier this year panned out?

Even if it's missing English subs, I'd be interested to know whether it uses the same FUBAR transfers as the Arrow set, or something more presentable...

Similar to the Arrow version according to this:

https://kinowombat.com/2023/08/25/la...ffret-blu-ray/

The whole thing was limited to 500 or something crazy like that (it says 1000, but I also read 500). But I guess this was strictly for the French market as they knew it was no better than the Arrow version, and the other two films aren't exactly classics.

[BW Haggar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BW Haggar]

Oh well.

Still not much hope for me ever upgrading my old DVDs at this point then.

Thanks for the link & info.

[Zaibatan Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Zaibatan]

I'm also holding on to my DVDs until these get 4K UHDs with corrected transfers.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Need to give this one a re-watch, I found it to be a bit dull compared to the artiness of the Shunya Ito ones. But perhaps I should have been looking for blood and boobs instead of art!

One of the things I liked was that the director seemed to get that a bit of art-iness is key to the FCS experience. It definitely didn't come as naturally to him as it did to Ito but I appreciated that an attempt was made. The film does have structure issues. They just didn't quite figure how to make the second act interesting. I thought the final act was grand though. The break out in particular was well staged I thought.

Yumi Takigawa was great in School of the Holy Beast, but here she's as menacing as a wet kitten.

She was the most disappointing thing in the film. She's soap star pretty, not "I'll gut you like a fish and look cool doing it" pretty. Odd bit of casting.