Bloodwank A lady has some dinner, plays some tennis, gets into her car to go home. She won't make it home though, not until she's been through hell. Female Market has accrued something of a reputation among the later echelons of pink films, and it is somewhat deserved. The aspect that will attract (or repulse) is that the first half has a half hour or so chunk of constant mean spirited sexual violence visited upon multiple luckless ladies, all imprisoned in a warehouse in preparation for being later sold into slavery. Character development is minimal and point even smaller, this is just a sordid stare at humanities nadir, well shot with gloomy atmosphere its actually pretty compelling. There's rape, beating, whipping, a brief but hella grisly moment after an escape attempt, all served cold and as hostile as can be. Unfortunately, the film switches gears in the second half and ditches the nihilism, it wouldn't be a bad thing but since the film has laid no groundwork in terms of plotting or character in the first, the second half just comes across as a substantial slowdown. Sure, the acting is decent, even touching, and it's a handy breather for a while, but the film comes across a little lacking when it loses its despicable fire. Classy final shot though. Not much more to say about this one, its pretty thin stuff when it comes right down to it, but for all its flaws worth a watch for serious filth-hounds, as the sadistic, inhuman edge is pretty chilling. Performances are all sound, the women convincingly and harrowingly distressed, the captors suitably vile in an uncomfortable, matter of fact way. Stylish direction from Yasuaki Uegaki keeps things bleakly interesting, but not terribly dynamic, so as mentioned the final half hour really sags. Only worth watching for the serious fans and not that great a film, I still had an OK time with Female Market. A happy 6/10 then.

camruud The Japanese have a way of showing violence in a gritty manner. Not necessarily only because they show the violence in full view, but also because they manage to represent the evil that lurks within the human mind. The slave traders in this movie have no respect for human life. They are aware of it, and they love it. Nihilism has become a trademark in Japanese cinema. This movie has very little blood, but a lot of nudity, sexual violence, rape and torture. We follow some average women as they are going through a world of pain and misery, where twisted evil soul seek the ultimate rush of power and supremacy by the suffering and unhappiness of other individuals. This movies running time is not long, but that's exactly enough to deliver the punch in your face. Not a great movie, but good. It does what it can well, and deliver the message.

fertilecelluloid An office lady with no relatives is kidnapped by slave traders and locked in a warehouse with four other unfortunates. The traders "test" the ladies out in unspeakable ways before shipping them off to Africa.I didn't find Yasuro Uegaki's FEMALE MARKET to be too much or particularly appalling. It does present some sexual abuse sequences with a Pasolini/SALO-style sense of indifference and it does get cracking with the rape and whipping rather quickly, but it rapidly loses steam and is inevitably undone by a very bland, predictable plot.As Nikkatsu movies go, it's not as well photographed as most and its limited locations leave it looking very stage-bound. There's a minor attempt to essay a "relationship" between the most defiant of the kidnapped women and the most sensitive of the bad guys, but even this is too little too late when you compare it to the character dynamics of such fare as ASSAULT JACK THE RIPPER (my nominee for Best Violent Pink Film Ever Made) or WHITE ROSE CAMPUS: THEN, EVERYBODY GETS RAPED.The film's final scene, where the bad guy turned good is discovered washed up on a beach, is a fitting capper and is consistent with FEMALE MARKET's downbeat tone.I wouldn't recommend this film to those seeking great exploitation because it lacks serious energy and is turgidly paced.For completest only.

Bogey Man Japanese Yasuaki Uegaki's film, Female Market: Imprisonment (1986) is one incredibly harrowing, brutal and strong rape related film that won't leave even the most jaded exploitation enthusiasts alone. The film tells the inhuman story of a bunch of young Japanese females who one night get kidnapped and taken to some abandoned looking factory area to be abused by some drug dealers and human slavery bosses. It is soon revealed that none of the girls have too many close relatives so they won't be searched after their disappearance. This all may sound like a plot from some Jess Franco women in prison flick, but it is more. This is Japanese exploitation which means only one thing: extreme.Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu wrote the film, and this madman is of course best known for his outrageous sleazy Guts/Entrails trilogy consisting of films Guts of a Virgin, Guts of a Beauty (both 1986) and Guts of a Virgin 3: Rusted Body (1987). All these films include almost hardcore level female (and male) nudity and sex and plenty of hyper sleazy goings on including kinky sex, some insane gore, monster semen and the like. The films are pretty harmless and not so "shocking" no matter what casual viewer would think about them (which I won't try to find out!). Female Market, however, goes farther and it is nasty with the capital N. The first 30 minutes or so are nothing but merciless scenes of the girls being brutally raped, abused, tortured and also killed. Soon it turns into some kind of revenge attempt and also escape story, but I won't go into the spoiling details. The first half of the short feature (uncut PAL version runs only 68 minutes) are as depraved, sadistic, misogynistic and brutal scenery as ever possible. It is not about graphic gore or anything like that, it is about the mean spirit and mentality behind those scenes.What makes Japanese exploitation usually so interesting is the fact that no matter how sick, low and sadistic it may be, it may also have some very interesting and effective cinematic elements and details that prove the talent of the makers. The infamous Guinea Pigs are among these, especially the Mermaid episode directed by manga artist Hideshi Hino. That goes to Female Market, too, as the visual style and darkness is among the most impressive I've seen for long time, in a film like this! It is close to the finale of Japanese master Takeshi Kitano's Violent Cop (1989) in its bleakness and calm shadow filled darkness. When this darkness and depressing visual world is delivered with the mentioned hyper strong images of abuse and rape, you can imagine this film will blow you away. And it does, even an experienced exploitation cinema fanatics have admitted this film being almost unbearably daunting an experience and I am among those. Japanese film makers have proven their ability and talent to hammer their messages to the skull and spine cord of the viewer (Shinya Tsukamoto, Takashi Ishii to name just a few masters), and that definitely goes to their exploitation films, too. Something that's lacking from the cheesy Euro trash films from the sixties to the late eighties.Female Market can also be seen as a pessimistic look of our nature and its brute and hidden sides, willing to dominate and humiliate each other as most of the rape scenes and scenes overall are pretty silent, without dialogue, which naturally gives much greater power to the images in cinema, and Takeshi Kitano is definitely among the most striking examples of this. The place it all happened may turn into a seemingly normal harbor warehouse next morning indicating that the human market is a big organized crime activity born in a big city and totally uncontrollable and extremely dangerous. This is the kind of film that can make the viewer hate himself just because of the fact that he realizes belonging to the same race, human race. But still the imagery is unnecessarily too graphic and gratuitous to make the above analyze as valid as I'd like it to be, and it seems they wanted to do an exploitation film with some brains in the other half of the piece. The actors are very good, some of the acts are so graphic that the prints include the traditional Japanese optical fogging to not show the pubic hair, and that goes to all of the mentioned Guts films, too. The cinematography is impressive, the editing always peaceful, and the screenplay hasn't got unnecessary bits of dialogue and speech. This film really is something I won't forget too easily, nor am I willing to see it ever again too soon I think. If you've seen Jess Franco's Sadomania (1980) or some other of the low budget (s)exploitation films from Europe and elsewhere, imagine that to the nth sadism degree filled with dark visuality and you have a CLUE what kind of an experience Female Market will be. The kind of film that is quite impossible to recommend to anyone, and the 3/10 rating I'll give was not also too easy a choice. Again, Japanese cinema has amazed me, but not quite in the way I would've prefer.