A Haunted Turkish Bath House – Mondo Macabro (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1975
Director: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
Writers: Masahiro Kakefuda, Nobuaki Nakajima
Cast: Naomi Tani, Hideo Murota, Misa Ohara, Taiji Tonoyama, Tomoko Mayama, Terumi Azuma, Kôji Fujiyama, Sami Suzuki

Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Approximate running time: 80 Minutes 37 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $29.95

"Naomi Tani as an abused wife sold to a brothel to cover her husband’s debts. The deceitful husband is actually behind it all, in cahoots with the brothel madame, who is his lover. Tani discovers the truth and gets tortured to death. However, the dead woman’s soul seeks vengeance from a most unusual quarter." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Brand new 2k transfer from film negative".

A Haunted Turkish Bath House comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 23.1 GB

Feature: 20.1 GB

The source used for this transfer looks great; any source-related imperfections have been cleaned up. Colors are nicely saturated, flesh tones look healthy, image clarity and black levels are strong, compression is very good, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a Mondo Macabro preview reel, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), an interview with Patrick Macias, author of TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion titled Silent Waves: Pocket Guide to Toei Horror (3 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Patrick Macias who discusses A Haunted Turkish Bath House titled White Cat in Showa Soapland (6 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with Diabolique Magazine’s Samm Deighan.

Summary:

A Haunted Turkish Bath House was directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, a filmmaker known for helming some of Toei’s most exploitative films from the 1970s. His notable films include Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler, Sister Street Fighter, Wolf Guy, Karate Bullfighter, and Karate Warriors.

Content-wise, A Haunted Turkish Bath House takes two unlikely genres, erotica and horror, and successfully fuses them. And though there is a mixture of both of these genres, A Haunted Turkish Bath House leans more towards erotica. with the bulk of the horror elements being in the last thirty minutes.

Though A Haunted Turkish Bath House has many of the stylistic elements that are synonymous with Pinku Eiga cinema, notable examples include framing erotic moments so that genitals are obscured and a S&M scene in which Naomi Tani is whipped while hanging from a tree with snowflakes falling. That said, there are actually a lot of stylish moments in "A Haunted Turkish Bath House." Most of these moments occur during the last act, which also happens to be the section that is most horror-oriented.

For many viewers, the main draw of A Haunted Turkish Bath House is Naomi Tani (Flower and Snake) in the role of the protagonist Yukino, a former prostitute who becomes a demonic cat/woman hybrid after she is murdered by her husband. Though this role provides fans with many of the moments they have come to expect from her, it also gives her a chance to step outside of her typecasting. Another performance of note is Hideo Murota (Graveyard of Honor) in the role of Yukino’s philandering pimp husband. He is a character actor that anyone who is familiar with 1970s Toei films is sure to recognize.

From its opening moments, A Haunted Turkish Bath firmly establishes a bleak tone that does not let up for one moment. Whether it be the shocking imagery or its discordant opening theme, other music cues are doing a superb job reinforcing the mood. A Haunted Turkish Bath is a grueling ride that fans of 1970s Japanese exploitation cinema are sure to thoroughly enjoy.

A Haunted Turkish Bath House gets an excellent release from Mondo Macabro that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and a trio of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer