Love and Crime – 88 Films (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1969
Director: Teruo Ishii
Writers: Teruo Ishii, Masahiro Kakefuda, Shizuo Nomami
Cast: Sada Abe, Yukie Kagawa, Takashi Fujiki, Shôtarô Hayashi, Tatsumi Hijikata, Kenjirô Ishiyama, Yoshi Katô, Asao Koike, Junko Maki, Ken Sawaaki, Kichijirô Ueda, Teruo Yoshida

Release Date: January 20th, 2025 (UK), January 21st, 2025 (USA)
Approximate Running Time: 92 Minutes 23 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 18 (UK), NR (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A,B
Retail Price: £19.99 (UK), $39.95 (USA)

"Japan’s legendary “King of Cult” Teruo Ishii (Horrors of Malformed Men, Shogun’s Joy of Torture) delivers four dramatized tales of real life crimes of passion involving women across the ages in this grotesque anthology featuring the stories of the “Hotel Nihonkaku Murders”, the notorious “poison wife” and last woman in Japan to be executed by beheading, Oden Takahashi, the brutal serial killer Yoshio Kodaira and the story of Sada Abe, the infamous castratice featured in Nagisa Oshima’s In the Realm of the Senses." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "High Definition Blu-ray presentation in 2.35:1 aspect ratio".

Love and Crime comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.8 GB

Feature: 25.5 GB

The source used for this transfer is in good shape. And though some source damage remains, it is never too intrusive. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are strong throughout, compression is solid, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a LPCM mono mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. The audio sounds clean, clear, and balanced. Range-wise, things sound very good.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an image gallery with music from the film playing in the background (stills/poster), a theatrical trailer (3 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), an introduction by Mark Schilling (17 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Jasper Sharp & Amber T., reversible cover art, removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings, and a 16-page booklet (limited to the first pressing) with cast & crew information and an essay titled Love and Crime written by Nathan Stuart.

Included is a DVD that has the same content as the Blu-ray.

Summary:

In the late 1960s, Teruo Ishii was at the forefront of a genre of films known as Ero guro films, known for their sex and violence, fusing these two things into something that is both erotic and grotesque. Notable Ero guro films directed by Teruo Ishii are Shogun's Joy of Torture, Orgies of Edo, Inferno of Torture, Horrors of Malformed Men, and Yakuza's Law. This brings us to Love and Crime, a film that firmly fits into the Ero guro sub-genre.

Most of Teruo Ishii's Ero guro films, like Love and Crime, are anthologies made of different stories connected thematically. Love and Crime is four stories about crimes committed by women; all of these are connected by wraparound segments revolving around an autopsy doctor looking into the past for clues about a recent case. All of the stories are based on true-life crimes: a woman who kills to gain ownership of a hotel, Sada Abe, a woman who struggled with her lover and cut off his penis, a serial rapist who preyed on women during wartime, and a woman who poisoned her leper husband. The woman who poisoned her husband was the last woman executed in Japan by beheading.

These four stories have an uneven quality; the strongest is the story about the serial rapist, while the weakest is the story about Sada Abe. There have been better adaptations of Sada Abe’s story, notably In the Realm of Senses. The most interesting aspect of the Sada Abe story is how they got an on-camera interview with her.

Love and Crime jumps right in; it opens with its goriest moment, an autopsy scene that perfectly encapsulates the Ero guro genre. This is a gruesome sequence in which a cadaver is cut open while the opening credits unfold. Also, though there is an abundance of on-screen carnage, Love and Crime's hardest moments to watch are those where the serial rapist assaults and kills his victims.

Teruo Ishii is a filmmaker who often worked with limited resources, excelling with what he was given more often than not. His rock-solid direction elevates a weak script, and he manages to get a lot of cast when it comes to the performances. Asao Koike (The Insect Woman) delivers the most memorable performance in the role of the serial rapist. Ultimately, Love and Crime, despite its shortcomings, succeeds because of Teruo Ishii's ability to deliver a product that exceeds its limitations.

Love and Crime gets an excellent release from 88 Films that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer