The Films of Hisayasu Satô: Volume #3 - Kyrie Eleison / Rafureshia / Turtle Vision – Pink Line (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: Japan, 1993 (Kyrie Eleison), Japan, 1995 (Rafureshia), Japan, 1991 (Turtle Vision)
Director: Hisayasu Satô (All Films)
Cast: Kiyomi Itô, Takeshi Itô, Mako, Kôichi Imaizumi, Mineo Sugiura, Momori Asano (Kyrie Eleison), Kinako, Yumi Yoshiyuki, Kiyomi Itô, Kôichi Imaizumi, Simon Kumai (Rafureshia), Rei Takagi, Naomi Sugishita, Miki Fukada, Taketoshi Watari, Yutaka Ikejima, Ryûji Yamamoto, Kunihiko Kojima, Aizô Masaki, Kôichi Imaizumi, Kiyomi Itô (Turtle Vision)

Release Date: January 20th, 2026
Approximate Running Times: 60 Minutes 48 Seconds (Kyrie Eleison), 63 Minutes 34 Seconds (Rafureshia), 60 Minutes 54 Seconds (Turtle Vision)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (All Films)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Japanese (All Films)
Subtitles: English (All Films)
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $59.98

"Satô's study of the psychosexual world of loneliness, Kyrie Eleison tells the story of a socially isolated medical researcher who begins a series of bizarre experiments she hopes may heal her boyfriend left comatose after an accident. But as her wild experiments in wiretapping have increasingly violent and masochistic results, the lines between reality and nightmare start to irreparably blur.

In Rafureshia, Satô takes a much lighter, almost absurdist tone, in this equally bizarre approach to the Pink film, as he explores the interwoven lives of a set of very different women, as each tries to explore and harness their sexuality in the face of unavoidable abuse. Set in an almost fairytale arc, albeit one with incestuous fathers, dominatrixes, and lecherous homeless men, Rafureshia plays with mood and comedy with surprising results.

Satô updates the tropes of a classic “rape and revenge” drama in the highly voyeuristic Turtle Vision, as a traumatized young woman grows into a cynical and vengeful adult, focusing her carnal and often bloodthirsty rage on the men who court her. Dramatically photographed with exemplary use of Satô’s fixation on video and TV monitors, the story is framed around a professional cameraman (working for an unknown shadowy outfit) whose work takes him to shoot covert footage of sexual acts." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (All Films)

Here’s the information provided about this release’s transfers, "all newly restored in 2K from their 35mm original camera negatives, under Satô's supervision, and presented by Pink Line on Blu-ray for the first time."

Kyrie Eleison, Rafureshia and Turtle Vision come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 44.3 GB

Feature: 14.4 GB (Kyrie Eleison), 15 GB (Rafureshia), 14.4 GB (Turtle Vision)

All of the sources look excellent; they far exceed any of these films' previous home media releases. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity, contrast, and compression are solid, black levels are strong, and the image always looks organic.

Audio: 4.5/5 (All Films)

Each film comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Japanese with removable English subtitles. All of the audio tracks sound clean, clear, and balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented.

Extras:

Extras on Blu-ray disc one include an audio commentary with Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp for Kyrie Eleison, an audio commentary with Asian cinema historian Pierce Conran & critic James Marsh for Rafureshia, and an audio commentary with film critic Amber T for Turtle Vision.

Extras on Blu-ray disc two include an interview with director Hisayasu Satô titled Lord, Have Mercy (8 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), an interview with Hisayasu Satô titled Escape 3 (14 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), an interview with Hisayasu Satô titled Revenge in S&M (12 minutes 16 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), an interview with film critic Yoshiyuki Hayashida titled A Guide to Pink (20 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), and a locations featurette with Hisayasu Satô titled Walking in Circles: Part 2 (27 minutes 23 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles).

Other extras include reversible cover art, a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (limited to 4,000 units) and a 40-page perfect-bound book with an essay titled On the Next Episode of Peepers written by Dakota Noot, an essay titled Flowers of Illusion: Shattered and Subverted in Hisayasu Satô’s Rafureshia  written by Amber T, and an essay titled Noise on the Tape written by Fred Barrett.

Summary:

All three films were directed by Hisayasu Satô, a filmmaker who worked extensively in Pinku Eiga. He's most known for An Aria on Gaze, aka The Bedroom, and Splatter: Naked Blood (which is a V-Cinema remake of Lustmord). His films are textbook examples of body horror and themes like alienation, obsession, and voyeurism.

Kyrie Eleison: A woman whose lover is blind, mute, and quadriplegic conducts a series of unusual experiments that become more chaotic and violent the further she explores.

While some pinku eiga films feature elements of the horror genre, no filmmaker has blended these two genres as effectively as Hisayasu Satô. In a film like Kyrie Eleison, Hisayasu Satô not only fulfills the pinku eiga criteria within a horror context but also incorporates elements of film noir and sci-fi. However, the most intriguing aspect of Kyrie Eleison is its integration of psychic abilities into the unfolding narrative.

For a pinku eiga film, Kyrie Eleison's narrative is rather complex. In addition to the primary focus on the protagonist and her quadriplegic lover, the narrative includes other storylines involving a woman and a man linked to the quadriplegic man, as well as another man to whom the protagonist confides. The narrative does a superb job integrating all these story strands, culminating in a surprising finale that prompts you to question the authenticity of the protagonists' perceptions.

Hisayasu Satô's films have a lot of thought and care put into the narrative. They are not just sex films with exposition thrown in as an afterthought; his films require you to think and therefore engage in a way other pinku eiga films do not. In other areas, like the visuals, Hisayasu Satô is always experimenting and there's never a shortage of visually arresting moments. His casts are filled with performances that fully embrace the story unfolding, and Kyrie Eleison is anchored by an exemplary performance from Kiyomi Itô in the role of the protagonist. Kyrie Eleison is ultimately a challenging film, and its various elements come together to create an unforgettable cinematic experience.

Rafureshia: Alisa is a young woman who has never seen the world outside of the remote island where she lives with her incestuous father. Wanting to break free from her perverted father, Alisa jumps into the ocean and swims to shore, where she is discovered by a trio of homeless men who think she is a mermaid. 

Harumi and her husband, Yoshio, are having problems conceiving a child and to make matters worse, they live with her oversexed mother, who can’t keep her hands off of Yoshio. Unknown to Harumi, her mother is a madam who has recently employed Alisa, who was rescued from the clutches of three horny homeless men before they had their way with her. 

Alisa soon turns on her new employer, taking off with a bag full of money and a videotape that could be incriminating in the wrong hands. On the run, Alisa hooks up with Harumi, who is looking to turn a few tricks herself. Alisa and Harumi decide to run away together in search of a place where the Rafureshia flower grows. Will Alisa’s perverted father or Harumi’s mother and her Yakuza sidekick find them before they find Rafureshia?

Rafureshia is a challenging film to describe, and crafting the above synopsis of the plot was not an easy task due to the disjointed narrative. Despite its chaotic structure, the story progresses swiftly and never disrupts momentum. That said, the further one dives into the filmography of Hisayasu Satô, a film like Rafureshia is not as hard to absorb, while someone venturing into his filmography for the first time might want to choose another one of his films.

Although Hisayasu Satô once again deals with incest and sexual assault, polarizing subject matter—Rafureshia is a more lighthearted film from him. He also explores familiar themes like voyeurism, homosexuality, and gender swapping. That said, when it comes to the themes explored in Rafureshia, he firmly places them into the realm of dark humor.

The complex narrative weaves three women from distinctly different backgrounds and brings their stories together for a truly outlandish finale. The most memorable moment is a scene where Alisa chases around a man in a diaper with a chainsaw. While the sex scenes are not exactly erotic, they are very effective. Ultimately, Rafureshia is a highly entertaining film, making it one of the best examples of what’s possible within the confines of the pinku eiga genre.

Turtle Vision: A traumatic event from a woman’s youth turns her into a cynical and vengeful adult who acts out her pent-up anger on men she has sexual encounters with.

Turtle Vision takes all the core pinku eiga elements and fuses them with a rape revenge scenario. Hisayasu Satô once again ventures into a nightmarish territory with Turtle Vision. Besides revenge, other themes explored are voyeurism, trauma, and the darkest sides of humanity. That said, Turtle Vision is best summed up as a film about the psychological trauma passed from person to person.

The narrative, like many of Hisayasu Satô's films, features several story strands that overlap and eventually come together. The main story revolves around a traumatized woman who attacks men with a knife during sex. The other story revolves around a cameraman who unknowingly films people having sex for his employer, a pornographer. That said, Hisayasu Satô does an exemplary job blending these two stories and serves up a perfect finale.

Dialogue is sparse; the narrative is driven by its visuals, which feature arresting moments like eyes being slashed out by razors. Although violence is the way in which the woman exacts her revenge, she also finds a tremendous amount of pleasure in the process. The moments of erotica in Turtle Vision are not meant to arouse; they are moments of rage that culminate in carnage. Ultimately, Turtle Vision is an unsettling film that pushes the boundaries of pinku eiga cinema to their limits.

The Films of Hisayasu Satô: Volume #3 is an exceptional release that gives each film a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras; highly recommended.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer