Perfectly titled Sex and Fury, directed by cult director Norifumi Suzuki, and later gifted with a sequel by Teruo Ishii, is the epitome of '70s sexploitation Japanese cinema known as pinky violence, a sub-genre created by the studios to cash in on surefire ways to attract the audience now that TV has replaced cinema as the number one source of entertainment. These ways of attracting the audience often include gratuitous nudity, stylish violence and bizarre fetishism.Sex and Fury is like a less refined version of Lady Snowblood (today best known for inspiring Tarantino for Kill Bill); both films take place during the Meiji era, feature bloody sword-fights, and follow a young heroine in her vengeful quest of avenging her murdered parent(s) by eliminating the responsible killers one by one. The two films even end similarly, with the main character ending up wounded on a snowy terrain. I don't think I even need to mention that Sex and Fury's final scene is a sleazier counterpart to Lady Snowblood's - Reiko Ike's character Ocho cleans her blood-splattered boobs with a handful of snow while Lady Snowblood just collapses onto the snow.If we're going to mention Kill Bill, then I guess Tarantino owes some homage to Sex and Fury as well, because of the iconic scene where Ocho, fresh out of the bathhouse, slices up some villains with her sword while butt-naked in slo-mo. Now, Ocho is quite a character - not only is she a tattooed pickpocket, a gambler and a master sword-fighter, but also gets involved in some kind of a political scheme involving British spies, one of whom is played by Christina Lindberg, quite awfully, I must say. Yes, the acting is severely cringe-inducing for the most part, which only makes the already lazy dialogues worse.So, what are some attractions? Well, aside from awkward dialogue, slaughtered politicians and all-around nudity, there's an annoying comic relief guy, lesbian sex which borders on being soft porn, nuns bearing flick-knives in an attempt to border on nunsploitation, a playing-card leitmotif repeated in many creative shots, a disturbing rape scene, a carefree jazzy soundtrack met with psychedelic rock, crappy bondage scenes (one of which occurs in a flashy disco-like setting), a dramatic family-tied reveal, a guy dying by licking poisonous German perfume off of Ocho's tits (I'm not kidding), only after that same guy oils a girl's vagina with a nymphomania-inducing cream (???), not to mention there are condom jokes, a mustachioed British bad guy in an attempt to bring Downton Abbey-like level of class to this mess, and, surprisingly, the film offers some really splendid production values and cinematography, color work and framing to nicely wrap this chaos up. It's actually really well done on a technical scale. That doesn't change that it's senseless to the core, less in the realm of entertainment and more in the realm of awkward weirdness. Did I mention there's an anti- colonialism message?6,5/10

This movie can be indeed boring, even for B movie standards,if you're looking for the American kind of story telling. But what calls the attention the most is that it serves as proof that Tarentino is no genius at all. He copied A LOT, I mean, A LOT of what came to be Kill Bill 1, from this movie. The story of Lucy Liu Character's witnessing her father being killed, the fight scenes where Uma Turman battles against dozens of guys with the falling limbs and all the blood and even the set of stairs she has to climb in order to get to Lucy Liu were copied. Even the snow at the last scene. Improved, that's is true, but copied. All and all it is a movie worth watching because it can be funny, especially if you are a B movie aficionado (the horrible fake blood is just excellent). At the end when she tries to wash off the blood from her chest with snow she ends up removing a little bit o the ink from her tattoos! Really excellent. I recommend it as a major B movie.

Walking underneath a series of torii gates with her father, a young Kyoko witnesses the death of her father when unknown culprits stab him to death. However, before he dies he picks up three cards depicting the images of a boar, a deer, and a butterfly. With only this scant information to aid her in identifying her father's killers, Kyoko changes her name to Inoshika Ocho and lives the next 20 years of her life honing skills in gambling and pick pocketing.One day at a gambling house owned by a seedy man named Imamura, a dealer is accused of cheating and is killed by its patrons. However, before he dies he tells Ocho that Imamura was the one who told him to cheat and he asks her to take 500 yen, this movie takes place in 1905, to purchase his sister back from a prostitution house in Asakusa. That night, while bathing, Ocho is attacked by Imamura and his goons, so the viewer is treated with the image of a totally nude Ocho, the actress Ike Reiko was 19 or 20 at the time this film was made and was quite nubile and bouncy at the time, slicing apart Imamura and his men in a montage of blood, naked flesh, severed limbs, and snow with early 1970s psychedelic rock playing in the background.Ocho eventually arrives in Asakusa and, along with communicating with her foster mom and her "sisters", eventually finds Yuki, the dead man's sister, but her purchaser, a business man named Iwakura is unwilling to let go of his new virgin, deflowering virgins is his hobby after all. However, he is willing to give up Yuki if Ocho can defeat a foreign gambler, Swedish model Christina Lindberg, but if she loses Iwakura will get both Yuki and Ocho. Christina does well at first, but after the party is attacked by her former lover Shunosuke, who bears a grudge against Iwakura and the politician Kurokawa, her mind is filled with images of their love-making and she loses the match. However, during this time Iwakura has intercourse with Yuki and later the heartbroken girl informs Ocho that the old pervert has a tattoo of a deer on his back. Finding one of her father's murderers, Ocho embarks on a quest for revenge during which she will have to face all sorts of adversaries, including switchblade-wielding nuns and gangsters.During the 1950s cinema was king in Japan. Millions of film viewers flocked to thousands upon thousands of theaters. However, during the 1960s television and its all encompassing grasp took hold of the country and film studios began to close and many film directors such as Kobayashi Masaaki and Kurosawa Akira had difficulty funding their films. Instead films filled with sex and violence, Roman Porn or Pink Films, became the standard. Once respected film studios such as Nikkatsu started to churn out one skin flick after the other. With limited budgets and limited filming schedules, these films were quickly produced, consumed by the audience, and completely forgotten. However, some of these films, such as this film, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, have made more of a lasting impact that can be seen in the films in such directors as Miike Takashi.Sex and Fury is of course filled with violence. Severed limbs fly about and blood sprays all over the walls. Ocho must endure being chained up and whipped by Christina, bondage and S&M scenes are quite common in these films, while her tormentors look on. There is of course a lot of sex also, including a lesbian sex scene between Christina and a servant of Kurokawa's named Shinobu. Add to this mixture of sex and violence a soundtrack of rock music that would please The Lemon Pipers and Strawberry Alarm Clock, Sex and Fury is an enjoyable, quick watch. I mean with switchblade-wielding nuns how could you go wrong?

SEX AND FURY is a classic of the Toei "pinky-violence" (Japanese films typically of the 70's containing heavy violence and lots of nudity and simulated sex...)genre. A strong plot, beautiful cinematography, and a decent amount of swordplay and tits-and-ass make this one a winner.The story surrounds Ocho - a female gambler, thief, master swordswoman...basically an all-around badass. When a fellow gambler is killed, his dying wish is for Ocho to retrieve his sister from the brothel that she's been sold to. Ocho agrees and begins a journey that will ultimately lead her to her own father's murderers - and revenge is sweet...SEX AND FURY is so well made that it is hard to view this one strictly as a pinky-violence or exploit film. The cinematography is amazing, the fight choreography is well done, the acting is very good, the sets are elaborate, and the plot is tight and well thought out. A MAJOR high point for this film is that it also co-stars the GORGEOUS Christina Lindberg, of THRILLER: A CRUEL PICTURE fame, as a sexy British (?) spy - and of course she's showing plenty of skin in this one, too.My only real gripe with SEX AND FURY is that there could have been a lot more violence. I would have been happier if the violence was more on par with films like the LONE WOLF AND CUB series, for example. Even so, I would definitely recommend this to fans of the aforementioned LONE WOLF AND CUB films, the ZATOICHI series, LADY SNOWBLOOD, etc...and for fans of Lindberg - seeing her naked is always a treat...Recommended 8/10