An exploitation film with a brain. We see nude women tastefully lit, kinky violence - women beating other women and the low life of Tokyo outdoing each other in even more dastardly acts of treachery and heartless thuggery. The intelligence comes with the strong impact of the women dressing in vibrant red, purple, yellow and green to reflect their characters. Having the prostitutes live in a building that is an analogy for post-war Japan is even smarter. The building is bombed out, its occupants desperate, many have lost family in the war and for some the sight of people burned to death has made them individually heartless, desperate and mad. The fact that most of them live in the basement indicates that they have plummeted into the depths of hell. For cinema goers in Japan in 1964, just enjoying the fruits of the boom years for their rebuilt economy and also a new found pride and respectability, this must have been a sobering but also satisfying reminder of where they had been and how far they had come.

I had no idea what to expect going into GATE OF FLESH. It's yet another in a long line of discs that I've had lying around for ages that I acquired several years back in my film- trading days.  From the title I was expecting some sort of Euro art-house porn-what I got was something entirely different...The storyline revolves around a group of hookers in post WWII Japan-where thieving, prostitution, black-markets, and overall abject poverty are the order of the day. The film is basically a snapshot of the women's lives and life in their little shantytown in general. Once the audience is brought up to speed on the women and their daily routines-a monkey-wrench is thrown into the mix, in the way of Shin-an ex-Japanese military man who invades their domain and becomes an object of admiration (and lust) to the hookers. The actual story of the film hits it's stride when Shin's involvement with the women begins to cause derision amongst them...Although there doesn't seem to be many such films-I've always enjoyed the few that i've seen that mix true historical subject-matter with an exploitation-film style. Excluding more campy films that might fall into this genre (like pretty much the entire Nazisploit sub- genre...) the only others that readily come to mind were from Chinese director T. F. Mou with his films LOST SOULS, MEN BEHIND THE SUN, and THE NANKING MASSACRE. Though not nearly as blatantly exploitative as the aforementioned-GATE OF FLESH has a similar 'vibe'. There's obviously an air of authenticity that is felt throughout the film (the cramped, sweaty environments and layer of grime that literally seemed to coat the film), but the material is also handled in a somewhat off-hand way that was sure to also come off as 'shocking' to audiences at the time. I also found GATE OF FLESH to be an interesting, precursory look at what was soon to come of the actual pinku genre, once it hit in Japan a few years later. Although definitely not a pink-film by definition-most of the trappings were there-just not as blatantly and full-on exploitative as they would become in later films. I also am a sucker for a down-beat ending-and this one delivers on that front as well. The cinematography, sets, and acting are all very solid for what is obviously a low-budget film, even for it's time. Overall, I would say that this film may not necessarily be 'enjoyable' so to speak-but it's definitely an interesting and well-made look into both the subject-matter that it portrays, and the early roots of Japanese exploitation cinema in general. I will warn the sleaze-heads out there though-if you're looking for the typical nudity and rape-fueled  type of film that we all know and love-you'll definitely be disappointed. Although the way it's shot is cleverly done-there is no actual female nudity in this one. In fact-the only nudity we do get is a bit of man-ass. A shame- I would've rated it a little higher had we seen some goods-but I'll forgive that as much as I can given the 1964 time-stamp. Regardless-a solid film that I'd recommend for fans of this era of Japanese film-making. 7.5/10

I love Asian cinema and have seen quite a few Japanese films. And, in this case, I just can't agree with how others felt about this particular film. This is, I guess, a technically well-made film compared to all the others. The camera-work and sound and all that are just fine. But, even with decent production values, I just can't recommend this film because it's just so oppressively grim and unpleasant and I can't see much purpose to viewing it other than to learn how terrible life could be at that time. While this sort of grimness is not a problem with some films, such as SCHINDLER'S LIST, I just can't see any reason why anyone would want to see this mess. The story is about post-war Japan and a small part of Tokyo that has degenerated into a "dog eat dog" world of pimps, prostitutes and thieves. It shows their day to day lives and the awfulness of the human spirit, and while I am a bit of a pessimist myself at times, I can't see why I'd want to subject myself to this unpleasant mess. I know there are terrible people in the world, but can't see why this merits a film about them.

Suzuki is the master! He has made the greatest examples of 60's low budget exploitation cinema. The way he uses a different color to represent each of the prostitutes almost makes them appear like demons in that underground lair of theirs. But who is the real monster of the film? The occupying Americans who use the prostitutes? The prostitutes themselves? Or is it the hate filled ex-soldier (played by the great Joe Shishido!) who controls the women?