Four Complete Uncut Motion Pictures on Four Discs
Original Japanese language with optional ON/OFF English subtitles

      

Between 1968-73, Teruo Ishii directed eight movies which have become known as the Joys of Torture series.
This DVD package is Volume One
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FILM ONE
HISTORY OF THE SHOGUN'S HAREM [Tokugawa Onna Keizu] (1968)
director Teruo Ishi
starring: Teruo Yoshida · Masayo Banri · Asao Koike · Mieko Fujimoto

FILM TWO
HISTORY OF FEMALE PUNISHMENT [Tokugawa Onna Keibatsushi] (1968)
also known as CRIMINAL WOMEN
director Teruo Ishi
starring: Masumi Tachibana · Teruo Yoshida · Fumio Watanabe · Asao Koike

FILM THREE
INFERNO OF TORTURE [Tokugawa Irezumi Shi Seme Jigoka] (1969)
also known as TATTOO HISTORY: TORTURE HELL
director Teruo Ishi
starring: Teruo Yoshida · Asao Koike · Yumiko Katayama · Mieko Fujimoto

FILM FOUR
ORGIES OF EDO [Genroku Onna Keizu: Zankoku, Ijo, Gyakutai Monogatari] (1969)
translated title DECADENT EDO FEMALE GENEALOGY:
ABNORMAL AND ABUSIVE BRUTALITY
director Teruo Ishi
starring: Teruo Yoshida · Masumi Tachibana · Yukie Kagawa · Akira Ishihama

    

Director Teruo Ishii's cold, no-nonsense approach to sadistic behavior makes this film all the more aberrant. Originally released as part of his Joys of Torture series (1968-73), these projects were known as "Ero-Gro" (Erotic Grotesque), a term still used today in Japan to describe the most perverse of the S&M genre. In these films, the reason for the torture isn't as important as the punishment itself. The themes are decidedly misogynist with lots of whipping, stretching, strapping, pierce, beating, thrashing and various stages of suspension, bondage, bastinado, incarceration, for any number of reasons. But without exception, the victims in these four films are exclusively female.
   The reason for the torture is not as important as the punishment itself. These films (with the exception of #3) deal very little with character developement as they are structured in a confining omnibus style. Rather, here are vignettes based on historical facts which range from a sadistic lord looking for the perfect masochistic mate (History of the Shogun's Harem) to an artist obsessed with capturing the most expressive depiction of pain (History of Female Punishment). The third movie tells a single story. It opens and closes with multiple crucifixions and graphic tortures, but the real plot deals with enslaved prostitutes living in Edo's Yoshiwara district.