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ANGEL GUTS Featured Movies: High School Co-ed, Red Classroom, Nami, Red Porno and Red Vertigo. Rating: TBC (This is currently a review-in-progress!) Cutting Remarks: Sexualised violence isn't something Slasherama particularly gets off on. Oh, sure, we'll watch a violent rape-revenge flick like I Spit On Your Grave or even Death Wish 3 as keenly as the next website, but movies which are all about that stuff tend to literally turn us off. It's an interesting paradox for a horror fan who feels this way: we'll gladly watch women being cut to pieces, but as soon as they're raped it's another story. That's why the Belgian docu-shocker Man Bites Dog was so effective: you could laugh at pretty much of all the killer's murders, until he sexually invaded someone. Anyway, we digress. Let's take a look at Artsmagic's lovely-looking box-set of extremely unpleasant Japanese flicks. This loose film series came, incidentally, from a series of Manga comic strips. Clearly, we weren't talking Tom and Jerry there...       Let's take a look at 1978's HIGH SCHOOL CO-ED first, a depressingly grim piece of work. Three bikers ride about town, finding young girls to rape in uncomfortably prolonged sequences. One of them, Kiji, is an out-and-out sex maniac, Sada is handy with a knife and Kawashima is The One With A Conscience. Only slightly, though, as he continues to molest along with the others. Kawashima and Kiji fall out, provoking the latter to sexually assault Kawashima's young sister Megu, in a distinctly unclean sequence. While there's admittedly no attempt to glamourise rape here - its effect on Megu is actually quite well-written and played - this is really pointless trash, making a half-hearted attempt at significance. The ending, which seems hilariously random, is absolutely abysmal.       So that's a good start, then. Check back soon for the remainder of the review, as we watch 'em... DVD Extras: Fans of this series will flip out: there's over two-and-a-half hours of extra fun to be had here. Seven director interviews (mainly with subtitles), five commentaries, original sleeve art (with a nifty feature that allows you to highlight areas of the sleeves to be translated), trailers, bio/filmographies. A very comprehensive package. Release Date: Released in the US on March 29, 2005. [Check it out at Amazon.com] [Reviews Menu] [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present