Jokôsei: tenshi no harawata (1978)

Director:

Chusei Sone

Writers:

Toshiharu Ikeda (screenplay)
Takashi Ishii (manga series Tenshi no harawata)
(more)

Release Date:

22 July 1978 (Japan)

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Female Nudity | Apology | Based On Comic | Brother Sister Relationship | First Of Series

Cast

Tatsuma Higuchi	...	Sadakuni
Tsutomu Hori		(as Ben Hori)
Shin Kagayama
Kenji Kasai	...	Kajima
Megu Kawashima	...	Megu, Tetsurô's sister
Ken Kazama
Kazuyuki Komiya
Maya Kudou		(as Maya Kudô)
Toshihiko Oda
Machiko Ohtani	...	Nami Tsuchiya
Ryuusaku Shinsui	...	Police Detective A
Sanshô Shinsui	...	Tetsurô Kawashima (as Sanshô Shinsui)
Yoshimasa Tôma
Tokuko Watanabe
Tomoko Yamanoue
Hiroyasu Yoshida	...	Police Detective B

Directed by
Chusei Sone		(as Chuusei Sone)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Toshiharu Ikeda		screenplay
Takashi Ishii		manga series Tenshi no harawata
Ryuusaku Shinsui		screenplay

Produced by
Yoshiyuki Kaino	....	executive producer: Nikkatsu
Naoya Narita	....	planner

Original Music by
Masumi Oono

Cinematography by
Nobumasa Mizunoo

Film Editing by
Shinji Yamada

Production Design by
Heihachiro Watanabe		(as Heihachirô Watanabe)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toshiharu Ikeda	....	assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
Moriyasu Tsuchida	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Artsmagic (US) Ltd. (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Asian Cult Cinema (video)
• Nikkatsu (1978) (Japan) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Angel Guts: High School Coed (USA) (DVD title)
Tenshi no harawata 1 (Japan) (series title)

Runtime:

Japan:79 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Nikkatsu

Movie Connections:

Followed by Tenshi no harawata: Akai senkô (1994)

Rawest entry of the series

This first installment in the ANGEL GUTS series is the loudest and rawest. It focuses on three street punks who behave like Kubrick's Droogs in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. They spend most of their spare time raping women, harassing women and plotting to rape more women. Their routine is interrupted when one of the trio exhibits a conscience.

Director Chusei Sone employs a rugged, hand-held approach to the material and milks entirely convincing performances from the youthful cast. As rape is a consistent staple of this series, there is plenty of it in this outing, although none of it is pictorially graphic. One nightmare sequence, in which a young woman is stabbed repeatedly in the groin, does possess a poisonous cinematic power.

There is an erotic edge to the film's sexuality and, as per expectations, an emphasis on female underwear and garment tearing.

Plaudits should go to cinematographer Nobumasa Mizunoo who embellishes the film with stark, white-hot visuals and toys with both color and black and white.

The film is a character study of the dangerous miscreants who walk among us and portrays sociopathic behavior as being just one step sideways for most of us.