Tenshi no harawata: Akai memai (1988)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Takashi Ishii

Writers:

Takashi Ishii (manga series Tenshi no harawata)
Takashi Ishii (screenplay)

Release Date:

7 May 1988 (Japan)

Plot Keywords:

Sex | Softcore | Female Nudity | Fifth Part | Based On Comic

Cast

Mayako Katsuragi	...	Nami Tsuchiya
Naoto Takenaka	...	Tetsuro Muraki
Hirofumi Kobayashi	...	Kenji Ohta
Jun Izumi	...	Ayumi
Kazuyo Ezaki	...	Nogawa
Akira Otaka	...	Mine
Akira Emoto	...	Yakuza
Saeko Kizuki	...	Yakuza's lover
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yuuho Yamauchi

Directed by
Takashi Ishii

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Takashi Ishii		manga series Tenshi no harawata
Takashi Ishii		screenplay

Produced by
Yoshiyuki Kaino	....	producer
Naoya Narita	....	producer
Takashi Sakuda	....	planner

Cinematography by
Yasushi Sasakibara

Film Editing by
Akimasa Kawashima

Production Design by
Terumi Hosoishi

Art Direction by
Terumi Hosoishi

Makeup Department
Mayumi Shoji	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sadaaki Haginiwa	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Yoshirô Sakawa	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Masao Kanazawa	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Nikkatsu

Distributors

• Nikkatsu (1988) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Artsmagic (US) Ltd. (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Asian Cult Cinema (video)
• Pioneer LDC (2001) (Japan) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Angel Guts: Red Dizziness (USA) (DVD title)
Red Vertigo (USA) (DVD box title)
Tenshi no harawata 5 (Japan) (series title)

Runtime:

Japan:74 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Nikkatsu

Movie Connections:

Follows Jokôsei: tenshi no harawata (1978)

Probably the best Angel Guts movie.

Yet another soft core sex flick from Japan. Yet again filled with perverse goings-on and shady characters. Yet again about a woman discovering and becoming comfortable with her sexuality. Yet again all men are sex-starved pigs and women the (often) unwilling objects of their desires. Then why the decent rating? Hard to say really.

A nurse is assaulted and nearly raped by some hoodlums at her hospital. She manages to escape and runs home for comfort, only to discover her husband cheating on her. She then flees her home only to have the bad luck of being hit by a car. And then, as if things weren't bad enough, she wakes up just in time to find herself being molested by the man that hit her. Talk about a bad day.

After the initial attack, the man keeps her captive and a classic case of Stolkhome syndrome kicks in, with her willingly giving into his advances. During this period viewers are treated to some graphic, if fogged-out, sex scenes that are a welcome contrast to the earlier scenes of sexual violence.

Despite myself, I did enjoy this film. I started for the kinky sex, but ended staying with it for the relationship between the characters, both of whom are victims of social ill; the woman that of physical, the man that of emotional. They just want a happy ending and by the end so do you. It is very much an urban fairy tale.

The film is in no way a technical marvel. It is a low-budget effort, but the makers use what they have well enough that it doesn't get in the way very often.

Despite being pretty slow in parts and fairly graphic sexually, there is a quality story being told here.

7/10