Director – Masaru Konuma (Flower and Snake, Wife to be Sacrificed)
Starring – Saeko Kizuki (Entrails of a Virgin, Love Bites Back), Kojiro Kusanagi (The Vanished, The Deep Red), and Takashi Obara
Release Date – 1985
Rating – 3/5
I like checking out movies I’ve never seen before especially horror movies from around the world. You never know what treasures you will find. A lot of the movie distribution companies like to focus on re-releasing movies that are guaranteed to make them profit while some focus on never before released films or films that got lost in the end of VHS. Companies like Vinegar Syndrome, Synapse Films, Severin Films, and a few others focus on bringing genre fans movies they may have never seen before and in some cases never heard of before.
Synapse Films sister label Impulse Pictures is known for releasing sexploitation and other films from the sleazy side of cinema. I recently reviewed the Japanese torture porn Lolita: Vibrator Torture and was surprised when I discovered that I actually liked it. I had received two more Impulse Pictures releases sometime after I got that one in for review. The first of those two is the 1985 Japanese torture porn Woman in a Box: Virgin Sacrifice.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows a young couple who is looking for the next step in their sex life. The woman will do anything to please her man but he has become bored with their sex life. They currently drive around town in their van with one way mirrors and fuck while people walk around their car unaware that the couple is in there fucking. He wants to try something else and convinces his lover to kidnap a virgin to torture and molest. She agrees and they find a young woman walking in the rain. They offer her sancturary from the storm in their van and she accepts. Once inside she learns they plan on hurting her and tries to flee. She is unable to leave the van and soon finds herself in their sex dungeon in a box where she is subject to the man’s every fantasy. **Spoiler Alert**
I went into Lolita: Vibrator Torture with low expectations and was actually shocked when I found a surprisingly decent film before me. I was curious how Woman in a Box would play out. Would it be just as fun as the previous film or would it be the stereotypical torture porn flick that I typically avoid? The answer is a surprising both!
The acting in this one is not the best I’ve scene but works for the film. If you grew up in the 90s and watched anything on skinamax then you know the caliber of acting this film has. You don’t have to be the best actor or that experienced to dry hump your co-star.
The story for this one blends torture porn with character narrative. It’s weird to say that but you see so much character development in this one when they are not raping and dry humping each other. I also really liked the ending. I was not expecting the movie to end on that kind of note but it did. I don’t see myself revisiting this one but it was definitely a fun watch for a first time viewing.
Finally, this one does not have any deaths or murder scenes. We get a little blood but the main focus of this one is the depravity and story. Overall, Woman in a Box: Virgin Sacrifice is not as relentless or vile as I was expecting. Rape does make me uncomfortable but this film doesn’t make that the focus of the story. It’s just something twisted that happens in the scenes. Check it out on DVD now from Impulse Pictures.
