Those viewers familiar with Japanese director Koyu Ohara's zany sex farces of the early '70s are in for quite a shock if they see this appallingly misogynistic excursion into sexual sadism. A vicious rape-killer terrorizes a city, while pretty Tomoko (Erina Miyai) unwittingly derails the investigation by fingering the wrong suspect. The predictable plot line, however, is lowered into the dark recesses of Sadean cinema by some of the most grotesque murders this side of "Giallo a Venezia". One scene has the killer inserting a lightbulb into his female victim and kicking her stomach until it shatters inside her. This is the sort of material that gave extreme pinku eiga films their bad reputation, and while it would be nice to call it atypical, it was successful enough in Japan to result in half a dozen sequels including lovingly surreal "Zoom In: Rape Apartments" by Naosuke Kurosawa. I saw "Zoom Up: Rape Site" during its brief theatrical run in Osaka, in 1980. It certainly left the lasting impression on me.
Review of Zoom Up: Rape Site
