Female Prisoner Scorpion: Grudge Song (1973)

In the fourth (and final for Meiko Kaji) installment of the Female Prisoner Scorpion franchise Yasuharu Hasebe of Stray Cat Rock fame takes the directors chair, taking over from series veteran Shunya Ito.

"The film opens with Nami Matsushima (a.k.a. Matsu, a.k.a. Scorpion) once again on the lam. The police track her down at a wedding, but she manages to escape. Badly injured, she is saved by a man who works in a strip joint and holds a grudge against the police for torturing him. Can the Scorpion trust a man again? Should she?"

So is it any good despite the departure of Shunya Ito? I'd say so, yes. The film is still very much of the same style, from the tilted camera angles, surrealist outbreaks, Bavaesque lighting compositions and an interesting painted backdrop is used, very much in the same vein as Masaki Koboyashi's Kwaidan and the original Female Prisoner Scorpion film. I can't comment on whether Yasuharu carries over any of his own traits from the Stray Cat series as I unfortunately haven't had a chance to see them yet.

However, having said that, I do not think that these elements are pulled off with the same amount of bravado as Ito. That isn't to say Yasuharu failed at all, that's far from the case, Grudge Song is still a highly enjoyable film and better than I originally expected it to be. The main problem is that occasionally when Yasuharu attempts to imitate the stylistic traits from the earlier entries in the series, they come across as just that... imitations. The tilted camera angles are one of my favorite cinematographic traits in the series, yet I can't help but feel that they are often overused in this film, or that Yasuharu wasn't completely sure as to when he should be using them. In the previous three entries the tilted camera is used exceptionally well to distribute power between the characters in the frame, yet I don't really get the same feeing from this film as the tilt is used so often. However there was one shot that impressed me featuring Matsu and an evil prison warden on the steps of the gallows, by tilting the camera Yauharu manages to keep both characters completely in frame without ruining his close up which I found aesthetically pleasing.

Another minor problem I had with this installment is that I didn’t feel like the viewer could always get behind Matsu’s actions in this one. You may be thinking why should one care about morality in a pinky violence film? You’re probably right, and therein lies the problem. The way in which certain scenes play out Grudge Song more or less force you to evaluate Matsu’s actions, and in a way it diminishes your support of the character. I’m not too sure if questions of morality really fit the series, Matsu is an angel of justice for the downtrodden, so it comes as a shock to see her for example kill a pregnant woman just due to her associates. It isn’t that I oppose to having to think about the protagonists actions, it’s more about forcing the viewer to reevaluate their association with a well established character didn’t seem quite right to me.