Admittedly, I haven’t explored much of 70s Japanese exploitation cinema, but seeing this pop up on Shudder and then discovering the Arrow box set and seeing the reviews here, I decided to give it a shot.

Whoa, I wasn’t a little bit disappointed.  Absolutely stunning cinematography, Bava-esque lighting and gel action, every camera angle is deliberate and heightens the highly stylized drama.  Largely silent performance from the lead, but she does more with her stares than most characters in a Fulci film.  While it’s a pretty standard women in prison revenge story, the creativity of the filmmaking really sets this apart.  Moving sets, hyper stylized lighting - especially during the kills and bursts of violence - and much more.

A bit heavy on the misogyny, but then again not a single male character has any redeeming qualities either and I suppose the over abundance of nudity and subjugation was the Trojan horse the filmmaker was required to use.

Eager to see the others in this series now, as well as the lead actress’ Lady Snowblood films.  Thank you Letterboxd and Arrow for turning me on to this.  Great extras on the Arrow disc as well, including interviews with Garreth Evans and the director.