Friday, March 29 at 7pm
Saturday, March 30 at 5pm
Spotlight on Shintoho
Spotlight on Shintoho
dir. Ishii Teruo, 1960, 35mm transfer to digital, b/w, 79 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles
dir. Nakagawa Nobuo, 1960, 35mm transfer to digital, b/w, 76 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles
An exotic dancer (Mhara Yoko) is kidnapped by a killer on the run (Amachi Shigeru). When her newspaper reporter boyfriend (Teruo Yoshida) finds her missing, he starts a search that leads him to Kobe and its teemins, foreign “kasbah.” More than in any other of his Shintoho films, director Ishii Teruo creates his own special atmosphere redolent of sex, decadence and danger.
A woman is falsely accused of murder when her rich father is fatally poisoned. Sentenced to death, she manages to escape -- and go in search of the real killer. While serving as a template for later Japanese “women in prison” pictures, from its woman-on-woman brawls to its then-daring suggestions of same-sex passion, the film is also a tense, taut thriller.
Friday, March 29 at 9pm
Saturday, March 30 at 7pm
Vampire Bride
Flesh Pier
Yellow Line
Spotlight on Shintoho
Death Row Woman
Spotlight on Shintoho
dir. Namiki Kotaro, 1960, 35mm transfer to digital, b/w, 80 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles
dir. Ishii Teruo, 1958, 35mm transfer to digital, b/w, 73 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles
An aspiring actress becomes an object of envy to her rivals when she lands a studio contract. They push her off a cliff -- and she survives, but with a horrible facial scar. An old shaman restores her beauty, but when she is enraged she transforms into a hairy vampire! Highly unusual treatment of the vampire theme, with an all-out performance by Ikeuchi Junko as the actress/vampire.
An undercover cop (Utsui Ken) infiltrates a nightclub that is the center of a call girl ring with the help of his former girlfriend (Mihara Yoko), who is mixed up in the ring herself. Shot in a semi-documentary style, this thriller reflects director Ishii Teruo’s intimate acquaintance with Tokyo postwar underworld. Saturday, March 30 at 9pm
Spotlight on Shintoho
Ghost Cat of Otama Pond dir. Ishikawa Yoshiro, 1960, 35mm transfer to digital, color, 75 min., Japanese w/ English subtitles
A lost couple end up in a haunted house by a mysterious pond. There they learn from a priest of the events in the long-ago past that led to the haunting -- events that threaten their very lives. Director Ishikawa Yoshiro apprenticed under Shintoho horror meister Nakagawa Nobuo and delivers his shocks with a similar skill and conviction.
Vampire Bride 40