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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- Japanese torture extravaganza!, 23 October 2000 Author: Robert Rønning (?NECRO?) from Norway
Teruo Ishii's extremely provocative movie set in the 1600 in feudal Japan. 3 short stories dealing with punishment and torture. The first deals with incest where a woman is beaten and tortured to death for having an affair with her dying brother. The second is about lesbian nuns and the third story shows a crazy tattoo artist who kidnaps a woman to use as his canvas. Even though this movie is over 35 years old, the effects and the gore are amazing! Humans burned at barbeques, decapitations and more torture than you could possibly wish for makes this classic videonasty a must have for all fans of good and gory movies!Don't miss out on the even more extreme sequel; The Joys of Torture 2: Oxen Split Torturing!
8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- Very harsh Japanese torture film., 25 October 2005 Author: HumanoidOfFlesh from Chyby, Poland
"Shogun's Joy Of Torture" is the first part in Teruo Ishii's so-called "Tokugawa Series".This episode is set in seventeenth century Japan,when members of the Tokugawa clan ruled the country with fear and terror.Punishment for those who broke the rules set by the Shogunate was brutal and severe."Shogun's Joy Of Torture" tells three terrifying stories about guilt,crime,and punishment.The film is loaded with some truly shocking torture scenes,so some unprepared viewers will be offended.Women are decapitated,burned alive,beaten,whipped or torn in two by oxen.The production values are high,the cinematography is polished and the soundtrack is moody and sad."Joy of Torture" spawned seven sequels from Teruo Ishii.All of them are truly sadistic spectacles of violence and misogyny,so fans of Japanese exploitation should check them out.9 out of 10.
3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- The First Entry In Teruo Ishii's JOYS OF TORTURE Series...., 5 September 2006 Author: EVOL666 from St. John's Abortion Clinic
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
I'd been holding on to this one for a month or two now, and just finally got around to checking it out. Though I liked YAKUZA LAW: LYNCHING! (one of the later films in the series), I was not too impressed with INFERNO OF TORTURE, so I let this one lay on the back-burner for a while. Big mistake. This, the original JOYS OF TORTURE film, is definitely one of the more notable entries in the pinku-style ero-goru films - especially for it's 1968 time-stamp. Like several of the other JOYS OF TORTURE films, and also like it's "unofficial" sequel, SHOGUN'S SADISM (which many don't realize WAS NOT directed by Ishii and is not a "true" part of the JOYS OF TORTURE series), this film is told anthology-style, with three tales that center around...oddly enough, torture.The first story involves an incestuous brother and sister couple where after the brother's suicide, the sister is put to death for her refusal to deny their "relationship". The second tells of some power-hungry and corrupt nuns - one of which becomes obsessed with a monk and tortures him and his "girlfriend" because of her jealousy - until the constabulary finds out about the nuns' goings-on, and kills them all for their misconduct. The last installment is about a tattoo artist who is intent to create a master-work of torture-art on a young lady's back, and uses a friends position as an interrogator to gain access to witness the torture first-hand...I have to say that I enjoyed JOYS OF TORTURE as much as I did Makiguchi's SHOGUN'S SADISM, thought it isn't quite as gory as that particular film. What JOYS lacks in gore compared to SHOGUN'S SADISM(though don't get me wrong, there's still a good bit for a film from 1968, and tons of torture on display...), it surpasses in terms of storyline. The acting and sets/set-pieces are all very well done, and the cinematography is beautiful and crisp. A must-see for pinku/Japanese exploitation film fans...9/10
2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :- Loaches need lovin', 9 July 2006 Author: Scott-from-Modesto (andrea_yates_clogged_drain@comcast.net) from United States
Teruo Ishii isn't really one of my favorite ero-goru directors. Too often his work is pedestrian, boring, lacking in sensuality, etc. This first entry in the Joys of Torture series has a few things working in its favor--at the very least it's not nearly as bland as some of the director's later work. There's lots of torture and sex, needless to say, but the next decade's unofficial sequel Joys of Torture 2 (aka Shogun's Sadism) has it much better and more of it.Joys of Torture is comprised of three Edo period vignettes revolving around punishments meted out during the time of the Tokugawa shogunate. The first is a tragic incest tale showing a woman's true love for her brother who fell ill and died, but not before being intimate with her. This is a relatively romanticized piece as our heroine pays the ultimate price to uphold her brother's honor even after his death, despite a soft judge who wants to let her go.The second story arc follows the romance between a lowly nun and a priest from the nearby monastery. When their relationship is discovered by the head abbess, it leads into blackmail and possible betrayal. This is a decent storyline touching again on themes of true love.The third story is the film's strong point, in my humble opinion. A tattoo artist whose work has become stale asks his lord to witness the torture of Europeans who have been accused of spreading their beliefs. Of course, the artist not only needs inspiration to make his work relevant again, he also needs the perfect canvas for his new masterpiece.The Tokugawa films are packed with casually sadistic violence. In this installment, we are presented with bondage, beatings, whippings, rape, water torture, dismemberment, decapitations, burnings, stabbings, miscellaneous gore, and a nice scene where a nun is submerged in a kettle as baskets of loaches are dumped in (the creatures immediately swim into her private area). High production values are consistent with other Toei productions of the time and Ishii here does a good job of giving depth to the drama. This is basically a must-see for ero-goru enthusiasts, and you already know if you are one. 9/10.
0 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Three tales of torture, 20 July 2008 Author: The_Void from Beverley Hills, England
The Joy of Torture is apparently a part of a trilogy of torture films. It's the first one I've seen so I can't compare it to the other three; but it's certainly an interesting and well made film in its own right. The film is divided into three separate short stories and, as the title suggests, they are all about torture. While I did enjoy the film on the whole; I do have to say that I'm glad it was split into three rather than featuring just one long story as there's only really so much that can be done with this idea and the fact that the story changes three times means that the film stays fresh for the duration. The first story focuses on a brother and sister. The brother becomes ill and the pair end up having an incestuous relationship, which leads to her being tortured as incest is against the law. This is a well acted and well filmed little story and the focus is mostly on the drama between the pair. The torture and gore doesn't turn up until the end and the 'romance' between the brother and sister is not exactly heartfelt. Still, it's a decent opener.The second story focuses on a familiar exploitation location - the Church, and focuses on the love between a nun and a priest, which naturally doesn't go down too well. This is another strong story, although the focus of it is a bit too similar to the first one with it focusing on a forbidden love. The third and final story is undoubtedly the best of the film as it tries to do something a little different from the first two. Rather than tell a story and depict the guilty parties being tortured; this time we focus on a great tattoo artist who decides that he wants to make his masterpiece on the back a young girl. He wants to paint a torture scene and in order to do this, gets himself an invite to a live torture chamber. Before the title credits we get to see a woman have her head cut off and body cut in half; and on the basis of this, I was expecting something really gory and so was a bit disappointed. The only extended scenes of torture happen in the final story and while well done; the film isn't the hardcore exploitation that I was expecting. Still, this is a good film and it's recommended to fans of this sort of stuff.
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