Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion

1972 ‘女囚701号/さそり’ Directed by Shunya Ito

A woman betrayed and imprisoned. A mission of vengeance.

After being cruelly set up by a crooked detective named Sugimi (Isao Natsuyagi), whom she loved, Nami Matsushima (aka Matsu the Scorpion) (Meiko Kaji) is sentenced to do hard time in a women's prison, which is run by sadistic and horny male guards. There are 700 other prisoners, making Matsu number 701. Her crime was making a failed attempt to stab Sugimi on the steps of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters because he used her to win favor with the Yakuza. While in prison she meets inmates like Yuki Kida (Yayoi Watanabe) who was committed for fraud and theft, Otsuka (Akemi Negishi), jailed for burglary and extortion, and Katagiri (Rie Yokoyama) who has been impounded for arson and illegally disposing of a body.

Meiko Kaji Rie Yokoyama Isao Natsuyagi Fumio Watanabe Yayoi Watanabe Yôko Mihara Akemi Negishi Hideo Murota Yumiko Katayama Keiko Kuni Emi Jo Sue Mitobe Chie Kobayashi Rie Yuki Saburo Date Shinzô Hotta Yôichi Numata Takeo Kamura Shiro Hisano Takashi Hio Kôji Fujiyama Kôji Miemachi Nenji Kobayashi Toshiyuki Tsuchiyama Tako Hachirô Hideko Oda Kaoru Sono Sayoko Tanimoto Keiko Itô Show All…

Alternative Titles

Sasori, Female Prisoner No 701 Scorpion, Joshuu 701-gô: Sasori

thriller crime

87 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Ian West ★★★★½ 3

Some kind of violent kaleidoscopic pop-art gore soaked nightmare. Compact revenge jam with the fiercest eyes, I’d kill to see this on a big screen.
Review by Todd Gaines ★★★½ 7

Lady Snowblood as Nami an innocent girl framed by a dirty cop and sent to a ruthless prison where the inmates and the guards make her life a living Hell. However Nami is relentless and she will do whatever it takes to escape and get her justified revenge in this classic Japanese Women in Prison film. Air raid. Fast doggies. Morning jog. Nude stair climb. Yummy rice! Under the covers. Strip search. Ganja smuggler? Hot soup. Nightstick fuck and suck. Odd or Even looks like a fun game to play while you're in prison. Bloody nose. Group shower. Only some of the prisoners wear orange, I guess they are the only inmates with Netflix and access to Orange Is The…
Review by nathaxnne (hiatus due to injury) ★★★★★ 9

NO SLEEP / NO REMORSE
(patriarchy degree zero :: a ruined right eye :: a hole that can never be filled
no escape until there is
no victory until it comes
a trail of ants over my feet
a fire that will not go out

((dracula cloak, night slip, kitchen knife, daylight, bared teeth, bared teeth // ACAB ACAB ACAB
Review by Willow Maclay ★★★★½ 6

"What is it like to be a Woman?"
Genre cinema frequently asks this question of viewers. In genre it is used as an empathizing technique to ask audiences to identify with a victim and her eventual conflict. By getting viewers to see themselves as the women of these movies filmmakers create a funnel that cycles into tension, horror, action and eventual catharsis through resolution, but what of female audience members? Women already know what it's like to be a woman. We know the feeling of being followed down a side walk for an uncomfortable amount of time. We understand the jeers of men who make comments about our bodies, because this isn't something we go to the cinema to feel,…
Review by Sally Jane Black 2

Again, obviously, I watched this out of order. This is the original Scorpion movie, and while it lacks the magical realish element and keeps most of the flaws of the sequel, it has the same excellent direction the other film had. There are moments the camera positively dances, especially as Scorpion digs in the middle of the pit and the other prisoners are throwing dirt on her. It whirls and whirls, and you get a sense of oppression right there with her.
Really, it surprised me how well made these were. I guess I've just been in the exploitation/grindhouse gutter for a while, so finding decent films in these genres that don't waste their time on filler and bad editing and awkward camera angles is always a plus.
Review by Disgustipated ★★★★ 1

Thanatos, Eros and the Art of Zen - Japanese Erotic Cinema Project - #2
A fierce steely gaze, sharp defiance restrained by shrewd intelligence. A gaze that penetrates like a constant pulse of shurikens launched with deathly precision. A killer gaze that is all the more striking for coming from such an unlikely face, one that is beautifully crafted with high cheek bones, a small mouth and full lips, framed by long black hair, like obsidian fondue streaming down along the lines of her supple figure. Pity the fool that crosses Matsu the Scorpion. Then again, never has the angel of death been so goddamn smoking hot.
Mmmm... fondue...

Recent reviews

Review by Tyler Blankenship ★★★★½

Exploitation never looked so good
Review by Alejandro Valadez ★★★★

A pop-art fever dream with some of the best camerawork I've seen. It's a marriage between arthouse and exploitation, if that makes sense.
Review by 500daysofAidan ★★★

I like it, I can see all the bits of kill bill that’s in the film and see why he likes it so much.
Review by Justin LaLiberty ★★★★

lol when people act like staying home is being in prison, I'm going to tell them to watch this
Review by jodai_dunbnt ★★★★

❤️ Meiko Kaji ❤️
Review by sequinfishbait ★★★★★

Kaji fucking Meiko is my fox-eyed revenge QUEEN. This was my foray into pinky violence and I must say I am bitten red for more.
Review by Chris ★★★

Pretty enjoyable watch, definitely intriguing enough that I’m going to check out the rest. Really loved the scene setting up the main characters backstory and the way it was staged sort of like a play. The payoff of the revenge at the end is a little lackluster, it feels really crammed in to the end when I wouldn’t have minded trimming some fat from the middle of the movie instead.
Review by Charles-Olivier

À la fois de la grosse vidange misogyne et un peu la meilleure chose qui existe si une telle chose est possible? La scène des douches.
Il y a une idée complètement space pour chaque plan, c'est malade. Quoique ça se calme dans la dernière demi-heure, mais ça se rattrape vite avec l'outfit absolument iconique de Meiko Kaji. Voyons donc.
C'était un plan C en réalité. J'avais surtout envie de commencer les Battles Without Honour and Humanity de Kinji Fukasaku, mais ils sont tous disparus de Shudder pour des raisons quelconques. Je voulais aussi regarder Cannibal Ferox (as one does), mais le film refuse de jouer?
Câline Shudder, que se passe-t-il avec toi?
C'est pas comme si je m'étais fait chier à regarder ça à la place non plus hein, au contraire.
Review by DurrrMetal ★★★½

Meiko Kaji is a bad bitch.