This listing is for the standard edition Blu-ray. The limited edition hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Luke Insect) was limited to 4,000 units and is sold out. The two versions are identical, aside from the packaging and 40-page book.
The 1970s through 1990s saw a boom in transgressive genre filmmaking throughout Asia, but particularly in Japan where the "Pinku Eiga" became one of the most popular types of films produced in the country. With young filmmakers seizing an opportunity to hone their craft, countless soon-to-be celebrated directors created work which were more daring, unusual, and often shocking than just about any of the other genre cinema ergering across the globe. Pink Line will present exclusive new restorations of select works from key Asian erotic filmmakers, with a focus on Japan's Pinku Eiga genre.
One of the most esteemed and transgressive filmmakers ever to work in Japan's explosively popular Pink Film genre, Hisayasu Satô crafted erotic films that were both genre-defying and artfully-minded. While Satô's work is infused with horror and thriller tropes, it boasts a punk and avant-garde aesthetic singularly his own. In this debut release, Pink Line begins to explore this immense body of work with three of Satô's most outlandish and profound features, each newly and exclusively restored in 2K from their 35mm original camera negatives with newly-translated English subtitles, all under the supervision of Satô himself.
In LUSTMORD (aka Pleasure Kill), Satô commences his meditation on the fusion of sex and death. Eiji, a reclusive and awkward teenage boy, is fixated on creating a serum capable of breaking down the barrier between pleasure and pain, much to the dismay of his research physician mother. Deciding to conduct his own experiments, Eiji slips the serum to several women, but is unprepared for the horrifying results. Later remade by Satô as the straight horror feature Naked Blood, this early directing effort conjures a remarkable waking nightmare approach, as the impending threat of violence and insanity permeates every scene as it builds towards a typically cynical and cryptic conclusion.
RE-WIND (aka Celluloid Nightmare) functions as Satô's tribute to Michael Powell's masterpiece Peeping Tom. After a grisly, point-of-view snuff videotape is found in a refrigerator, a young man becomes obsessed with discovering who made it and whether or not the brutal murder was real. As he delves into Tokyo's underground video scene, his own perversions come to the fore as he grows ever closer to uncovering the shocking truth, alongside a female reporter who calls herself Crime Hunter. Fusing gruesome gore and raw sex while wryly playing with the artifice inherent to the video format, RE-WIND remains one of Satô's most powerful and impressive early works.
LOVE LETTER IN THE SAND (aka Pervert Ward: Torturing the White Uniform), is Satô crafting a noir-inspired erotic thriller, using blazing, heavily-gelled color. During a month of unusually heavy rain in Tokyo, a mystery assailant has been brutally assaulting and killing people with a metal bat. When a handsome young man with amnesia is found outside an area hospital, the nurse who discovered him begins to suspect that he may in fact be the assailant. But her own strange erotic fixations with him, and the questionable involvement of the doctor tasked with the amnesia victim, lead them all down an increasingly twisted path of deeply-rooted trauma and violence.
directed by: Hisayasu Satô
starring: Masae Abe, Sayaka Hitomi, Kiyomi Itô, Maya Shiraki, Yoko Fujita,
Shigeru Sasaki, Nanako Fujitani, Yui Hoshikawa
1987, 1988, 1988 / 58 min, 64 min, 61 min / 1.85:1 / Japanese DTS-HD MA 1.0
Additional info:
LUSTMORD
RE-WIND
LOVE LETTER IN THE SAND
Overall rating: 4.791246 / 5 from 297 reviews.
The Blu-ray collection features restored films with excellent picture and sound quality. The transfer and restoration process received high praise, and the packaging was also well-regarded. The collection includes intriguing films by Japanese director Hisayasu Satô, with customers expressing excitement for the release and the potential for future volumes.
Review topics: ["quality","packaging","design","feels","looks","box","value","work","set","film","release","movie","collection","transfer","restoration","volume","buy","start","line","feature","book","sato","extras","introduction","edition","fan","selection","intro","entry","love letter"].
"I wasn't sure what to expect with these, so getting a full set of movies from someone I know nothing about was a bit of a reach. But it's been a nice inclusion to my collection of erotica. This certainly looks like a series I'll continue to explore. Great packaging on the release. Very well done!"
"I know we’re up to like Vol. 4 by this point, but keep ‘em coming! Three solid choices for the first volume. For those who missed the LE slip, don’t worry, the films are worth it."
"Re-Wind (also known as Celluloid Nightmares and Abnormal Ugly Abuse) is a 1988 pinku eiga film directed by Hisayasu Sato. It stands as Sato's most narratively driven film and draws heavy inspiration from Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. The story kicks off when a disturbing point-of-view snuff videotape, showing a murder committed with a camera rigged with a hidden knife, is discovered. Obsessed with finding out whether the footage is real and identifying its creator, a young man plunges into Tokyo's underground video scene, uncovering his own perversions along the way. Re-Wind is a fun, stylish arthouse film. It offers a fantastic portrayal of urban Tokyo that oozes atmosphere. Although it is slow-paced, it runs for just 1 hour and 5 minutes, so it never overstays its welcome. The central mystery element keeps viewers thoroughly interested and engaged. Furthermore, Sato showcases a lot of analog technology throughout, offering a great trip back in time, a rewind of the tape, if you will. Don't get me wrong: this is a weird film and surely not to everyone's taste. Out of its three titles, my favorite is Re-Wind because it ties directly into the ending, where Crime Hunter had to rewind to get a second wind. Overall, Re-Wind is a great introduction to Hisayasu Sato's filmography and I am excited to continue exploring the box sets released by Vinegar Syndrome. 3.5 out of 5 Stars."
"This set was my introduction to the filmography of director Hisayasu Sato and I'm glad to say that his films are right up my alley. They are clearly pink films with several (simulated) sex scenes, but those are not the focus of his work. He is very much an auteur with focus on psychological aspects of pleasure, pain and sexuality. The charcters in these films are very complex and were not necessarily casted for their bodies. While RE-WIND was my favorite of the three, LUSTMORD was the most shocking. I seriously did not expect this much blood in a pink film. RE-WIND had its extreme moments too. LOVE LETTER IN THE SAND was alright, but no comparison to the other two. All three films are about an hour long and easily digestiable. It is a common length for movies of the genre. The extras are excellent and perfectly give context to the films and Sato's filmography in total. There is a commentary for each film, with a different expert each time. On the 2nd disc there is a tons of interesting interviews. One with Sato on each film, plus some with actors, writers and a critic. The locations featurette with Sato himself showing us around Toyko was my favorite. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!"
"You feel the need to include a sex scene every reel so much in these. They come out of nowhere and just ruin the flow of the films. Some odd scripting ie “let’s commit incest” doesn’t help. Far too much uncomfortable meaningless SA. I like many other pinku directors (Ishii being my favorite) but this just felt like a filmmaker finding his voice not expressing it…would give some later work of his a try"
"The first Sato collection is fittingly bright pink accented with black. The stark contrast is very similar to the films contents. All three running around an hour in length. This is a very nice presentation of films. From the menu screens to the case design. A good addition to have."
"A fascinating collection of Hisayasu Satō’s films presented in a beautifully designed set. The picture quality is excellent, especially considering the rarity of these titles. A carefully assembled release that is essential for fans of Japanese cult cinema."
"Harsh, transgressive underground cinema that pushes psychological and sexual discomfort to extremes, offering a provocative but often deliberately abrasive experience that can feel more punishing than narrative-driven."
"This was a blind by and my first Sato experience. Surreal, depraved, Japanese sleaze gore. Best way I can describe it"
"Love this collection, Hoping for several more collections of Pink films"
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