'Notorious Concubines' (1968) – Kôji Wakamatsu.

The RAGE! The FIRE! The PASSION! A Thousand-year-old ribald epic is brought to spectacularly salacious, blood-hued life by pioneering movie maestro, Kôji Wakamatsu. This most certainly 'aint just another Cut n' haste sword n' sandals B-Quickie, if I might be so bold as to glibly state that I feel honourable sensei, Wakamatsu to be one remarkably stylish film-making mofo! A lauded pinku eiga master, utilizing a quicksilver camera with the deadly efficacy of a Samurai's limb-lopping Katana, and boldly expressing a muscular mise en scene no less eye-popping than fellow iconoclast, Yasuzô 'Blind Beast' Masumura. 

Visually sumptuous, devilishly decadent, and excitingly fleet-footed, the erotic, monstrously twisted lust triangle betwixt ostensibly honourable captain Wu Sing (Shikokyu Takashima), the monumentally malign, Hsi Men Chin (Jûzô Itami), and the aggressively adulterous harlot Pan Chin Lien(Tomoko Mayama) proves entirely toxic! Chin Lien's hyperbolic loins, duplicitous heart, and callous scheming acts as the deceptively sweet-limbed catalyst for the film's not inconsiderable amount of rousing melodrama, blood-spilling action, and deliciously dark sensuality. 'Notorious Concubines' is a sophisticated, excitingly told tale of blood-soaked perfidy, rousing action and the murderous multiplicity born of Chin's treacherous love! The lusty, high-energy performances are delightfully vivid, with a wickedly vulpine turn from the devastatingly beautiful black widow, Tomoko Mayama. 'Notorious Concubines' biggest star is the bravura, seductively sinful film-making prowess of, Kôji Wakamatsu, no mere exploitation dilettante, as there is a rigorous methodology to Wakamatsu's majestic madness! Avid Nikkatsu/Pinku Eiga fans are sure to succumb to this corrupting concubine's notoriously nubile spell!