By Lee Pfeiffer
Synapse Films is releasing a series of controversial Japanese soft-core porn titles under the Impulse Pictures label. The movies were originally produced by Nikkatsu, a studio that was known for legitimate fare before finding controversial subject matters generally ensured big profits. The 1977 film Eros School: Feels So Good is described on the Synapse web site as possibly the most offensive Nikkatsu movie ever made. You can say it's a rare example of truth in advertising because there is something here to offend everyone beginning with the overall premise of rape being presented in a comedic manner. The film takes place at Eros School, a high school where sexual appetites among the students are unimpeded by the generally ineffective teaching staff. The situation goes into overdrive with the arrival of Ryu (Murakuni Shohe), an older student who has recently been released from reform school where he served several years for rape. Ryu's habits haven't changed a bit. Upon his arrival, he intimidates the entire student body and publicly announces his intention to rape attractive girls at will. He lives up to his word and in true male fantasy tradition, each girl seems to ultimately welcome becoming his victim. However, he has his sites on the comely Misa (Asami Ogawa), the class president as well as the school's leading female athlete. Misa takes extraordinary efforts to avoid being Ryu's next victim. She wants all of her concentration focused on an especially important track meet that the student body expects her to win against against a rival school. Mixed into the "screenplay" are the adventures of two nerdy, virginal boys who harbor their own fantasies about bedding Misa- and their efforts always meet with disastrous results. Picture young Jerry Lewis in a sex comedy and you'll get the general idea.
There is plenty of nudity in the film, though Japanese censorship laws at the time prohibited any full-frontal shots. What is probably most outrageous, however, is the overall notion of rape as a recreational and spectator sport. The girls in the film wear their status as a Ryu conquest as though it were a badge of honor. The film would probably be deemed even more offensive if it weren't for the overall goofy, slapstick nature of the script. The characters seem to exist in an alternate universe in which kids rule over ineffective adults. There is also a fixation with female domination with plenty of cat fights between teenage girls. The film does boast one genuinely funny sequence in which a middle aged matronly type school worker explains to her colleagues how she witnessed Ryu having sex with a girl. This leads to her ending up recreating the scene with a geeky administrator in order to demonstrate exactly what she observed. The movie's more notorious finale ends with a frustrated teenage boy having sex with Ryu's pet pig. In other words, don't look for this one on the Disney Channel.
Not having seen any of these Nikkatsu films previously, I still don't know what to make of this one. It's hard to recommend something this distasteful, but the whole thing is carried off in such a crazy manner that it never seems quite as offensive as you might imagine. The Japanese male penchant for young vixens in school girl uniforms is clearly being satiated here but, beyond that, there isn't much point to the entire production except to titillate in a humorous way.
The DVD transfer looks terrific and has obviously been meticulously sourced from an impressive master print. There are no extras beyond a collector's booklet that boasts the original, provocative Japanese movie poster as well as an informative essay by film historian Jasper Sharp.
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