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directed by Mark P. Forever
Japan 2012

Four young women from various walks of life - a pop singer, a housewife, a convenience store cashier, and a lawyer - who have racked up millions of yen in debt playing online Mahjong are abducted and forced to play a game of "Strip Mahjong": the winner will have her debts cleared and will also win ten million yen while those who lose all of their clothes will also lose their lives. The weekly game is broadcast to select viewers on a secret TV signal, and is hosted by annoying M.C. Mac and his bubble-headed associate Ranran, and the last player will have to face off against the "Killer Mahjong Queen" the previous winner of the game.

That's pretty much all their is to this almost contemptible direct-to-video feature in which the gimmick to strip women for the camera is so blatant that a newbie to Asian exploitation might assume that Japan hasn't had forty-odd years of experience more creatively revealing skin on the big screen. Perhaps an even cursory understanding of Mahjong might let us in on the suspense, but even the sequence of losers is predictable and their punishments monotonous. It's also hard to sympathize with characters who would adhere to the rules of the game rather than ganging up on their torments (who they have outnumbered), and even more unbelievable that their "hosts" would adhere to their own rules at the climax when they have cheated earlier on. Even Nikkatsu at its most brutal, explicit, and downbeat was never as dreary enough to let viewers reflect on the contradictory notion of stripping a woman for audience edification and punishing her for losing all of her clothing (and yes I am aware of the hypocrisy of giving Nikkatsu's more polished sexploitation a pass while laying into this film). Although the "punishments" are less grueling than one would find in "torture porn", the host's shallow philosophizing about how (forcible) stripping bares (pun intended) the soul could have its place in a film of that sub-genre.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 25 September 2012 (USA)

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DVD Review: Danger After Dark - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

Danger After Dark

Region 0 - NTSC

Runtime 1:17:06
Video

1.76:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 6.37 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Danger After Dark

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 1.76:1

Edition Details:
• Trailers for SATAN HATES YOU, THE BUNNY GAME, EPITAH, and THE SUICIDE CLUB

DVD Release Date: 25 September 2012
Amaray

Chapters 12

 

Comments

Danger After Dark's single-layer, anamorphic transfer is interlaced, but this cheap DTV feature was probably shot that way. The image has been so digitally color-corrected to look edgy that whatever fine detail there was to begin with is obliterated (but you don't really need fine detail to capture wiggling bare flesh). The optional English subtitles have some grammatical errors, although there are some peculiarities resulting from attempts to render the speech patterns of some of the characters (although a more straightforward translation would have been preferable). There are no extras other than the trailers for other forthcoming Danger After Dark titles.

  - Eric Cotenas

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

Distribution

Danger After Dark

Region 0 - NTSC

 




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