Guts of a Beauty (Bijo no
harawata) (1986)
akaGuts of a Virgin 2

Reviewed By-Sean Patrick Dolan
Director-Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu/
Cast-Megumi Ozawa, Seira Kitagawa, Ken Yoshizawa
This is the second installment of an infamous trilogy of movies directed by
Kazuo Komizu (GUTS OF A VIRGIN AKA ENTRAILS OF A VIRGIN, GUTS OF A BEAUTY AKA
GUTS OF A VIRGIN 2, and GUTS OF A VIRGIN 3 AKA FEMALE INQUISITOR). The films are
not true sequels to one another and have little in common besides their Yakuza
characters and extreme sexual violence and gore.
In this film, a young woman named Yoshimi (Seira Kitagawa) is abducted by her
boyfriend Higashi, a petty Yakuza thug who intends to dope her up and sell her
into prostitution in Africa through the Ichiyama clan- her sister Keiko already
met the same fate. However, after Yoshimi is brutally raped by five Yakuza
members, the two thugs left to guard her pass out from their own drug abuse,
allowing her to escape. Yoshimi makes it to a hospital and tells the
female psychiatrist there, Hiromi (Megumi Ozawa), her whole story.
Unfortunately, the drugs kick in and she freaks out, jumping off the hospital
roof to her death on the street below.
Hiromi decides to get vengeance for the dead woman and her sister, and so she
lurks in the bar favored by the local Yakuza and seduces Higashi and hypnotizes
him, causing him to freak out and attack his fellow gangsters in a psychotic
rage. Before he is killed and his corpse is chopped into sashimi, the
boss, Yoshioka (Ken Yoshizawa), gets enough information out of him to know that
there is a female avenger gunning for all of them. It does not take him
long to identify Hiromi as the culprit, and she too is drugged, gang-raped, and
murdered.

This is where this nasty little film finally begins to get interesting. The
various dismembered limbs of Higashi and Hiromi are dumped in the same place,
and the super-strong brand of heroin, "Angel Rain", which both had in
their systems, produces a horrifying result. The corpses merge into one
huge creature which looks like it has been skinned alive and which also boasts
massive dual genitalia- a two foot long penis with a mouth and sharp teeth at
the end and a gaping, dripping vagina. The Higashi/Hiromi creature
continues its vengeance on the Yakuza, ripping them apart with its bare hands
or, in one instance, suffocating one member by sitting on his face. In one
memorable and darkly humorous scene, a female Yakuza member who is constantly
horny throughout the film (and has indulged in way too much recreational drug
use to the detriment of her sanity) welcome the advances of the Higashi/Hiromi
creature, first fellating the truly hideous appendage and then spreading her
legs for the creature. She is ripped in two when the member emerges,
ALIEN-style, from her stomach.
This is one of those films that you need to take a shower after watching.
The numerous rape scenes are graphic and prolonged, completely gratuitous
exploitation in its purest and ugliest form. The plot of the film is
fairly thin, consisting of the rapes and the psychiatrist's foolhardy attempt at
vengeance. The gore and the monster which unleashes the violent mayhem is
the one truly memorable part of this very short (70 minute) film, but the
rationale for its existence is shaky ground at best- the bizarre properties of
the "Angel Rain" heroin, which are evidenced by grotesque, special
effects enhanced convulsions that take place as soon as anyone is shot up with
the stuff. Even more perplexing is the creature's ability to assume human
form (that of Hiromi) before transforming back, Incredible Hulk-style, into its
monstrous form. Overall, the film is dark and grainy, the acting is never
more than competent, and it has no soundtrack whatsoever. The special
effects are not the very best, but are satisfying nonetheless in their "old
school" aesthetic- it actually made me a bit nostalgic for a simpler age,
the '80's.
I think the review is pretty clear on this point, but I'll reiterate just in
case- this film is certainly not for everyone, but as a gorehound and a
self-confessed exploitation film junkie, I give it 2.5 Bitch Slaps. I reviewed a
copy of the Dutch VHS release with English subtitles by Japan Shock Video.
2.5 Bitch Slaps
Back