A collection of stories dealing with punishment towards women. The first story; involves a woman forced into prostitution. The second: a woman is turned on by unattractive men who has threesomes with dwarfs. Her admirer disfigures himself so she will like him. The third: a sadistic and powerful man who has bulls with flaming horns charge into a courtyard of women wearing red who are forced to strip to avoid being gored.
With a plot like that, many may wonder what kind of freakish film is this? But it's better than it sound on paper. Director Teruo Ishii was known for his pinku films (softcore) and came fresh off the sets of titles such as Shogun's Joys of Torture (1968) and Horrors of Malformed Men (1969). In Orgies we follow different women in their struggles in feudal Japan, and boy does it get twisted. Nowadays the gore isn't something to write home about but just the sheer idea of some of it is really messed up. We see an ugly side of the feudal society that doesn't often gets the spotlight in samurai films. Beyond the nudity and suffering there's great production values, with gorgeous set design and depth to this hell hole rather than being an excuse to show naked women. Ishii gained a huge reputation for himself within his genre and when his smaller pink films was shown in cinemas years later he became known as Japan's King of Cult.
Maybe not a film to see with your loved ones on a Friday night, but if you want to venture into an obscure film history, Orgies may provide an interesting watch.
Genre: Drama/Horror
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