Shinsuke and Otsuya, his boss' daughter runs away to get married, but they are betrayed by the inn owner. Otsuya is sold to a brothel and Seikichi, a mysterious tattoo artist puts his masterpiece, a human-faced spider, on her back. She and her lover are then forced into a conspiracy-born nightmare, where they face the danger of becoming the very evil they seek to escape. With each new bloody incident, the spider's face seems to redden with ever-growing hunger.
Films with a female protagonist weren't really the norm in Japanese 60's cinema, so Outsuya feels like a fresh wind. The plot involving a blood-thirsty spider tattoo is also way more interesting than a Yakuza story would have been. The colors are incredibly lush, and they do wonders for the beautifully shot scenes. It's far from being action-packed, and more subtle with its characters motivated by pure revenge.
Genre: Drama. 1h 26 min.
