Plot: What’s it about?
Ran (Kaori Shimamura) is known as the Black Orchid, a skilled Chinese assassin who is out for blood. Her wrath was caused by the death of her younger sister, which wasn’t an accident, but instead murder. She has settled her aim on the yakuza, which has resulted in their numbers dropping by more than a few members. This is because she has carved through countless yakuza thugs, leaving a blood soaked, murderous aftermath. But she feels no remorse as she slaughters these gangsters, as she is willing to do whatever it takes, including slaying the entire yakuza, to avenge her sister’s death. The man she believes to be behind the senseless killing is known as Ho and nothing can stand in her way of getting to him, as she is consumed with vengeance and will spare no one in her mission. She doesn’t remain on top for long however, as she is soon put through a series of degrading and humiliating situations. But while she is used and abused, no one knows her true intentions and she bides her time, waiting for the right moment to strike. She even winds up working at Ho’s strip joint, though Ho is unaware of the real reason for her presence. As she endures all of this degradation, her will only increases to get revenge, but can she make the right move when the chance opens up?
This movie seems to have it all, wild action sequences, liberal doses of blood, and hot chicks that love to be naked. As directed by Toshiharu Ikeda (Evil Dead Trap, Beautiful Prey), this movie has tons of sleaze and can be a blast to watch. Of course, you have to be into this kind of flick, one that has the pulp elements, but if you’re interested in the world of offbeat Asian cinema, this is one you don’t want to miss. The gore is ample and well crafted in most cases, while overall violence is almost constant in this picture. This includes the outrageous action scenes, but also some darker, more serious situations. Beautiful Beast has scenes of graphic sexual perversions, such as torture, degrading acts, and intense rape scenes. These moments are sure to offend some, but they seem natural within the film’s structure, which seems to be exploitative from the start. These scenes are handled in a very serious tone also, which can also be said about the entire picture, as Ikeda plays this one as straight as can be. But even so, Beautiful Beast is more about seeing some good action and naked chicks, as opposed to substantial cinema. I do think the performances are superb however, especially the work by Kaori Shimamura. So if you’re a fan of unusual Asian cinema, you should give Beautiful Beast a spin.
Video: How does it look?
Beautiful Beast is presented in full frame. As this looks to have been shot on video, this would represent the intended presentation. This turns out to be a decent, but inconsistent treatment and I have to assume the source material is to blame. As to expected with material shot on video, the visuals aren’t as refined as we’re used to, not to mention other defects associated with using such equipment. In the darker scenes, the visuals tend to be less than impressive, with softness, color errors, and imbalanced black levels. These troubles are never extreme, but at this stage in the game, we’ve come to expect a little more. Other scenes look terrific however, with all the elements in proper form and no softness issues. So this one isn’t a top level treatment, but its not a miserable one, just an inconsistent presentation.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio here is presented in solid, but not too memorable fashion, via a pair of soundtrack options. You can listen to the original Japanese language track or an English dub, of which I recommend the original soundtrack, without question. The elements are in fine form and never seem forced, while volume remains stable and never varies much. The music is clean and as rich as stereo allows, while the sound effects have good presence, all things considered. I found the dialogue to be great also, with a clean overall sound and no mishaps to cover here. This disc also includes optional English subtitles, in case you’ll need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes a trivia game, as well as some cast profiles.
