Assault! Jack the Ripper

Looking for something exciting, professionally made and downright shocking? You can't go far wrong with Assault! Jack the Ripper. This thrill-killer thriller is filled with thrilling kills and killing thrills, although Jack the Ripper is nowhere in sight (this being 1970s Japan). In his place is a mild-mannered pastry chef who inadvertently discovers that murdering women with his bitchy waitress girlfriend gets them both very hot. His weapon of choice? You guessed it, a cake knife. As we soon learn, it's far more brutal murdering a woman with a dull knife (particularly when thrust into her nether region and slowly dragged upwards, as is the killer's wont). After awhile our moody young anti-hero forgets about his girlfriend and goes solo, slicing up women from all walks of life. He even does a Richard Speck on a bunch of nurses. Meanwhile, his girlfriend is getting rather perturbed, being left out of all the fun. Will she play it cool, or wind up another body on the pile? You'll find out ...

The film was directed by Yasuharu Hasebe, whose Black Tight Killers you might have seen. He worked at Nikkatsu as an AD under Seijun Suzuki before going solo in the 60s. He worked with Meiko Kaji on the Stray Cat Rock series and directed one of the Female Prisoner Scorpion films, Grudge Song. Hasebe was eventually pressed into service on Nikkatsu's Roman Porno line, where he made a string of disturbing rape films and, of course, Assault, Jack the Ripper.

A tip o' the hat to the good folks at Mondo Macabro for releasing this forgotten gem of violent pink madness (along with bonus features to help get viewers up to speed on this 70s-era sub-genre of sexy, frequently transgressive film).