Lost Paradise & Harakiri/Seppuku films

[Cataclysm]

Lost Paradise
aka Shitsurakuen': jôbafuku onna harakiri



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436768/



http://severed-cinema.com/index.php?...d=19&Itemid=26
http://www.gomorrahy.com/harakiri-se...t-paradise.htm
http://esotika.blogspot.com/2007/05/...kita-1990.html
http://soiledsinemass.blogspot.com/2...-paradise.html

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Since Unearthed is releasing the Harakiri Limited Edition box set on October 7th, I figured I'd make a post about these movies even though I've only seen the most well known one, Lost Paradise.

No point in posting a synopsis because like all other seppuku and harakiri films, there really is no plot or story. Much like the faux snuff movies, the only thing to be found here is extremely graphic violence, except this time around its suicide and not murder.

I've never bothered much with any of the seppuku/harakiri films since I'm not even much of a fan of the faux snuff style, so I knew I wouldn't be much interested in movies that just showed people killing themselves in the form of belly-cutting. As Anthropophagouz put it, (Since I'm not big on stealing other peoples thought and ideas and try to pass them off as my own) these movies are really tedious to watch. The majority of 'Lost Paradise' running time is taken up by the main female character taking a sword (or whatever that weapon is called) and sticking herself with it, and then slowly cutting across her stomach. Then we get to watch her bleed, intestines spill out while she cries, whimpers and squeals until she finally dies.

The effects, of course are very well done, as they should be since that is the whole point to the movie. The girl who commits the act in LP does actually a decent job of making it believable that she's dying nothing to hammy or cheesy to be found. As I said though, there really is no story here. You get small clips and bits of other things going on in the beginning and end to help establish some sort of story or idea as to who the people are and what is going on. Though, when its all said and done, at the end of the day it's really just a shallow film thats only point is to graphically portray ritualistic suicide. Some of the reviews I posted links to may disagree with me on that, which I'm sure they do, but its really hard to see them for anything else.

[Cataclysm]

As I said, Lost Paradise is only one of several seppuku/harakiri films and Unearthed is releasing a box set of them. There aren't much details available on the box set, but from what I've read it is going to be incomplete, Unearthed wasn't able obtain the rights to two of the movies. It's being debated right now if that means 2 tapes which means 4 episodes or just 2 episodes in general.

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID....qx/details.htm

I never kept up with these movies since I said, I've never had a real interest in them. Though another board I'm on a man who goes by the name Tim Wambolt has been diligently collecting info on these movies to try and understand how many of these seppuku tapes are out there, their connection, etc. So alot of the info I'll try to provide is the info he's collected himself. So thanks go to him.

Tim Wambolt's post at Rue Morgue:
http://www.rue-morgue.com/boards/sho...light=harakiri

A bit of info from IMDB:
Lost Paradise is a Seppuku - or Harakiri - fetish film. Seppuku is an ancient form of Japanese ritual suicide which involves disemboweling oneself, and was a key part of the Samurai warrior code, Bushido. If a warrior had been taken hostage or dishonored he would take his Tanto (ritual blade) and pierce his abdomen, then make a left-to-right gash, letting his intestines spill out onto the ground.

Lost Paradise is part of a six film Harakiri series produced by Right Brain. Other entries in the series are exactly the same (minus the Merzbow direction & score of course), the only difference being that the female is portraying a different character – eg: schoolgirl, nurse, Kabuki actress, traditionally dressed Japanese woman, etc. So once you've seen one you've basically seen 'em all.

The runtime of the film is 30 minutes, heres how it plays out - first 10 minutes: A woman dressed in military uniform enters a room. She sits cross-legged on the floor and proceeds to methodically strip down to just her shirt. She then opens her shirt and caresses her naked stomach for a while before pulling out her ritual blade. She stares at it for a few minutes then wraps ½ the blade in a ceremonial cloth. Next 10 minutes: She plunges the blade into her stomach and slooooowly pulls it across from left to right. She moans sexually as her intestines begin to fall onto the floor. Last 10 minutes: she rolls around in her entrails groaning and then finally dies. A man comes in, and at discovering her body promptly blows his brains out. The End Obviously there's not too much ''substance'' to it, but I enjoyed this flick immensely, it is a true piece of transgressive art. The way the camera caresses the actress's body as she's in the midst of her death throes, zooming in on her breasts as she moans and groans erotically, is a total sexualization of death.

A lot of the bleak mood comes down to Merbow's fittingly grating soundtrack. While not as harsh as "classic" Merzbow, it's more of an underlying rumbling static, which sometimes rises to dissonant peaks. Merzbow has also directed some Shibari rope-bondage videos for various companies and written copiously on the origin and history of the art of Japanese bondage. Recommended for fans of Merzbow or confrontational & obscure cinema.



Listing of Seppuku/Harakiri movies:
Except where otherwise noted, the seven Onna harakiri sakuhinshû DVDs are comprised of Right Brain (RB) and Gen'ei Ryodan (GEN) movies that were part of Fuji Kikaku's "Zankoku-bi: onna harakiri" VHS collection.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû I (AH-01) contains Onna harakiri: sange (RB-01), starring Yûri Sunohara, and Jogakusei: harakiri (RB-04), starring Hiromi Saotome.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû II (AH-02) contains Onna harakiri: seisan (RB-06), starring Yûri Sunohara, and Shiro-shôzoku: harakiri (RB-08), starring Hiromi Saotome.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû III (AH-03) contains Masami 'Merzbow' Akita's Lost Paradise ('Shitsurakuen': jôbafuku onna harakiri - RB-09), starring Asako Mochizuki, and Bijo kenshi: futari seppuku (RB-10), starring Yûri Sunohara and Hiromi Saotome. Sunohara, Toshirô Hasegawa, and Kinbiken (Kinbaku-Bi Kenkyûkai) co-founder Chimuo Nureki appear briefly in Lost Paradise, at the end of the movie. Akita also scored the movie. The cinematographer for it was Fuji Kikaku founder and Kinbiken co-founder Akio Fuji. Fuji and Nureki were also responsible for its special make-up effects. Lost Paradise is the only harakiri movie to date that Akita has directed.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû IV (AH-04) contains Nyotai harakiri emaki · 1: yokushitsu no jigyaku gensô · 2: Aiko - sakura chiru (GEN-008), and Romain Slocombe's L'étudiante blessée (Kega shita joshidaisei) & Masami Akita's Hôtai kaibô onna (both GEN-003). GEN-003 was part of Fuji Kikaku's "Bizarre" VHS collection - neither Slocombe's nor Akita's movie is a harakiri one.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû V (AH-05) contains Sacrifice: A Carnival of The Holyghost [sic] (Ikenie: seirei-tachi no shanikusai - GEN-014), starring Yûri Sunohara, and Nyotai harakiri emaki 2: muma no yûwaku (GEN-015), starring Mariko Momokawa.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû VI (AH-06) contains Tamaki-zôshi (GEN-016), starring Yûri Sunohara, and Nyotai harakiri emaki 3: miwaku no hakujin (GEN-017), starring Tsubaki Kanda.

Onna harakiri sakuhinshû VII (AH-07) contains Saotome Hiromi: onna harakiri · "tsumetai yoru" yori · Nakayasu Hiromichi ni sasageru (GEN-18-[alpha]), starring Hiromi Saotome, and Nyotai harakiri emaki 4: Sahoko no natsu - ai no mukuro (GEN-019), starring Hitomi Takamizawa.

[Cataclysm]

I'm sure you can find reviews for some of the other movies in the links I gave in the original post. Plus we've got some other peeps on here who've seen these movies and know about them, so I'm sure they can help shed more light on these for any info I probably missed or am wrong on.

As for information on the DVD box set, best bet is to ask our resident DVD adviser, xxsic4slipknotxx.

This is also probably going to be my last post in this section, I'll continue to reply to threads or any questions sent my way but I doubt I'll be making anymore threads in the future (I won't say it's a definite since things change, but for right now this is it).

[woodenheart]

Wow.. you sure go out with a bang. Beautiful thread.

[Cataclysm]

Not trying to be dramatic and draw attention, the no threads thing is done for purely selfish reasons. As much time and effort I put into these threads, is the same amount of time I could be spending towards my own project, which in the end is much more important.

I've given everyone my sources of information on how and where to find these movies, this section gets very little attenion, so there just isn't much of a reason for me to continue on making threads. Unless there is a movie out there that I strongly believe people should see, like The Gateway Meat and Fetus.

[woodenheart]

I was just stating that your reviews of movies are very well written and I enjoyed them very much. I will miss them. You were partly the reason I decided to venture into the world of underground. Good luck on your projects. Thanks.

[Cataclysm]

Well thank you. I was just stating my position since after the whole skybrick and wrathborne thing, I didn't want people getting the wrong impression as to why I said what I said. 'Tis all.

[bedlam23]

I picked these up a year or two ago from VP.com
Sick but boring and repetative.

[Metapher]

I think I have seen a few of these, I recognize the pictures alot. I'll end up buying it I bet.

[bedlam23]

At the time I bought them they were only available in Japan. I had to pay out the ass for the boots but they came with nice covers.

[Cataclysm]

That has always been the one thing that has bugged me about bootleggers, they always charged a shit load of money.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

I've actually never seen this films before. But they seem pretty interesting. I've already placed a pre-order for these films. I'm only getting them for the gore and obviously know there's no story or plot whatsoever. As long as the gore is decent or excellent for these types of films, then that's good enough for me!

[deathslasher666]

Seems pretty interesting. Might have to look into these.

[Cataclysm]

Got the specs and the films included in the box set off of another forum, but here's the info.

films included:
female harakiri:glorious death
school girl:harakiri.
female harakiri: celebration
white clothing:harakiri
paradise lost:riding the habit harakiri (the segement made by merzbow)
beautiful swords women:double seppuku
(So all six films are included in the set)
-extras-
cold night:bloodless edition young lady hiromi
making of beautiful swordswomen
trailers

further on specs.
1:33:1 (Screen size), run time 272 min, dolby digital 2.0 sound. color and UNRATED.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

Sounds like they're including all six films, which is a great news. My DVD has shipped and I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival. :bigthumbup:

[Cataclysm]

Actually I think he is wrong saying it contains all six movies. I think it only contains the first three tapes, which are six films altogether.

Since "Onna harakiri sakuhinshû III (AH-03)" is the tape that contains the Lost Paradise segment (why Unearthed calls it Paradise Lost, I don't know) and that is the last segment on the movie.

Either way. I'm confuesed as shit.

[xxsic4slipknotxx]

Oh well, I'm still looking forward to getting this in the mail regardless of what is missing.

Here's what HKflix posted:

http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID....qx/details.htm