First off - I believe that the other reviewers on this page are reviewing SPLIT OXEN TORTURE, which is neither part of the "true" JOYS OF TORTURE series - it's actually an unofficial sequel - nor is it directed by Teruo Ishii. That film (directed in 1976 by Yuuji Makiguchi) has it's own IMDb page under the title TOKUGAWA ONNA KEIBATSU-EMAKI: USHI-ZAKI NO KEI. INFERNO is not the "gore" film that SPLIT OXEN is - though Makiguchi's film is very good as well - and is honestly better than any of the Ishii-directed JOT films that I've seen so far. In fact - INFERNO was far too weak on gore to be truly memorable to me, and was actually very dull at points...
The story-line revolves around two tattoo artists who are vying for the attention of the Emperor. Jealousy and the love of a young concubine get between the rival artists and causes problems for all involved...
Unfortunately - there's just not nearly enough torture in INFERNO to be all that joyful. I was hoping for a little "rougher" content - and this one didn't really deliver. The story-line was decent enough - but it tended to drag quite a bit after the first third of the film or so, and only picked up slightly towards the end. The very last scene of the film was decent, but not enough to save it overall. Worth a look to Japanese exploit fans, but don't expect too much out of it...6/10
The story-line revolves around two tattoo artists who are vying for the attention of the Emperor. Jealousy and the love of a young concubine get between the rival artists and causes problems for all involved...
Unfortunately - there's just not nearly enough torture in INFERNO to be all that joyful. I was hoping for a little "rougher" content - and this one didn't really deliver. The story-line was decent enough - but it tended to drag quite a bit after the first third of the film or so, and only picked up slightly towards the end. The very last scene of the film was decent, but not enough to save it overall. Worth a look to Japanese exploit fans, but don't expect too much out of it...6/10