Search - Rica on DVD

An odd movie in an already odd genre.

Count DeRola | Brooklyn | 08/18/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I picked this this movie up based on the fact that it was made in 1972 at the height of the "Pinky Violence" era in Japan. Every time one of these gets released (and more and more are these days) I snatch it up hoping that it will be as good as, say, Female Convict Scorpion: Beast Stable. It is not. It's more of a generic Sukeban flick that's more along the lines of Girl Boss Guerilla and Criminal Woman: Killing Melody. That said, it's still highly enjoyable. It has all the requisite exploitation, nudity and violence you expect from one of these films. The one thing it lacks that the best of these films has is STYLE. It has neither the radical camerawork and surreal touches of the Scorpion movies or the black humour of Teruo Ishi's Female Yakuza Tale. It's pretty straightforward. Also, Rika Aoki is a very odd looking woman. Not quite beautiful but very sexy and what she lacks in acting technique she makes up for in pure intensity. She's out for revenge and looks like she means it. She wears go go boots very well and her thighs look as if they'd crush your skull. She also sings the opening theme song. The plot is pretty standard and nothing we haven't seen before. There are trailers for two other Rica movies (it's a trilogy!) on this otherwise bare bones disc and I wonder if Exploitation Digital is planning to put those out as well. If they do, I hope they take a little more care with the remastering. The film looks ok but they could do a lot better. So no, this isn't a Pinky Violence Classic but I have to admit I'm a whore for this genre. I'll probably get the other two movies too. They're like crack."