No matter where in the world, sex and violence in the cinema have always gone hand-in-hand.Italian giallos; UK Hammer horror; the many films of Spain's Jess Franco; the trashy US gore flicks of H.G. Lewis: every country seems to have made its own contributions that combine the two elements.Violent 'pinku' movies are the Far East's offering, and many fans of extreme cinema agree that they rule the roost as far as sexual nastiness is concerned, since almost nothing seems to be 'too taboo' to be portrayed. Assault! Jack The Ripper (a misleading title, if ever there was one, since 'Saucy Jack' is nowhere to be seen!), from director Yasuharu Hasebe, is a classic example of the genre and clearly illustrates why no-one does sleaze quite like the Japanese! After a fatal mishap with a crazy hitch-hiker, a pathetic pastry chef and a chubby domineering waitress discover that, for them, killing is a mutual aphrodisiac. They set about abducting and carving up innocent women (more often than not, by stabbing them in the genitals!) in order to fuel their sex life, but, when the chef eventually decides to go solo on his murder sprees, their bizarre relationship begins to crumble.With umpteen steamy sex scenes, a couple of repulsive rapes, and loads of grisly deaths, Assault! is not a film for your 'casual' viewer. The killers are completely callous and, although the numerous crotch stabbings are not explicitly shown, the sheer offensiveness of the acts (coupled with some suitably yucky sound effects) is enough to upset most 'normal' people. Rabid fans of politically incorrect exploitation, however, will have a field day watching the killers as they indulge in all manner of wickedness, including a marvellously depraved finalé, in which an entire room-full of nurses are rapidly dispatched.And if all that excess wasn't enough, solid acting, good production values, and a great score all go to ensure that Assault! is an experience that you won't forget in a hurry.7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Man oh man, I had SOME idea of what to expect from this movie, but no idea of it's depravity! Even describing it would cause your mouth to drop open. OK, a pair of restaurant workers discover, quite accidentally, the best aphrodisiac is for the guy to kill (more like gut) females before he does it. Pretty soon, the aphrodisiac wears off, and the guy just wants to kill. It's barbaric, and definitely not for everyone, but DAMN, what an amazing film to watch. Some serious money went into making it I'm sure.. Widescreen, hippy music, crisp direction and editing.. Someone must have known what they wanted and paid a great deal of money to get it. It would be interesting to find out the backstory behind this one.

A disgruntled waitress and a shy male pastry chef "accidentally" become serial killers when, while driving home one night, they pick up a crazed hitchhiker (kind of a female version of the guy in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre") who strips out of her clothes, smears cake batter all over her body, and cuts herself with a razor blade. After they accidentally kill this nut-job, they have frenzied sex for the first time and realize that murder is a real turn on. . .This movie is kind of a horror/black comedy like Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers". But it doesn't have the smug hypocritical "social commentary" of that film (i.e. preaching against violence in the media at the same time you're wallowing in it). It's also a Japanese "pink film" so it has a lot of gratuitous sex and nudity. It's obviously very politically incorrect, so people who are always getting offended by movies (isn't there enough stuff to get offended about in real life?) should probably avoid it. The truth is though where American movies tend to take murder with a grain of salt (and sometimes even make it entertaining), Japanese films do the same with murder AND rape. Thanks to years of misguided feminism, Americans tend to take the latter very seriously, but nobody is REALLY being raped in these movies anymore than they're really being murdered. (Wouldn't all the political energy be better spent by, I don't know, trying to enforce the prosecution of REAL-LIFE rape as an international war crime or something?).For what it's worth, this movie is not as "rape-happy" as a lot of Japanese exploitation flicks. The far more disturbing thing is that this couple is sexually turned on by blood and violence. It is also, however, a very well made by a respected Japanese director. The lead actress is not very attractive in the conventional sense (although she is a lot more impressive with her clothes off), but this actually works well with her "outsider" character. The male lead is also very good, transforming believably from a shy male virgin to a raving psycho. This movie obviously isn't for everyone, but if you're the right kind of viewer and in the right frame of mind, you might very well enjoy it.

Assault! Jack the Ripper! is a movie the average person will never forget, or actually, will never see. It's a rare, brutal Japanese film that includes rape, sex and murder. For fans of pinky films it's a leader in the genre. And I can see why. It's a well made film with very nice acting from all members of the cast. For anyone who's into video games, there is some great music in this that is very similar to a game called Katamari Damacy. Which is a fantastic game by the way.The movie is about two restaurant workers who realize that the only way they can have hot sex is through killing someone. Good enough reason for me. But things begin to go seriously wrong for this Japanese Mickey and Mallory.AJR! is definitely not for everyone. It's a very sexual and violent flick that will most likely only appeal to extreme cinema fans and brave souls willing to widen their horizons. I personally think this film kicks ass in it's depiction of no holds barred sex, violence and mayhem.