Rape! 13th Hour

A man sporting a red jacket seeks shelter at the gas station where he works. He is an anonymous serial rapist known as "Crimson" and is fleeing a vigilante group which has been pursuing him. "Crimson" and the younger gas station attendant later leave together and attack and rape a young ballerina. The incident has a life-altering effect on the younger man, who has now become addicted to rape. He also goes on a raping spree, and is joined with "Crimson" for further attacks. Together the men rape waitresses in an abandoned movie theater. Due to the inability of the police to catch the criminals, vigilante groups have been pursuing "Crimson". Eventually the duo are tracked down, captured, and taken to an empty swimming pool by a homosexual gang. There the gang sodomizes "Crimson", bashes out his teeth with a hammer, and forces him to perform fellatio on them. ==Background==

Nikkatsu had started its SM line of Roman porno films in 1974 with the hits Flower and Snake and Wife to Be Sacrificed both featuring actress Naomi Tani and directed by Masaru Konuma. After this first highly successful venture into sexual violence, the studio's output became increasingly rougher. These would be comparable to the U.S. "roughies" film genre, violent and misogynistic, but without the whips, bondage and other traditional accoutrements of the S&M genre. Hasebe had worked with the studio in the 1960s during their "Nikkatsu Action" era, but was not comfortable with the pink film genre to which the studio had turned with the inception of the Roman porno series in 1971. Reluctant to work in the sex film genre, Hasebe later recalled warning the studio, "Are you sure you want me?... You must be aware-- my craft is very bloody." Itō had been Hasebe's assistant director on the Alleycat Rock series. In 1976 Hasebe turned out the first two "Violent Pink" films, Rape! and Assault! Jack the Ripper. Due to the box-office success of these films, Nikkatsu assigned him more work in the genre. Nervous about the film's graphic violence, Nikkatsu re-edited it before giving it a theatrical release. "offensively appalling", The controversy surrounding the film was similar to that in the U.S. following the release of I Spit on Your Grave a year later in 1978. ==Critical appraisal==

In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser give Rape! 13th Hour a rating of three-and-a-half out of four stars. Some Japanese critics, however, found the film to be simply an exercise in cinematic sadism, and dismissed any claims of a message behind the mayhem. Set pieces which stand out, according to Sharp include car chases, fistfights, and the ballerina's rape, set to the music of Swan Lake, with pillow feathers flying around the nude woman as if they were snowflakes. ==Availability==

Rape! 13th Hour was released theatrically in Japan on January 22, 1977. This release employed a new master struck from the original negative, with scratches and flaws corrected. Extras included the original theatrical trailer and a four-page booklet. English subtitles were not included on this release. ==Bibliography==