Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (1973)

A different way of telling a story

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a great little movie: it's one of the most far-out and over-the-top movies I've seen, yet at its core it tells a fairly heartfelt story of underdog misfit high school girls bucking a corrupt and at times downright evil school system. Over-the-top though it is, you sometimes can't help but wonder if what you're seeing is a more-or-less true depiction of actual events that took place in a Japanese high school some where, some time, not terribly long ago... Anyway, I thought I'd include here the Production Notes as they appear on the Special Features portion of the DVD:PRODUCTION NOTES:The "Terrifying Girls' High School" pictures were a kind of spin-off to the "Girl Boss" series. Reiko Ike stars in all four. Miki Sugimoto co-stars in the first two, and the outrageousness factor is in just as full flower. However, here the girls are not former reform school inmates, they're high school girls – albeit emotionally warped, perverse, violent, sexually precocious high school girls. The tone of the entire quartet is pretty dark, even compared to most of the "Girl Boss" sagas, with less of the goofy, adolescent humor that sometimes overstayed its welcome in that series.The second episode, "Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom (Kyofu Joshikoku: Boko Rinchi Kyoshitsu, 1973)" is the best – a lunatic erotic/grotesque sleaze fest that remains one of director (Norifumi) Suzuki's wildest movies. Sugimoto is the leader of a trio of underdog delinquents at a super-strict girls' school. Independent yakuza biker chick and all-around free spirit Reiko Ike arrives midway to assist Sugimoto and her pals in fighting a homicidally fascist band of schoolgirls whom the principal (Kenji Imai) has recruited to keep the rowdier misfits cowed. These neo-nazi types are merciless sadists who love to drain their victims' blood, burn them with hot light bulbs, and generally make their lives miserable enough that they'll commit suicide! Ike, in turn, is helped by her yakuza pal, the suave but somewhat klutzy Tsunehiko Watase. Watase engineers blackmail scenarios by setting up sex stings on various hypocritical school staff and a corrupt member of the Diet (Nobuo Kaneko), a bunch unable to put the brakes on their voracious appetite for underage poontang.The climax sees a full-scale riot at the school, with the girls keeping the hordes of cops at bay with rocks and fire hoses. Supremely anarchic entertainment. This film is really the strongest of all of Miki Sugimoto's performances and the first time she ever really carried a film without Reiko Ike. Ike's presence was greatly scaled down, in order for the producers to build a more antagonistic relationship between the two leads. It also allowed an opportunity to build stars out of the other supporting cast members like Misuzu Ota, Yuko Kano, Ryoko Ema, and Rena Ichinose. The fact that none of them ever reached the heights that Ike or Sugimoto attained is more a tribute to Reiko and Miki than criticism of the others.

Outrageous pinku flick starring Miki Sugimoto as a determined delinquent high school gang leader joining forces with others forming an alliance to avenge the murder of her best friend, who was tortured by a sadistic group known as "desciplinarians" allowed by the corrupt Vice President of a private all-girls reform school(..known as "The School of Hope", if you can believe it)to carry out violent methods in order to "educate" them in the proper forms of behavior. As Noriko, Sugimoto fulfills the requirements of her role, to talk tough, look delectable and sexy, command the screen as if she owns it, & stand tall even through the unglamorous situations(..like when she's tortured with electrified wires to her breast nipple and pubic hair). Her equal, Reiko Ike, has a smaller role as a rival gang leader, Takigawa, who unintentionally gets immersed in the school war granting Noriko a reprieve until the revenge is settled. Noriko has a five days to take out the disciplinarian committee, but such a task would be incredibly difficult if she didn't align herself with an ex-detective, now tabloid reporter(Tsunchiko Watase), always wearing shades, with a cigarette in his mouth, who has clever methods at catching political types in compromising situations. He wishes to see the school crumble to ashes, understanding that from the top, chairman Nobuo Kaneko, to the bottom, vice-president Kenji Imai, that it's riddled with corruption. The vice president(..who soon becomes president when his boss is caught on tape admitting to his fantasies regarding school girls while Noriko's gang trapped him in a motel, sexually molesting him!)is actually sleeping with the girl he has in charge of the disciplinarian committee, while the chairman has an appetite for raping underage girls(..we see a bright girl, eyeing a scholarship, commit suicide after the chairman rapes her). As a reporter, Watase's camera comes in handy, and he's able to trick politicians into a sex orgy with minors, using the photos as blackmail for the chairman. As Noriko and her sisterhood plot and capitalize against their foes, the disciplinarian committee use tactics at their disposal(..the police who are paid off by the school and the vice president who has a knack for looking away)to attack them in grueling and embarrassing ways. Watase's able to coerce Takigawa into joining the effort to stop the vice president and the girls who work for him, eventually even banding together with Noriko to bring down the school by any means possible.TERRIFYING GIRL'S SCHOOL fulfills the pinku requirements we have come to expect..over-the-top violence(..the most vicious committed by young women against each other), shocking subject matter of a sexual nature(..pedophilia run rampant as nearly all male authoritative figures are deviants who enjoy pleasure with high school girls admitting to their fetishistic lust for their uniforms), catfights, torture(..one sequence has the disciplinarians forcing a victim to watch blood, extracted from her arm, fill a test-tube), women-behaving-badly(..you see school girls "gang rape" the elderly president, on his way to retirement!), and the tough females outwitting their male enemies. Sugimoto and Ike effortlessly grab your attention when on screen. Ike might have a supporting role, but when she throws around those that oppose her with ease, you just can't help but applaud her..that and she sure looks great riding that motorcycle. Sugimoto's face carries the same reserve as always, facing danger and harm without batting an eye, the cold stare of hate, awaiting her chance at vengeance. We even get a terrific lesbian sequence in a locked girl's stall as Noriko's nympho gang member fishes information from a disciplinarian by providing her with pleasure. And, as usual, the ladies are lovely to look at. Nothing much in the story department, basic revenge plot between rival gangs within a school environment, and the immoral, unconstitutional acts of those in charge is exposed. Norifumi Suzuki's film doesn't even attempt to masquerade as anything other than a sleazy, violent gang film, only that he brings a polish and style to it provided by a nice Toei studios budget, although the suicide, which essentially advocates the riot that ensues, does add a bit of tragedy that thwarts the overall tongue-in-cheek mood.

From the director of 'Star of David: Beauty Hunting', and the pink masterpiece 'School of the Holy Beast' comes this eye-popping, sex & violence soaked cult film. Norifumi Suzuki's 'Terrifying Girls Highschool' is finally available on DVD, as part of the great Pinky Violence box set. Featuring two icons of pink cinema, Reiko Ike, as well as the original 'Zero Woman', Miki Sugimoto, as bad girl leaders in a high school for violent girls. Dressed in the traditional school uniforms, seeking to avenge the murder of a friend, Sugimoto is tougher than ever here. Especially great is the way Suzuki introduces each of the three girls in the beginning. We see each of them separately committing the crime that lands them in the same school, which is more like a prison. Featuring some dazzling torture set pieces, including a tense 'blood draining ceremony', genital electrocution, as well as a disturbing scene featuring a light bulb. Suzuki's trademark seems to be the bladder trick, where some hapless girl is forced to hold her water while a clock ticks in the background. I have seen 3 Suzuki films so far, and this trick is utilized in every one, and always successfully. Of course nothing can top 'Holy Beast', Suzuki's masterpiece. However I found this to be a lot more entertaining than 'Star of David', but I guess this is a matter of personal taste. TGH features some good music as well, and classical pieces are used effectively. The climactic showdown between students and riot cops is wonderful, and there is humor here and there, but not so much as to take away the power of the images. And I must mention the lesbian scenes, tastefully filmed and very erotic as well. Though the girls are beaten and often nude, they somehow always come across as tough, and never victims. That is the best thing about these films, and this quality is missing in American exploit films, where the girls are sometimes just there to be abused and undressed for the pleasure of the viewer. I only hope DVD labels like 'Panik House' and 'Tokyo Shock' keep restoring and releasing these special films. 'Terrifying Girls Highschool' looks great in it's anamorphic transfer. They are going to great lengths to release high quality products, and I look forward to future releases. Especially ones that feature Miki Sugimoto, my personal favorite bad girl of pink cinema! Incidentally, if you like 'Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs', than you should like this as well.

Even a "mediocre" pinky film is still good by any other standards. Not that TERRIFYING GIRL'S HIGH SCHOOL is truly mediocre, it just isn't my favorite of the genre (or of the PVC box-set for that matter...)- but it's still primo sleazy fun.Three delinquent girls (imagine that...) are sent to a private girl's school for...well...delinquents. There they find that corruption abounds as some of the school's students are part of some sort of disciplinary crew, who basically terrorizes any of the other girls that they care to. But these three bitches ain't havin' none of it, and band together with a few other students to bring not only the "discipline-gang" - but the whole damn school down...TGHS has plenty of what the pinky fans want - some good tits-and-ass, and some fun violence and torture (the "lightbulb scene", though not "graphic" by today's standards, is still kinda cool...). Not as strong as some of the other PVC box-set entries, but still definitely worth a look. 7.5/10