Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection (2010)

Directed by Various
Starring Various
Unrated
Japan

"What kind of crazy hospital is this?"

On November 9, 2010, Impulse Pictures, an imprint of Synapse Films, will release the Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection - a remastered archive of 38 Nikkatsu trailers plus a 30 min. short entitled Ryoko's Lesbian Flight.

What is Nikkatsu Roman Porno, you may ask? Allow me to explain. The Nikkatsu Corporation, founded in 1912, is Japan's oldest major movie studio. In 1971, Nikkatsu introduced their "Roman Porno"(which is short for "romantic pornography") line in order to keep afloat, as television had hit the film industry pretty hard by this point. Over the course of their run from 1971 through 1988, Nikkatsu released over a thousand of these "romantic pornography" films, and Impulse Pictures now has rights to many of them; hence, this collection.

Impulse Pictures will be releasing more than 25 full length titles from the "Roman Porno" back catalogue in the near future, but until then, they offer this trailer collection to wet your whistle for what's to come. In this volume, we have over 60 minutes of film trailers that run the gamut from schoolgirl/nurse motifs to bondage, food play - and beyond.
Films of this era can lean on erotosized rape themes a bit, apparently in part as a reaction to the strict censorship laws in Japan at the time and that are still largely in effect today. Sure, you won't see any offensive genitalia, but as a trade-off, you get an increase of torture and sexual assault as arousal material to compensate. Don't get me wrong, rape is not the sole theme in these films, but if titles like "Rape Me", "Rape Shot", "Rape!", or "Rape Apartments" don't tickle your fancy, you may be better off staying clear of this (or simply taking advantage of the skip button on your remote).

On the other hand, if you like Asian cinema - particularly of the erotic variety - you probably already know what you're getting into and will find plenty to enjoy here. The production values of these features are significantly higher than typical soft-core fare, being that Nikkatsu was quite the powerhouse studio at the time, and many of these films were helmed by "legitimate" directors and actors.

It's great that lost or endangered cinema such as this gets another chance to be seen by a future generation and I highly suggest, if your constitution is strong enough, that you pick up a copy of Nikkatsu Roman Porno Trailer Collection and start filling out your wish list today.

Other titles in this collection include: Coed Report: Yoko's White Breasts, Female Gymnastics Instructor: Jump and Straddle, I Love it From Behind!, Nurse's Dormitory: Assy Fingers, Pearl Diver: Tight Shellfish, and The Lovers are Wet.

- Jeremy Vaca