Serial Rapist

JÛSAN-NIN RENZOKU BÔKÔMA - Serial Rapist, 1978, Kôji Wakamatsu

Director: Kôji Wakamatsu
Writer: Masao Adachi (screenplay)
Stars: Kumiko Araki, Mayuko Hino, Kayoko Sugi

Cast: Kumiko Araki, Mayuko Hino, Kayoko Sugi, Maya Takagi, Ami Takatori, Tensan Umatsu, Emi Yamashita

Serial Rapist is sparse in its production, and its script is no exception. The literal translation of its Japanese title is “The Violent Man Who Attacked 13 People” – that in itself is an adequate plot synopsis. We open with an unnamed man (I could not even find out the actor’s name) – dressed almost comically in overalls – sanding down a modified gun. He then gets on his bicycle and cycles through rows of overbearing gray apartment buildings. He enters an apartment building and, pretending to be a policeman, storms into a woman’s apartment. He rapes her and then kills her by shooting her in the crotch. Only two minutes into the film, this scene is a shock to the senses. Not because it is violent, but because it shows considerable restraint before thrusting the bloodied aftermath of the brutal act onto the screen. It lingers on the shot of the dead woman making for an extremely uncomfortable title sequence. Serial Rapist continues along this path. The rapist-murderer moves from scene to scene, raping every woman he comes in contact with. His actions become bolder as he kidnaps a policewoman, who he holds hostage in the abandoned factory he lives in, and rapes and murders a woman on top of a city building with a cafe full of people mere meters away.