| Rope Hell | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster for Rope Hell (1978) | |
| Directed by | Kōyū Ohara[1] |
| Written by | Kyōhei Konno |
| Produced by | Yoshiki Yūki |
| Starring | Naomi Tani |
| Cinematography | Hidenobu Nimura |
| Edited by | Atsushi Nabeshima |
| Music by | Hajime Kaburagi |
| Distributed by | Nikkatsu |
Release date | June 24, 1978 |
Running time | 69 min. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Rope Hell (縄地獄, Nawa jigoku) is a 1978 Japanese film in Nikkatsu's Roman porno series, directed by Kōyū Ohara and starring Naomi Tani.
Akiko is the heir to a yakuza clan. Hitoshi, who has been kicked out of the rival Hono Clan after attempting to seduce Akiko, kidnaps her at the behest of Hanamura. Hanamura has formed a new gang and intends to use Akiko as a hostage to take over her clan's territory. During the torture and abuse sessions which follow, Akiko comes to enjoy the treatment and forsakes her gangland empire.[2][3]
Rope Hell was based on Oniroku Dan's novel Yakuza Angel (やくざ天使, Yakuza tenshi).[1] Like much of Oniroku Dan's works, Rope Hell uses the theme of a character who is changed through S&M sessions.[2] At the same time that he was creating such dark torture-fests as Rope Hell, Kōyū Ohara was also directing the bright and upbeat Pink Tush Girl films, which were popular with women as well as men.[2][5] Ohara had previously worked with Naomi Tani in Fascination: Portrait of a Lady (1977), and had teamed her with her on-screen tormentor in Rope Hell, Hirokazu Inoue in Fairy in a Cage (also 1977).[2] Both of these films had also based on Dan's writings.[3]
Allmovie judges Rope Hell to be an inferior film compared to Fairy in a Cage.[2] In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, the Weissers also write that Rope Hell is not up to the quality of Ohara and Tani's previous work together, but comment positively on Ohara's visuals.[3] The Weissers judge Oniroku Dan's story to be more objectionable than some of his others, with the message that a woman will choose submission and reject self-expression if given the choice, to be clearer than in his other scripts.[3]
Rope Hell was released theatrically in Japan on June 24, 1978.[6] It was released to home video in VHS format in Japan on February 6, 1998.[7]
