Tenshi No Harawata: Akai Memai on AllMovie

The fifth installment in a series of rape-thrillers which began with Jokousei Tenshi No Harawata (1978) is stylishly directed by Takashi Ishii, author of the dark adult mangas upon which the series is based. Mayako Katsuragi stars as Nami, a nurse erotically involved with a fashion photographer named Kenji (Hirofumi Kobayashi). One night, she is attacked and nearly raped by the patients in the hospital where she works. When she breaks away, and heads home, her day grows even more unbearable, for she soon finds Kenji in bed with another woman. Meanwhile, in another section of town, embezzling stockbroker Muraki (Naoto Takenata) flees from a destroyed life and accidentally hits Nami with his car. Believing that she is dead - and afraid to go to the police - he deposits the body in his trunk, then attempts to rape her when he learns that she is still alive. Takenaka went on to mainstream acclaim by starring in Rampo (1994). Ishii, who directed the remaining films in this series, returned with the most popular installment, Tenshi No Harawata: Akai Senko in 1994.