NIKKATSU ROMAN PORNO TRAILER COLLECTION

Japan's esteemed film studio Nikkatsu began making films under its "Roman Porno" banner in 1971. They continued to churn out these stylish, erotic films for seventeen years - finding their way round their country's stringent censors with carefully filmed sequences of soft-core shenanigans, and their way into the hearts of fans by way of scenes of often violence-tinged kinkiness.

Roman porno was, for all intents and purposes, the slightly classier, better-budgeted relation of the Pinku genre.

Many of the films from the Roman porno cycle remain largely unseen on Western shores. Synapse's erotica-specialised sister company Impulse aim to go some way towards rectifying this, firstly with this compilation of trailers and then with a couple of intriguing titles still to come.

As an appetiser for forthcoming feature-length DVD titles such as DEBAUCHERY and FEMALE TEACHER: DIRTY AFTERNOON, this works superbly.

The main attraction of this exquisite package is original trailers for some 38 crazy Roman porno titles (amazingly, there were over one thousand films produced within the cycle).

Each trailer runs for an average of 40-to-90 seconds in length and has been newly mastered from original negative materials. Better still, they're all presented in anamorphic widescreen - and come with the reassurance of knowing that Synapse's ever-diligent Don May Jr has overseen the transfers. So, quality is a given.

The aforementioned FEMALE TEACHER kicks things off and is a great indication of what's to come. Soft but erotic, highly stylised sex mixed with some truly fetishist violence. Rape is clearly a source of drama for this lot ...

FEMALE TEACHER HUNTING follows, with more panting than dialogue - and an all-too-brief shot of a perfect female backside getting soaked in the shower.

FEMALE TEACHER: IN FRONT OF THE STUDENTS is next, and looks even better. Lesbian scenes and cunnilingus aside, it actually appears to be quite spooky and harsh. I need to see this one in its entirety. Takeshi Kanno's ZOOM UP: BEAVER BOOK GIRL looks hot, female urination and all.

Melodrama and S&M are mixed with attractive cinematography in ZOOM IN: RAPE APPARTMENTS (the titles are as striking as the films).

And so it goes on. As if monikers such as NURSES'DORMITORY: ASSY FINGERS and RAPE ME! aren't evocative enough, these trailers leave no doubt in the viewers' mind that the films exist to titillate those looking for flimsy stories and fairly artistic photography to house their tawdry fantasies.

DEBAUCHERY is a highlight, looking very promising indeed - despite an ugly bit of genital fogging in one sex clip (most of the sex on offer throughout is meticulously shot to ensure genitals are hidden behind conveniently placed objects, or carefully deliberated camera angles).

"Sexy women should make love while they're still hot!" screams the tagline for SHE CAT. They make a good point, and Nikkatsu have made a good, fast-paced thriller-trailer of said film to complement that sentiment.

SEX HUNTER: WET TARGET looks to be as much fun for its shootouts as it is its female bottoms; SEX FIEND and WET LIPS both live up to their titles. I LOVE IT FROM BEHIND! meanwhile beats THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by a good 30-odd years, with its scenes of a woman ramming a dildo up her male aggressor's arsehole.

It's all good, briskly edited fun. If anything, everything moves by a little too quickly to register at times. But it's fun, and would make for a great party tape.

The disc opens with a fantastic animated myriad of sexy clips set to sleazy saxophone strains, before settling into the static main menu page which allows you to watch the trailers either as one 60-minute whole or by selecting them each individually.

As mentioned earlier, each trailer is presented in anamorphic widescreen and they look superb for the most part. Considering the age and nature of these clips, most of them are extremely clean and vibrant-looking. Faded colours are frequent, but that rings true of Asian films of this era. Specks and the odd bit of print damage are understandable but, overall, the quality of the pictures on offer is great.

Likewise the Japanese mono, which is clear and consistent throughout. Optional English subtitles are excellent.

The main extra is a bonus 30-minute film entitled RYOKO WATANABE'S LESBIAN FIGHT.

This is shot on video and looks rather soft, with faded colours and slightly restrained mono audio. Again, good English subtitles are optional for those of us who can't speak fluent Japanese.

FIGHT is basically more soft-core nonsense, shot with a keen eye on aesthetics despite the crippling low budget and a welcome air of the voyeuristic about it. In it, Watanabe is an air stewardess who retires to her hotel room between flights, only to be accosted by an old friend and colleague she'd bumped into earlier that day in the airport.

The women have nice figures and the sex is arousing, if not explicit. The toe-sucking was amusing and the only downside was the brief distraction of pixelated labia.

The set is completed by an excellent, vivid 4-page booklet containing spiffing liner notes from Jasper Sharp. Sharp, of course, is the author of FAB Press' recommended read "Behind The Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema". So, it goes without saying that he knows his stuff and his notes make for an involving read. Also, and very pleasingly, the cover on the booklet is an uncensored version of the eye-grabbing DVD cover art montage.

Impulse have done a fine job overall here. Anyone with even a passing interest in Roman porno, or Japanese erotica of any description, owes it to themselves to have this in their DVD collection.

Review by Stu Willis