''Scorpion's Revenge'' (also known as ''Sasori in U.S.A.'') is a 1997 Japanese

women in prison film The women in prison film (or WiP film) is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day. Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by ...

directed by Daisuke Goto, and starring Yoko Saito, Shizuka Ochi and Tetta Sugimoto. The film was a Japanese/American co-production and was mostly filmed in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. The plot of the film centers on a woman framed for the murder of her husband; the plot is similar to that of ''

Double Jeopardy In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...

'', which was released two years later.

Plot

Nami Matsuhima and her husband Jiro were a Japanese couple living in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Unfortunately, Nami's life changes for the worse, when Jiro is killed by an explosion from a bomb that was planted in his car. The police believe that Nami is responsible because Jiro had signed a life insurance policy the month before, which granted Nami $1.2 million. She is sent to a women's prison and is assigned to a cell, next to another Japanese woman, Yukiko Kida. Nami learns from Yukiko and other prisoners that the warden likes to rape and torture several of the prisoners that are brought over by Zamira, the warden's favorite. Meanwhile, Nami's friend and Jiro's former partner, Jimmy Yoshioka tells Nami about Jiro's lawyer career and had made some enemies, which leads Nami to believe she was framed. Then, Yukiko is raped by the warden and Nami decides to avenge her. Nami is brought over to the warden and kills him. She then, knocks out Zamira by slamming her head against the gate and grabs the keys. She, Yukiko and a bunch of other prisoners escape. However, only Nami and Yukiko managed to fully escape. They are stranded and left to die in the

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

desert and Nami learns that Yukiko is blind, and later tells Nami that her boyfriend was killed by a gang leader and was also raped and blinded by him. Jimmy eventually finds and helps them. He then tells Nami that all of Jiro's enemies have been killed, which throws them off in their search. Nami decides to help Yukiko exact her revenge. She goes to the church, where the gang leader is getting married and shoots him dead. Nami later finds out that Jiro had faked his death and confronts Jiro at their home (which is now left for sale). Nami finds out about Jiro's motives and they fight. Jiro escapes and Nami engages in a

car chase A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive ...

which ends with Nami and Jiro in the desert. Jiro is about to kill Nami, when a

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...

stings him, which leaves him paralyzed. Nami takes the shotgun and kills him. She leaves his body in his car and set both on fire.

Cast

* Yoko Saito as Nami Matsuhita * Shizuka Ochi as Yukiko Kida *

Tetta Sugimoto is a Japanese actor. Career Sugimoto was first a member of a rock band before he debuted as an actor in 1983 in the film ''Hakujasho''. For that film, he won a Japan Academy Prize best newcomer award. In addition to his work in film, he has als ...

as Jiro Sugimi * Kirsten Norton as Zamira * Takanori Kikuchi as Jimmy Yoshioka * Michael Hegedus as Warden Cooper * Kimberly Shaolm Valentino as Sandra * Carol Hoyt as Linda * Bebra Aza as Liz * Kevin Crowther as Paul * Francisco Viana as Dino * Buddy Daniels as Fuller * Hank Matt as Anthony * Kim Delgado as Prosecutor

Release

The film was released

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

on VHS on October 17, 1997. It was licensed in North America by

Central Park Media Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...

, who released the film under their Asia Pulp Cinema label on VHS on December 28, 1999 and later on DVD with an English dub on September 9, 2003. The English dub was produced by Central Park Media and was recorded at Audioworks Producers Group in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0328376 1997 drama films 1997 films Japanese prison films 1990s prison films Central Park Media Women in prison films Films set in the United States 1990s English-language films 1990s Japanese films