I think I've grown jaded to all these J-shock films over the years. I think if I'd have seen SCHOOLGIRL IN CEMENT a few years ago I may have rated it a bit higher - as it is, I found it relatively dull - especially coming from Katsuya Matsumura, Director of the far superior ALL NIGHT LONG series.
SCHOOLGIRL IN CEMENT is based on a true-crime story in Japan where three boys abduct, rape, torture, and eventually murder a schoolgirl.
Unfortunately, the film version of this case is pretty much just a cheap Japanese exploitation film in the vein of the type of material that Daisuke (MUZAN E) Yamanouchi and Tamakichi (PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS) Anaru put out - only minus the gore. Personally, I felt the film failed on the "shock" level, as all the sex is (expectedly) pixellated, and the "torture" scenes look pretty unconvincing. An "interesting" use of a lamp was the highlight of the film for me, though this was shown non-graphically as well. I would say that those that consider themselves shock-film completists should give this a look just to say you did - but I found it neither all that shocking nor interesting. Not the worst thing out there, but nothing special either. There is a 2004 film titled KONKURITO about the same case that I'd be interested to check out to see if this story could be told with more depth..4/10
SCHOOLGIRL IN CEMENT is based on a true-crime story in Japan where three boys abduct, rape, torture, and eventually murder a schoolgirl.
Unfortunately, the film version of this case is pretty much just a cheap Japanese exploitation film in the vein of the type of material that Daisuke (MUZAN E) Yamanouchi and Tamakichi (PSYCHO: THE SNUFF REELS) Anaru put out - only minus the gore. Personally, I felt the film failed on the "shock" level, as all the sex is (expectedly) pixellated, and the "torture" scenes look pretty unconvincing. An "interesting" use of a lamp was the highlight of the film for me, though this was shown non-graphically as well. I would say that those that consider themselves shock-film completists should give this a look just to say you did - but I found it neither all that shocking nor interesting. Not the worst thing out there, but nothing special either. There is a 2004 film titled KONKURITO about the same case that I'd be interested to check out to see if this story could be told with more depth..4/10