Otsuya, the daughter of a merchant, is kidnapped into prostitution and tattooed with the image of a huge black spider on her back.
The spider tattoo changes Otsuya, or perhaps releases something within her. Soon she is contriving steely, sexually dominant revenge on her oppressors.
Director Yasuzo Masumura’s feverish mix of moral decay and primal feminism is captured brilliantly by star Ayako Wakao, Masumura’s muse who would return to the screen in The Red Angel (also screening at LIFF 2023) later the same year. Both films are diamond hard, crazed yet serious, and here Wakao embodies a kick-ass anti-heroine.
