Sister Street Fighter: Hanging by a Thread (1974)

This second series entry is another mondo feast of gore, perversion and heaps of stylized karate versus all comers when Etsuko Shihomi takes on jewel smugglers and their host of hired martial arts goons with the help of the incomparable Yasuaki Kurata. The film is available as part of BCI/Eclipse’s SISTER STREET FIGHTER COLLECTION.

Etsuko Shihomi returns as Shorinji Kenpo-fighting heroine Koryu Lee with this immediate follow up to her martial arts-starring debut in SISTER STREET FIGHTER, a spin off from Sonny Chiba’s hit STREET FIGHTER exploitation series. Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi also returns to crank up the crazed action, gruesome bloodletting and sleazy sexploitation. Chiba himself sits this one out, but is suitably replaced in a standout performance by Yasuaki Kurata, a powerhouse of a martial arts star who had already earned his credentials in numerous Hong Kong “boxer” films like THE KING BOXER (1971) and Chan Cheh’s THE ANGRY GUEST (1972).

Yamaguchi and his screenwriters stick close to the formula set in the last movie. Hong Kong special agent Koryu is once again sent to Japan, this time to find her superior’s kidnapped daughter Birei. She and others like her are being used, or rather their bums are, to smuggle diamonds into the country via a surgical procedure.

Using her sensei’s Shorinji Kempo school as a base of operations, Koryu begins looking for Birei while dealing with an assortment of hired martial artists sent to kill her. Clues quickly lead her to the Osone Corporation, a front for the smuggling operation where Koryu’s distressed sister works as the boss’s toy.

Koryu appears to have met her match when she encounters Inoichiro Honiden (Masashi Ishibashi), a sai-wielding front man to the notorious three Honiden brothers. But unexpected help arrives when a revenge-seeking fighter named Shunsuke Tsubaki (Yasuaki Kurata), who is posing as a freelance brawler, offers some tips and later joins Koryu in attempting to rescue Birei. Together they end up taking on the entire Osone mob to put their operation out of commission for good.

Shihomi had an impressive debut in the previous movie, but is even more assured in her screen fighting this time. Thanks in part to Yamaguchi’s highly stylized direction, she looks better than ever. A close look at her brief nunchaku handling shows a precision with the difficult weapon that rivals Bruce Lee’s skill. She also sells her kicks and punches better with a stronger follow through.

Filling in with the testosterone quotient is Kurata. He shows off incredibly fast kicking and a frenzied, animalistic fighting style that looks fantastic. Yamaguchi captures his intensity extremely well in a visceral brawl where Kurata is left to fight multiple opponents on his own. He ends up in a bare-chested frenzy of deadly strikes that taps into the Bruce Lee style without completely exploiting it.

The villains in this film have improved some. Gone are the leopard-skinned Amazonians and blow gun-wielding native and in place are baddies, while still eccentric, who seem a tad more plausible as hired killers in an urban setting. But what would this series be without a few oddballs? Among Shihomi’s adversaries is a brutish spearman plucked from some desolate mountaintop and a deviant pair of Osone employees comprised of a mad doctor and his transvestite assistant who possesses deadly fingernails. The pinnacle of gleeful excess is reached when we’re introduced to the villain’s “danger room” that’s full of ninjas and other odd assassins sparring and training. It’s set to the music of Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain.”

Gore and exploitation fans have more mondo action to soak up. Eyeballs are skewered and pulled from sockets. Helpless women are tied up and either tortured with flame or subjected to crude operations performed on their posterior. Shihomi gets in on the “fun” by stabbing an armpit with a knife and severing an arm that is still holding a scalpel buried in another victim.

The martial arts action is just as entertaining this time around. Things get a little crazy with wild camera work and campy sound effects such as the swooshing sound heard during every leap. But it remains grounded by the genuine screen fighting skills of the leads, at least until the end. Like the first film, Shihomi ends up performing another ludicrous aerial duel with the main baddie that employs easily seen wires and trick editing.

By continuing to stretch the limits of good taste within the confines of a well-choreographed and framed martial arts flick, HANGING BY A THREAD is a fine addition to the STREET FIGHTER franchise. The action performances of Kurata and Shihomi are both excellent. Yamaguchi’s direction is highly energetic and evens a little artsy at time. The combination of all of these elements makes this second SISTER STREET FIGHTER film a tasty, grindhouse-flavored treat, but definitely for a select audience.