Mermaid Legend

Based on a gekiga penned by Kazuhiko Miyatani, this is director Ikeda’s first movie after leaving Nikkatsu over censorship disagreement. It’s a unique variation of the standard vengeance theme, sort of classy (albeit very bloody) version of I Spit On Your Grave. A fisherman, opposed to the construction of a nuclear power plant, is murdered by a gang of right-wing extremists who are puppets of the corrupt contractor. The dead man’s devoted wife concocts a plan of revenge. She slaughters the men in the goriest, most grisly ways imaginable, thus removing any suspicion from her. In fact, the newspapers soon begin reporting stories of “a blood-fiend from the lake” and “a ghost mermaid.”