LADY AVENGERS OF TAIWANESE EXPLOITATION FILMS

In the early 80s, there was a surge of women-led exploitation movies in Taiwan, most of which are part of a genre called ‘Taiwan black movies’ or, at the time, ‘social realist movies’. Many of these movies center on women seeking revenge – the most well known ones include the rape and revenge movies The Lady Avenger, directed by Chia-Yun Yang (a woman who’s directed several other movies of the genre as well), and Girl with a Gun, a nearly shot-by-shot remake of Ms. 45 by another key director of the genre, Yao-Chi Chen. Other movies involve women-in-prison, reformatory schools, etc.

Some of these movies...