Woman in a Box: Virgin Sacrifice (1985) (2025)

Popular reviews

• Review by Dave Jackson ★★★★

  Cannot stress this enough: this is not for everybody. In fact, it is for almost nobody. Woman in a Box is filthy, grimy, shot-on-video hell. It's also rather brilliant. By famed Roman Porno director Masaru Konuma, Woman in a Box was Nikkatsu's attempt to dip their toes into the AV market. Rather than being shot on gorgeous 35mm film, it is captured on rotten video. It's quite a shock to see a Nikkatsu film looking this trashy, but Konuma really makes the aesthetic work to his favour. I think this would have lacked some its disgusting impact if it were shot on film.

  The very thin story focuses on a perverted couple who love fucking in their one-way mirror van,…

• Review by Dakota Noot ★★★★★ 5

  This is the greatest Nikkatsu Roman Porno I’ve ever seen. There’s people who think of “Salo” or “Irreversible” as disturbing. Can you imagine them seeing this - or the history of Nikkatsu Roman Porno? This is scuzzy in content - but surprisingly well lit for SOV. It’s poetic - and literary (owing to both “Story of O” and Marquis de Sade). It’s Japan at its depraved brilliance. Watch the ocean and fade away 📦 🩸

  I love seeing the cops get off to get story. Real-life police would as well. The audience for these movies probably did: the cops might as well be their curious stand-ins. Tug on that chain.

  I can’t imagine recommending this to anyone - but if…

• Review by dogfacedboy ★★★★★ 4

  You know you're on to something special when almost every scene has the fuzzy Japanese censorship dot in it.

  This is the nastiest, grubbiest, gnarliest, depraved shit I've seen in a while, and I watched Gestapo's Last Orgy and Salo recently.

  Truly one for the sickos, I loved it.

• Review by Dakota Noot ★★★★★

  Still the greatest Nikkatsu Roman Porno ever made; starring the Samurai (Hiroshi Tamura) from "Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood" (1985 - a month after this). Through its AD Hideo Nakata, this film is pivotal to "Ringu" and the J-horror boom. Yes, director Masaru Konuma should be considered the grandfather of J-horror (for mentoring Hideo) and it can be seen in the nightmare funhouse sequence of "The Hidden Lover" (1972) or the spectacle "Wife to Be Sacrificed" (1974). If "Emmanuelle is for couples" (barf), then this is how they truly save their marriage. It's an SOV "Story of O." De VHSade. The culmination of Naomi Tani's BDSM, made to compete with adult video as "Roman X." Nikkatsu, I've…

• Review by Dakota Noot ★★★★★

  The most tasteless True Crime movie ever made: based on the Colleen Stan "Girl in a Box" kidnapping. Wonderfully vile and at times, surreal and calming. Gallows humor that could only be sung by the king of nightmares (Masaru Konuma); or played so gleefully by the "Guinea Pig 2" Samurai (Hiroshi Tamura) upon "Roman X" Queen Saeko Kuzuki. I wish all art could be so bold, sensational, and offensive. This is Nikkatsu's final attack on Adult Video; and for 1 hour, I believe in their victory. They made the Roman Porno genre upon countless bodies and awakenings. The studio wasn't dead yet: even from the sewer, did Nikkatsu reach for the heavens (and score it with the Onyanko Club).

  Now…

• Review by Maldone ★★★★ 2

  Masaru Konuma demonstrates once again that he is a true poet of depravity. In his hands, Nikkatsu's typical unbridled sadistic madness always borders on surrealist poetry. He manages to build a world where blurring the lines between being a victim of abuse and achieving some kind of perverted self-realization doesn't even feel like a reach.

  Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of the SOV aesthetic here, although I do understand arguments it adds to the rawness of the horror on display. I definitely prefer the opulence of his beautiful 70s widescreen visual compositions.

  I have to admit though, that with the scenes of horny cops getting off, excited by confession of suffered severe abuse, to the point of becoming abusers themselves, Konuma reached some new heights.

• Review by Industria ★★★★½

  Wow. This is vulgar. This defines vulgar.

  The sickly slick VHS aesthetic on this was completely intentional, completely elevating the medium to heights of horror only ever so rarely seen. I'm so grateful for artists like this. Someone, please, tell me what camera they used! Some of those images are amazing in their flatness, their affect and uncanniness.

  Now note, this is an emotional rollercoaster. Really, it is. You'll be taken to the depths of depravity and morose depression, truly sad to be where you are, only to then find yourself laughing and shaking your head, bewildered at what you just saw. These shifts are wonderful, thoughtful, and unique.

  I cannot stress enough how good this film looks. Nature and…

• Review by SexgunSukeban ★★★½

  A difficult, dark, sordid experience w/ a light at the end of the sewer that’s both thought-provoking and illuminating. Woman in a Box: Virgin Sacrifice is also disturbingly provocative, with a healthy dose of Konuma’s patented pitch-black humor casting a sarcastic gaze on society’s inherent sexual hypocrisies.

  I struggled w/ the first half of the movie, tbh, but there’s a lot more to chew on here than I initially thought. This is also perhaps the finest-looking AV feature I’ve ever watched - Masaru Konuma’s eye-popping aesthetic translating to video more successfully than I might have imagined.

  Moreover, despite having seen similar endings from Konuma/Nikkatsu, the final shot, and two simple words, made this a movie-watching adventure I won’t soon forget.

• Review by PenguinBoss ★★★½

  The final act will completely subvert your expectations in the best possible way. I’ve said it so many times but it bears repeating, Konuma pulls these stories off better than anyone, there’s way more substance than a movie with this title deserves.

  The first half is a little too sex heavy but with the way things pay off it all makes more sense that it had to be that way. Obviously This film is really fucking gross...would only recommend to seasoned pink viewers. I think anybody would appreciate the way it ends though, I just smiled and shook my head, still can’t believe it.

  One of my favorite aspects of 80s Roman Pornos is the simplistic horror like synth scores, they make me feel like I’m in a perverted version of Bowser’s castle.

• Review by Christopher Velasco ★★★★★

  After watching the Bears solve crimes and be super gay. My husband and I wanted to rewatch a family classic in our household.

  This rewatch got better than the first time. I have watched over 100 Nikkatsu Roman Pornos; this film is my favorite. I mentioned before that Pinnead would probably blush and cream himself seeing this. Woman in a Box takes all of Noami Tani's BDSM films and goes to 11. It's so fantastical and ridiculous. You can't help but giggle at some of the dialogue.

  Again, for a SOV, it looks gorgeous. It's very stylized and well-paced. The way they filmed those sex scenes in the van, in the middle of the busy street, is just amazing.

  Hiroshi…

• Review by Gyaru In Chains ★★★½ 1

  The 22nd of March of 2024. Such a warm Spring afternoon in the garbage ass neighborhood I come from. I put this on wearing nothing but a robe on my skin and a gin and tonic in my hand, exactly the way the Gods intended us to watch this filth.

  Paraphrasing the words of a wise Indian philosopher "My life, my rules. My style, my attitude. You love me or hate me, I don't care". This is the sentiment of this production. It's relenteless and it doesn't give a flying, swimming, walking, running, driving fuck. The guerilla shots are wild and shameless, often hilarious whenever you catch the confused pedestrians peeking at the van while the actors fuck. Sometimes, with…

• Review by DrHeiterMD ★★★★★

  Masterpiece 🎥 👏