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Cat III (Category 3) & Extreme Asian Films

A  STUDY OF ASIAN CAT III (Category 3) FILMS

Category-III-category-3-extreme-horror-asian-3CAT III, otherwise known as Category 3 is the rating system used on Extreme horror and exploitation films from the Asian market. While the films range from extremely disturbing horror to p*rnographic, this list is primarily focused on the Horror rela(1986)ted titles. Soft p*rn for Asian films are also classified under “Pinku” (pink film) though when the filmmakers blend extreme violence, torture, gore or taboo subject matter with these elements it is more commonly referred to as a CAT III classified film.

From what we can tell, there has been some truly gray lines between what is classified as CAT III and what is not. As far as American markets go it’s closer to a NC-17 rating. Though I tend to believe that CAT III films go much farther in visual content extremes than our NC-17. Films that feature extremely gory content such as “Tokyo Gore Police”  (note: Tokyo Gore Style) seem to somehow fall outside of the CAT III category suggesting that CAT III films all contain graphic sexual content in addition to the violence. Tokyo Gore Style also tends to fill a more specific profile, that is over the top, but done in a comedic dark tone. The distinction is pretty clear once watching those films (SEE Tokyo Gore Style for listing of films in that category). Another classification that is thrown around is J-Sploitation which is clearly extreme content worthy of a CAT III class. J-Sploitation has been used in the same essence as CAT III, though obviously originating from a Japanese base.

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A common reoccurring theme in these films seems to be incest, rape, torture, necrophilia, abortion, suffering, gore and physically abusive violence. It is also fair to say that several of these become inventive in combining fantasy elements into the mix. Some titles have brought in elements of Cyber punk, samurai, scifi and retro. This is also not to suggest that films “without” class III ratings are not disturbing or extreme, they have just not been labeled as so. The famed banned “Imprint” film is proof of that. One common trait is the absense of comedic appeal which paints a darker, cold cinematic experience. Still to this day US audiences are shocked by content being introduced into the mainstream that has long been documented in older CAT III films.

NAMES:
To add further confusion to the titles, some of these have several titles used over the years…some of which we have included. If in doubt, your best is to do a search on IMDB to see what other names the film might be listed under. Examples might be the “ENTRAILS OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: previously listed under “GUTS OF A VIRGIN” or the film “PSYCHO SNUFF REELS” also referred to as “TUMBLING DOLL OF FLESH”. Other references include the films listed under their original Asian names such as “ALL NIGHT LONG 4” listed as “Ooru Naito Rongu R”.

A few instances are titled in numbers as a series of franchise releases, though in the case of “STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN 2”, it is simply referred to as “STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN (HELL VERSION)” further confusing the sequence. A good giveaway is the release date of the film. “STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN” (the original that is) was released twice under the same name – once in 2001, and then a remake in 2009.

OBSCURE HUNTING:
Some titles such as “BUTTERFLY LABYRINTH” 1 & 2 seem to allude even IMDB existing in collection offerings only and are largely out of print. A search on the director revealed some results.

Per the comment section I was able to dig on this title further:
“Nurse Hunting:Female Body Laboratory” is a part of strikingly erotic Japanese fetish/p*rn series produced by a sub-label of the AV company Dogma.It includes the following movies:”Tohjiro:Abnormal Rape”,”Tohjiro:Butterfly Labyrinth”,”Tohjiro:Butterfly Labyrinth 2″,”Tohjiro:Rare Fetish”,”Tohjiro:Baby Doll”,”Tohjiro:VS425″,”Tohjiro:Hentai Kazoku”,”Tohjiro:Outraged Boobs Nurse”,”Tohjiro:Lascvious Confessions Room”,”Tohjiro:Anal Trance”,”Tohjiro:Sailor Bondage”,”Tohjiro:Body Trance” and “Tohjiro:What’s Wrong with Perversion”.Japanese AV star Kurumi Morish*ta plays a masochistic nurse,who enjoys being sexually abused by her doctor.The film is loaded with oral sex,sadomasochism,bondage and sexual degradation,so fans of sleazy Japanese p*rn won’t be disappointed .Still there was not enough wall-to-wall depravity for my liking.

MISDIRECTION:
Watch your titles and dates! For instance, there is a release titled “HELL GIRL” (Jigoku, “The Girl from Hell” ) (2005) which is a different release than “GIRL HELL” (“Injure Rape Murder Film”) (1999).

I mention these things as it is very easy to purchase the same title twice thinking it’s a different movie by its name…It pays to research the titles a bit. It is sounds confusing, that’s because it is.

The official ranking system is classified as such:

A rating garnered by the Hong Kong Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA). The rating system in Hong Kong is as follows:

I: Suitable for all ages.
IIa: Not suitable for children.
IIb: Not suitable for young persons.
III: Not approved for exhibition to anyone under the age of 18.

The following list was compiled due to lack of lists available on this subject. And for that matter actually took some time to track down thru a number of searches. While it may not be entirely complete, we feel we have included most of the well known extreme horror CAT III titles that are in existence. We will make efforts to include more titles as we are made aware of them. These are not intended for young minds and defer to adult only content. CAT III films still to this day remain to be some of the most shocking cinema ever created. Titles on list can be found either on Amazon or thru 3rd part vendors who vary in offerings.

A common way of exchange is thru private Torrent sharing sites that offer free downloads on titles (though we are not advising this) Sadly, this is the only reason some of these films seem to still exist. Again the extreme content of titles have forced many underground.

Note: Some titles that lacked any horror content were left out as they are clearly intended to promote the erotic, soft p*rn aspect.

Several films include subtitles, but occasionally some take a bit longer to be proper subtitled. If you would like to contact us on missing titles or corrections, feel free to email us at: news@horrornews.net as we’d like this to be as accurate as possible. Look for reviews of many of these titles over the next few months.

UPDATE: Clarification ————————-

Upon writing this article, it became soon clear to me that their is much confusion in what constitutes a genuine CAT III rating. This has been further confused over the years by distributors who market everything Asian containing hardcore violence and horror as “CAT III”. So for clarity, at least as far as this site’s concerned, I wish to note what is proclaimed and how we (HorrorNews.net) classify this aspect of the genre.

Originally CAT III wasn’t implemented until year 1988, by which is was focused primarily on Hong-Kong-only films that exceeded a classification rating system as we might view NC-17 films. The tag, so to speak, was to red flag movies that were too adult or too controversial for normal viewing circles.

Over the years, we have lumped these films in by 2 factors. One, of Asian origin (most likely subtitled) and 2 of extreme content that would fit into a horror / controversial category. So while most will search for CAT III to track these down, they have in effect become closer to just “Extreme Asian

Note: we excluded films that purely rely or eroticism without any traits of violence, gore or controversial subject matters such as rape, incest and torture. Many of “those” erotic CAT films would better fit the classification of “Pinku”. The list or that alone is long, we’ll try and slim this list down if we run into ones that better fit THAT classification.

This list is constantly evolving, but for the record, is rooted in the above mentioned subject areas. CAT III, in this sense, is flagged by being of Asian origin and extreme horror. Because of that, many of these titles are hard to come by, even for review purposes.

For mostly non-Asian Extreme Cinema films, please see this article on Extreme Cinema (which also contains its own extensive list)

CAT III – CATEGORY 3 FILMS LIST: (EXTREME HORROR)
“Reviewed Films” are linked to posted reviews:

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3 EXTREMES (Saam gaang yi) (2004) – Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park
3 EXTREMES II (Saam gaang) (2002) – Peter Chan, Jee-woon Kim, Nonzee Nimibutr
AB-NORMAL BEAUTY (2004) – Oxide Pang Chun
A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY 1 (1994) – Bosco Lam
A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY 2 (1998) – Kin-Nam Cho
A DAY WITHOUT POLICEMEN (1993) – Johnny Lee
A LAMB IN DESPAIR (1999) – Siu-Hung Leung
ALL NIGHT LONG (1992) – Katsuya Matsumura
ALL NIGHT LONG 2: ATROCITY (1995) – Katsuya Matsumura
ALL NIGHT LONG 3: FINAL CHAPTER (1996) – Katsuya Matsumura
ALL NIGHT LONG 4 (Ôru naito rongu R) (2002) –  Katsuya Matsumura
ALL NIGHT LONG 5 (Ooru naito rongu: Inisharu O) (2003) – Katsuya Matsumura
ALL NIGHT LONG 6: ANYONE WOULD HAVE DONE)(2009) -Katsuya Matsumura
ALL WOMEN ARE WHORES (White Uniform in Rope Hell) (1980) – Shôgorô Nishimura
ANGEL OF DARKNESS (1995) – Mitsunori Hattori
ANGEL OF DARKNESS 2 (1995) – Atsushi Shimizu
ANGEL OF DARKNESS 3 (1996) – Mitsunori Hattori
ANGEL OF DARKNESS 4 (1996) – Mitsunori Hattori
ANGEL OF DARKNESS 5 (1997) – Atsushi Shimizu
ANGEL GUTS 1: HIGH SCHOOL CO-ED (1978)- Chûsei Sone
ANGEL GUTS 2: RED CLASSROOM (1979) – Chûsei Sone
ANGEL GUTS 3: NAMI (1979) –  Noboru Tanaka
ANGEL GUTS 4: RED P*RNO (1981)- Toshiharu Ikeda
ANGEL GUTS 5: RED VERTIGO (1988)- Takashi Ishii
ANGEL GUTS 6: RED FLASH (1994)- Takashi Ishii
AMAZING SHOCKING ASIA, THE (Banned from Asia) (1998) –  Gordon Vein
ASSAULT! JACK THE RIPPER (1976) – Yasuharu Hasebe
ATTACK GIRLS SWIM TEAM VS THE UNDEAD (UNDEAD POOL) (2007) – Kôji Kawano
AUDITION (1999) – Takashi Miike
A VERY SHORT LIFE (2009) – Dennis Law
BAMBOO HOUSE OF DOLLS (1973) – Shikamura Yasuyoshi
BEAST COPS (Yeshou xingjing) (1998)Gordon Chan, Dante Lam
BEASTS, THE (SHAN KOU, FLESH AND THE BLOODY TERROR) (1980) – Dennis Yu
BEAUTIFUL GIRL HUNTER (STAR OF DAVID) (1979) – Noribumi Suzuki
BEAUTIFUL TEACHER IN TORTURE HELL (1985) – Masahito Segawa
BEAUTYS EVIL ROSE (1994) – Wah Chun Lam
BIJO KENSHI FUTARI – SEPPUKU (SHORT FILM) (1990) – Yuuri Sunohara
BIOTHERAPHY (BAIOSERAPII, Kolobok net v kino) (SHORT FILM) (1986) –  Akihiro Kashima
BLIND BEAST VS. KILLER DWARF (Blind Beast) (Môjû tai Issunbôshi)(2001) – Teruo Ishii
BLOOD SISTERS (Senketsu no kizuna) (2000) – Daisuke Yamanouchi
BLUE JEAN MONSTER, THE (1991) – Kai-Ming Lai
BROTHER OF DARKNESS (1994) – Hin Sing ‘Billy’ Tang
BUTCHER, THE (2007) – Kim Jin-won
CALAMITY OF SNAKES (1983) – Chi Chang
CAPTURED FOR SEX (Hakujitsumu zoku) (1987) – Tetsuji Takechi
CAPTURED FOR SEX 2 (Kankin sei no dorei: Ikenie 2) (1986) – Ryuichi Hiroki,
CRUEL HISTORY OF WOMEN’S TORTURE (The Cruel History of Prisoners) (1976)- Shinya Yamamoto
CENTIPEDE HORROR (CENTIPEDE CURSE) (1984) – Keith Li
CONCRETE – SCHOOL GIRL IN CEMENT, (CONCRETE-ENCASED HIGH SCHOOL GIRL MURDER CASE) (1995) – Katsuya Matsumura
CRUEL RESTAURANT (2008) – Kôji Kawano
CRUELTY: BLACK ROSE TORTURE (Zankoku: Kurobara rinchi) (1975) – Katsuhiko Fujii
DANGEROUS ENCOUNTERS OF THE FIRST KIND (Don’t Play with Fire) (1980) – Hark Tsui
DARK LOVE: RAPE (Dâku rabu: Rape) (2008) – Katsuya Matsumura
DA SHE (Lost Souls aka Torture Camp of The Tormented Refugees) (1980) – Tun Fei Mou
DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS (1993) – Kai-Ming Lai
DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS 2 (1994) – Kai Ming Lai
DEVIL FETUS (MO TAI) (1983) – Hung-Chuen Lau
DIARY OF A SERIAL KILLER (1995) – Otto Chan
DOG BITE DOG (2006) – Pou-Soi Cheang
DR LAMB (1992) – Danny Lee
EAT THE SCHOOLGIRL (Eating Schoolgirls: Osaka Telephone Club) (1997) – Naoyuki Tomomatsu
EBOLA SYNDROME (1996) – Herman Yau
ECCENTRIC PSYCHO CINEMA 1-7
EMBRYO HUNTS IN SECRET (1996) – Kôji Wakamatsu
EMPTY ROOMS (2001) – Toshiki Sato
EROTIC NIGHTMARE (1999)- Zheng Weiwen
ETERNAL EVIL OF ASIA (1995) – Man Kei Chin
FAIRY IN A CAGE (SEX HELL, WET ROPE) (1977) – Kôyû Ohara
FATALE MOVE (2008) – Dennis S.Y. Law
FATAL ENCOUNTER (Duo ming jie chu) (1994) – Hugo Ng Doi Yung
FEMALE TEACHER IN ROPE HELL (Dan Oniroku: Onna kyôshi nawa jigoku) (1981) – Shôgorô Nishimura
FLOWER AND SNAKE (Hana to hebi) (2004)- Takashi Ishii
FLOWER AND SNAKE: 2 (Hana to hebi 2: Pari/Shizuko) (2005) –  Takashi Ishii
FLOWER AND SNAKE 3: PUNISHMENT (Hana to hebi: Shiiku-hen) (1986) – Shôgorô Nishimura
FLOWER AND SNAKE 4: ROPE MAGIC (White Uniform Rope Slave) (1987) – Shôgorô Nishimura
FO BO (2003) – Kung-Lok Lee, Ching-Po Wong
GIRL IN CAPTIVITY: PSYCHO TORTURE CHAMBER (2008) – Daisuke Goto
GIRL HELL (INJURE RAPE MURDER FILM) (1999) – Daisuke Yamanouchi
GON TAU: AN ORIENTAL BLACK MAGIC (VOODOO) (2007) – Herman Yau
GOZU (2003) – Takashi Miike
GROTESQUE (2009) – Kôji Shiraishi
GUINEA PIG 1: THE DEVIL’S EXPERIMENT (1985) – Satoru Ogura
GUINEA PIG 2: FLOWER OF FLESH AND BLOOD (1985) – Hideshi Hino
GUINEA PIG 3: HE NEVER DIES (1986) – Masayuki Kusumi
GUINEA PIG 4: MERMAID IN A MANHOLE (1988) – Hideshi Hino
GUINEA PIG 5: ANDROID OF NOTRE DAME (1989) – Kazuhito Kuramoto
GUINEA PIG 6: DEVIL WOMAN DOCTOR (1986) – Hajime Tabe
GUINEA PIG 7: SLAUGHTER SPECIAL (1988)
GUTS OF A VIRGIN 1 (ENTRAILS OF A VIRGIN) (1986) – Kazuo ‘Gaira’ Komizu
GUTS OF A VIRGIN 2 (ENTRAILS OF A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN / RUSTED BODY) (1986) – Kazuo ‘Gaira’ Komizu
GUTS OF A VIRGIN 3 (FEMALE INQUISITOR / RUSTED BODY) (1986) – Kazuo ‘Gaira’ Komizu
HARD BOILED (1992) – John Woo
HER VENGEANCE (BLOODY ROSE) (1988) – Ngai Choi Lam
HIGH HEELED PUNISHERS (1994) – Takashi Kodama
HOLY VIRGIN VERSUS THE EVIL DEAD, THE (1991) –  Chin-Ku Lu
HORRIBLE HIGH HEELS (1996) – Wai On Chan
HORRORS OF MALFORMED MEN (1969) – Teruo Ishii
ICHI THE KILLER (2001) – Takashi Miike
INFERNO OF TORTURE (1969) –  Teruo Ishii
INSANITY (Chu mu jing xin) (1993) – Siu-Hung Leung
IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Ai no korîda) (1976) – Nagisa Ôshima
INRAN KAZOKU: GIBO NO SHINSHITSU (1991)- Minoru Inao
INTRUDER (1997) – Kan-Cheung Tsang
INVITATION ONLY (Jue ming pai dui) (2009) – Kevin Ko
JOY OF TORTURE 1 (Shogun’s Joy of Torture) (1968) – Teruo Ishii
JOY OF TORTURE 2: OXEN SPLIT TORTURING (Shogun’s Sadism) (1976) – Yûji Makiguchi
KICHIKU: BANQUET OF THE BEASTS (Kichiku dai enkai) (1997) – Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
KYOKO VS YUKI (2000) – Daisuke Yamanouchi
LEWD LIZARD (BLOOD LIZARD) (CHONG) (1985) – Norman Chu
LOLITA VIBRATOR TORTURE (SECRET GARDEN) (1987) – Hisayasu Sato
LOST PARADISE (1990) – Masami Akita
LOVE AND CRIME (Meiji · Taishô · Shôwa: Ryôki onna hanzai-shi) (1969)
LOVE TO KILL (1993) –  Siu-hung Chung
LUCKY SKY DIAMOND (BLOODY FRAGMENTS ON A WHITE WALL) (1990)-  Izô Hashimoto
MADAME O (Zoku akutokui: Joi-hen) (1967) – Seiichi Fukuda
MAD DETECTIVE (2007) – Johnnie To
MEAT GRINDER (2009) – Tiwa Moeithaisong

MEN BEHIND THE SUN (1988) – Tun Fei Mou
MEN BEHIND THE SUN 2 (MARUTA 2: LABORATORY OF THE DEVIL) (1992) – Godfrey Ho
MEN BEHIND THE SUN 3 (A NARROW ESCAPE) (1994) – Godfrey Ho
MEN BEHIND THE SUN 4 : BLACK SUN (THE NANKING MASSACRE) (1995) – Tun Fei Mou
MUZAN E (Celluloid Nightmares) (1999) – Daisuke Yamanouchi
NAKED POISON (2000) – Man Kei Chin
NEW TOKYO DECADENCE (Dorei) (2007) – Osamu Satô
NIGHT CORRIDOR (2003) – Julian Lee
NO GUILTY (1992) – Wai Lam
NUDE FEAR (1998) – Alan Mak Siu-Fai
ONNA HARAKIRI: SANGE (SHORT FILM) (1990)-  Yuuri Sunohara
ONNA HARAKIRI: SEISAN (1990) –  Yuuri Sunohara
ORGAN (1996) – Kei Fujiwara
ORGIES OF EDO (1969) – Teruo Ishii
PEEPING, THE (2002) – Marco Mak
PEEPING TOM, THE (BARE FOOT THRILLER) (1997) – Kai-Ming Lai
PERFECT EDUCATION (1999) – Ben Wada
PERFECT EDUCATION 2 (40 Days of Love) (2001) – Yôichi Nishiyama
PROSTITUTE KILLER (2000) – Shu-Pui Hou
PROSTITUTE TORTURE HELL (THE HELL-FATED COURTESAN) (1973) – Noboru Tanaka
PSYCHO SNUFF REELS (TUMBLING DOLL OF FLESH) (NIKU DARUMA) (1998) – Tamakichi Anaru
RAFURESHIA (1995) – Hisayasu Sato
RAMPO NOIR (2005) – Akio Jissoji
RAPE! 13TH HOUR (1977) – Yasuharu Hasebe
RAPE AFTER, THE (1986) – Meng Hua Ho
RAPED BY AN ANGEL (NAKED KILLER 2) (1993)- Wai-keung Lau
RAPED BY AN ANGEL 2: THE UNIFORM FAN (1998) – Aman Chang
RAPED BY AN ANGEL 3: SEXUAL FANTASY OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE (1998) – Aman Chang
RAPED BY AN ANGEL 4: THE RAPER’S UNION (1999) – Jing Wong
RAPED BY AN ANGEL 5: THE FINAL JUDGEMENT (2000) – Billy’ Tang
RAPE IN PUBLIC SEA (1993) – Kei Ying Cheung
RAPE PANIC MANSION (1996) – Yoshifusa Ide
RECORD, THE (2000) – Gi-hun Kim
RED ACCOUNT: MY BLOODY ANGEL (Akai Hokokusho: Senketsu no Tenshi) (1988) – Toshiki Sato
RED ROOM 1 (1999) – Daisuke Yamanouchi
RED ROOM 2 (New Red Room: The Broken Dolls ) (2000) – Daisuke Yamanouchi

RED TO KILL (Yeuk saat) (1994) – Hin Sing ‘Billy’ Tang
RETRIBUTION SIGHT UNSEEN (3 DAYS OF A BLIND GIRL) (1993) – Wing-Chiu Chan
RIKI-OH – STORY OF RICKI (1991) – Ngai Choi Lam
ROBOTRIX (1991) – Jamie Luk
RUBBER’S LOVER (1996) – Shozin Fukui
RUN AND KILL (Wu syu) (1993) – Hin Sing ‘Billy’ Tang
SCHOOL ON FIRE (1988) – Ringo Lam
SECRET CHRONICLE – SHE BEAST MARKET ((Maruhi) shikijô mesu ichiba) (1974) – Noboru Tanaka
SEEDING OF A GHOST (1983) – Chuan Yang
SEVENTH CURSE (1986) – Ngai Choi Lam
SEX HELL (1975) – Kôyû Ohara
SEXUAL PARASITE: KILLER PUSSY (2004) – Takao Nakano
SHIRO SHOZOKU – HARAKIRI (SHORT FILM) (HARAKIRI – BOOBS & BLOOD BOX SET) (1990)
SILVER (shirubaa) (1999) – Takashi Miike
SHOCKING ASIA (1976) – Rolf Olsen
SILIP (DAUGHTERS OF EVE) (1985) – Elwood Perez
SNAKE AND WHIP (1986) – Shogoro Nishimura
SPLATTER: NAKED BLOOD (1995) – Hisayasu Sato
SQUIRMFEST (PURGE) (1989) – Kaoru Adachi
STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN (2001) – Kôsuke Suzuki
STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN (2009) – Kôsuke Suzuki
STOP THE BITCH CAMPAIGN 2 (HELL VERSION) (2004) – Kôsuke Suzuki
STREET FIGHTER, THE (1974) – Shigehiro Ozawa
SUBURB MURDER (1992) – Kin Ping Cheng
SUICIDE DOLLS (SATSU SATSU (AYAME) (1992) – Tamakichi Anaru
TERRIBLE MEAL (TERRIBLE DINNER, ULTRA VOMIT GIRL) (1995) – Kaoru Adachi
TELL ME SOMETHING (1999) – Youn-hyun Chang
TOHJIRO: BUTTERFLY LABYRINTH (part of “Nurse Hunting: Female Body Laboratory”) (2000) – Tohjiro
TOHJIRO: BUTTERFLY LABYRINTH 2 (part of “Nurse Hunting: Female Body Laboratory”) (2000) – Tohjiro
TOKYO GORE SCHOOL (2009) – Yôhei Fukuda
TRAGIC FANTASY, THE (Tiger of Wanchai) (1994) – Joe Chu Kai-Sang
TRILOGY OF LUST 2 (PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER) (1996)
THREE DAYS OF A BLIND GIRL (1993) – Wing-Chiu Chan
UNBELIEVABLE, THE (2009)
UNDERGROUND BANKER, THE (1994) – Bosco Lam
UNTOLD STORY, THE (1993) – Danny Lee, Herman Yau
UNTOLD STORY 2, THE (1998) – Yiu-Kuen Ng
UNTOLD STORY III, THE (14 Days Before Suicide) (1999) – Herman Yau
VISITOR Q (2001) – Takashi Miike
WATER TANK MURDER MYSTERY (1994) – Dik On
WIFE TO BE SACRIFICED (1974) – Masaru Konuma
WOMAN IN A BOX: VIRGIN SACRIFICE (1985)
WOMAN IN THE BOX 2 (1988) – Masaru Konuma
WOMEN ON THE RUN (1993)
WOMENS FLESH – MY RED GUTS (1999)
YAKUZAS LAW (1969) – Teruo Ishii

Cat III Asian Films – Category 3 | Extreme  Horror | Hardcore Violence

8 comments

  1. I have seen 6 of the extreme horror movies and I must say that so far “Niku Daruma” aka “Tumbling Doll of Flesh” is the most disturbing and extreme of them. I have yet to watch “Human Meat Pies” aka The Untold Story”

     
    • Yes Untold Story is quite intense from a moral perspective, ther eis of course gore, rape and so on, but its the other issues that make it more extreme – Tumbling, I cant recall if I’ve seen that one….. those films seem to blend

       
  2. i don’t think the japanese movies in this list can be considered as CAT III as the classification system has been made only for HK movies. If i remember well, the system appeared in 1988 (89?) so every movie prior to this date can’t be CAT III either (even if Beautiful Girl Hunter, the Hasebe rape series or the Guinea Pig series certainly influenced HK movie makers).

    And you can add the first Raped By An Angel to the list also. For those interested by the subject, i recommend the book’ CAT III, sexe, sang et politique à Hong-Kong’ by Julien Sévéon (if you understand french). This is the best book on the subject that i know of, it contains reviews of every CAT III made until the publishing of the book.

     
    • Technically you are correct, though what has happened is that hardcore Asian movies have been slapped with this label to either sell movies directly to underground audiences or to better classify the presentations. Thus the original idea has been expanded to simply tag extreme asian films. This is not to be confused with the newer Tokyo Gore Style films. Our section breaks this down a bit, but in general CAT III films are extreme violence, nudity, rape, incest or all 3 combined. Our list has been hand picked from other lists which sell CAT III movies. CAT III films that we didnt include were ones that were nudity without the violence, which I tend to think are simply Pinku films. It sounmds confusing, but once you’ve sat thru 3 or 4 of these it makes sense.

       
    • Yea you are right that most the films on the list are NOT CAT III as that is a Hong Kong rating system. I have seen at least 90% of this list & although its a cool list it isn’t themed very well at all and mixes things up, half the films being pinky films… would have been better to split this article up. Also films like “AB-NORMAL BEAUTY” “AUDITION” “3 EXTREMES” etc. are just completely out of place.

      That book sounds good so I will look it up.

       
      • We clarified that in the copy of the article. At some point the list will get cleaned up to segment official CAT III films, however for now we are drawing to the hardcore nature of the entire group.

        CAT III films were not kept as neat and tidy as The Video Nasties group which you can pinpoint down to 72-74 titles.

         
  3. xshadowscreamx

    so many, where would i start?

     
  4. you didn’t really get the facts right, even not in the clarification part. first of all, as you already stated, cat III (and I/IIa/IIb) are ratings for hongkong only. of course there is no general rule on how to use the term as a name for a (very vague) genre but in literature on film the term usually refers to movie productions from hongkong.

    secondly, the III rating was originally intended for erotic contents only. at some point, a movie (i think it was “story of ricky”, not sure though) got the rating for gore and violence – with the result that from then on it was sort of expanded and could apply to basically any movie that was let’s say offensive in the opinion of the board.
    with more and more non-erotic movies being labelled cat III, the movie industry was not happy with the new usage because it still had the reputation of being sleazy, featuring nudity & sex, all that – so IF you want to compare cat III to the american system, the old ‘X’ would (in my opinion) have more in common with cat III rather than nc-17.
    in order to solve this problem, a fourth category was put in place: the simple II rating was sort of split into half – the birth of IIa and IIb, allowing a large part of movies which would have been III before to sport the “cleaner” IIb rating.

    just to show how far the definition of III could (and occasionally still can) go: quite a number of triad/gang(ster) themed movies received a III just for a large percentage of coarse language and/or a high number of verbal referal to drugs. a good example would be “young and dangerous IV” which is really by far less violent than any john woo flick.

    that being said.. all those many many japanese movies which you list here and categorize as “cat III” are really misplaced in that context. they MIGHT have received the III rating due to their nature IF they were released in hongkong (which i strongly doubt in many cases) but the same goes for european or american movies with enough gore. another example: “hellraiser II” did receive the cat III rating in hongkong, so basically you could put that one into the list and also in the category of your blog, along with probably tons of other well known american horror movies from the 80s and 90s (“evil dead” and scott spiegel’s “intruder” being other examples) – they really do belong there as “much” as all that japanese horrorgoretorturesplatter and godknowswhat stuff that you deliberately added.

     

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