The destroyed neighborhoods of Tokyo are home to a group of prostitutes who form a sex worker union and build their own dancehall, Purgatory. Then, the gangsters and pimps make a play for what the women have earned and an unexploded bomb appears.

Based on a novel by Taijiro Tamura and directed by Seijun Suzuki, this is the first of Suzuki’s Flesh Trilogy, followed by Story of a Prostitute and Carmen from Kawachi. The girls are at odds with every man around them — American soldiers and Japanese yakuza — yet make their money by giving their bodies to them. When a soldier, Shintaro Ibuki (Joe Shishido), hides out with them, everyone wants him. The newest girl, Maya (Yumiko Nogawa), wants to run away with him, but that won’t end well.

Seijun said, “The studio wanted to make a skin flick, that’s all. We couldn’t make a real porno back then, though.” What emerges is a movie a lot like one that followed it, The Beguiled.

Making its home premiere for the very first time outside of Japan courtesy of 88 Films, extras include audio commentary by Amber T. and Jasper Sharp, a new introduction by Earl Jakson, an interview with Toei tattoo artist Seiji Mouri, a trailer, a limited edition book, a still gallery and new artwork by Ilan Sheady. You can order it from MVD.