Eros School: Feels So Good (1977)

aka: Erotic Campus: Rape Reception
Studio: Impulse
Theatrical Release: Oct. 1st, 1977
DVD Release: June 12, 2012
Rating: Unrated
Directed by Koretsugu Kurahara
Review by Craig Sorensen

The filthy Nikkatsu Roman Porno series marches ever forward with Eros School: Feels So Good.  And finally the disturbing specter of the rape film rears it’s ugly head.  Rape fantasy films are certainly not solely the product of the Japanese (I’ve seen more than enough from America and Italy) but they seem to crank out more than any other country that I can think of.  And they seem to really revel in it.  I’m not so sure how I feel about it though.  On one hand, it does make me feel uneasy but on the other, I watch films almost every day in which people are (sometimes brutally) murdered and I never bat an eye.  What’s the difference?  Well, one is solely directed at one group of people in particular.  If I has to review a movie about someone who only murders black people I would probably feel the same way, regardless of the tone of the film.

So, I’m having some trouble with this review.  See, normally this movie would have everything that I would want in a movie, crazy Moog music, naked girls and awful ‘wacky’ hijinks.  But then the rapes happen and I’m pulled out of the movie.  This is a comedy about a group of stuck up high school girls who are taught a lesson by a character named Ryu the Rapist.  Ryu is a thirty year old high school student who raped his neighbor at age 15 and since then has been expelled (for rape) from every school he’s attended.  Soon after arriving at Eros School, Ryu sets his sites on popular track star Misa.  Will the lovestruck schlup who’s in love with her be able to stop Ryu in time?

So, plotwise, this isn’t really that much different than any number of American teenage sex comedies   produced throughout the ‘70s & ‘80s, except for the rape angle.  If you replaced that with just consensual sex you would have a perfectly fine little sex film.  Of course, that’s not what this is.  I do understand how making something taboo can drive people to that particular subject, I just can’t really follow the filmmakers down this particular path.  This is a pretty well made film though.  Director Koretsugu Kurahara does keep things quickly paced and crams the films 67 minute run time with plenty of sex and sight gags.  All the actors are game in this as well, so I can’t really fault the production.  This just isn’t my cup of tea I suppose.

Impulse’s new DVD presentation of the film however looks great.  The prints used for all these DVDs are in really good shape given the age.  Colors look very good and skin tones look natural.  There’s plenty of detail here in the transfer as well.  Really, I have no complaints in that department whatsoever.  The only audio option is the original mono track in Japanese.  There are optional English subtitles as well.  The only extra that you get with this is liner notes by Japanese film scholar Jasper Sharp.  These liner notes (they have been included with all the Nikkatsu releases thus far) are usually pretty entertaining and informative though so they are a welcome addition.