Irezumi

Irezumi (刺青, 1966) — a Japanese erotic thriller by Yasuzo Masumura you can watch online on iFILM, produced at Daiei studio and starring Ayako Wakao.

Otsuya, a merchant's daughter, runs away with her lover Shinsuke. They are stopped by Seikichi, a tattooist who has spent years searching for a perfect canvas. He finds it in her skin — and without her consent marks her back with a massive demonic spider. The image does something to her. She stops being a frightened girl and becomes colder, more deliberate, and the men around her begin to come apart.

Masumura spent the 1960s dissecting the social cage built around Japanese women, and this film is his most direct statement on it. The Daiei color palette makes every frame feel like a woodblock print pulled from a fever dream. Watch Irezumi (1966) online on iFILM.