Is Lolita: Vibrator Torture Trash or Treasure?

DVD Distributed by Impulse / March 12, 2019

A depraved killer kidnaps schoolgirls and takes them to an abandoned freight container decorated with black and white images of his previous victims. He covers his captives with paint and shaving cream then violates, tortures and brutally murders them. The killer’s life is turned upside down after kidnapping one particular schoolgirl who may have her own sick game to play with him! Widely considered one of Nikkatsu’s most repellent films, Lolita: Vibrator Torture is a brutal entry in the horror genre and “does for the marital aid what Tobe Hooper did for the chainsaw” (Jasper Sharp, Behind the Pink Curtain).

Travis’s Take  (3 / 5)

The title of this is probably a good filter for most audiences. Besides being lurid to start with, the use of the term “Lolita” comes with enough baggage that causes most people to delete their browsing history. This Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection throws a curveball while still staying in their sleazy wheelhouse.

I like to casually keep track of how long it takes for nudity to occur in a Roman Porno. Many times it is only mere seconds before the first titty or butt cheek shows up on screen, but this title takes its time. It starts with a few schoolgirls walking around late at night, talking normal horny teenage stuff. They enjoy heckling the ogles and catcalls of the men they pass. One girl puts up a “wanted” sign, and a creepy photographer on the street says he can help her out since he claims to be a private investigator. She takes him up on his offer and things start to get weird.

The girl comes from an obvious broken home with absent parents too busy to communicate beyond answering machine messages. She has to deal with bullies at school. So far it is your normal Japanese childhood traumas, which you know aren’t going to be dealt with in a healthy manner. The photographer on the other hand is a complete sicko. He is basically a serial killer who lures women into his secluded studio for a porn shoot, but ends up killing them with poison and taking pictures of their final moments. When he tries this with our heroine, she turns the tables on him and ends up being his partner in crime. I won’t ruin how this ends up, but it seems fairly obvious.

This one does take a bit to get to the nudity, but don’t worry, there is still plenty of gross material to be found here. You’ve got your rape and murder, pissing on corpses, yes there is plenty of vibrator usage, but also some pegging which surprised even me watching this. It’s done fairly artistically though, with not-so-subtle pictures of a slaughterhouse to go with the victim’s pictures and a kind of dreamy quality that feels almost European in tone.

I liked this one, but it took me a little bit to get into it. From the last few titles in this series things started to get completely bonkers and hilarious in the amount of trash that occurs in the roughly hour runtimes. This one is obviously still a hard R, but don’t just expect sexual hijinks due to the name. Lolita: Vibrator Torture is a little different, and being shot in 1987 is certainly ahead of the serial killer phase that was about to become popular. In fact, 1987 is one of the later dates in this series, which makes me wonder if the budgets were getting tighter. This one has limited sets or exteriors, and frankly has a darker image than normal. Nikkatsu films usually look great, so perhaps this was a directorial choice given the subject matter? It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the movie but is worth mentioning. Besides that, this is your normal bare bones release.