The rather strangely entitled Woods Are Wet ( aka Onna Jigoku: Mori Wa Nureta) is a darkly heady mix of disquiet-led mystery, low-key horror, and S&M-focused Roman Porno/ Pink film. The early 1970s Japanese film effectively shifts from uneasy and dread-filled, to sinister and kinkily deranged. Here from 88 Films is a new Blu-Ray release of the picture-taking in a new scan of the film, a commentary track, and a few other extras.

Woods Are Wet is from the year 1973. It was directed and co-written by  Saga Japan-born Tatsumi Kumashiro- with co-writing credit going to Marquis de Sade, as the film is roughly based his novel Justin.

Between the early 60’s and mid-90s Kumashiro had thirty-seven feature-length credits to his name. The first few decades of his career featured a fair few sleazy titles like Wet Lips (1972), Invitation To Lust ( 1975), and Pleasure Campus & Secret Games( 1980).  Later moving on to more formal filmmaking with the likes of crime-drama Mister, Missus, Miss Lonely (1980), leukaemia-focused drama Love Letter (1985), and Yaksua-focused Crime-drama Like A Rolling Stone (1995).

Woods Are Wet has a rather sparse runtime of just one hour and five minutes, and as far as I can gather this is the one and only cut of the film available. However as we get into the sleaze later on, some elements are crudely blacked-out, oddly this adds to the feeling of sinister sleaziness that pervades the film.

The picture opens with a woman in a traditional Japanese gown running through the countryside, woodland, and a  few road tunnels- this is Sachiko(Hiroko Isayama). As this goes on we get breaks of text detailing, that Sachiko has been running for three days and has been accused of killing her mistress.  An expensive/ grand car pulls up alongside the woman, and inside is Yoko (Rie Nakagawa) who wearing what looks like a 1920s dress.  Yoko insists she can help Sachiko pulling her into the car, and as they drive talks about how she lives in an isolated grand guest house with her cruel husband.

Upon arriving at the nighttime set guesthouse candles are lit, and Sachiko is led down a labyrinth of shadowy corridors. Soon she meets Yoko's shaven head/ moustached husband Ryûnosuke ( Hatsuo Yamaya).

As things unfold the pair reveal their awareness of Sachiko's accused crime, and use this to blackmail. Two men appear at the guest house, and she is told to warn them how dangerous the couple are…but fairly soon the men are forcing themselves on  Sachiko.

The film very effectively moves from disquiet-edged mystery,  though to subtle creepiness/uneasiness, onto troubling/ sinister sleaze bound- as we see rape, whippings, death & after-death pleasuring.

The cast is well-picked- with Isayama portraying the nervous/innocent on-the-run woman effectively. Nakagawa has an air of unsettling elegance, with her sinisterly squeaky voice enhancing the feel of disquiet. Yamaya paints well the air of sleazy uneasy, later on revealing there seems no limit to his depravity.

Woods Are Wet rather reminded me of Jess Franco at his darker/ more psychosexual focused, but I’m guessing this is from the De Sade connection. There is also a feeling of out-of-time-ness- blending in with the feeling of sinister disquiet/ sleazy unease.

Moving onto this region B Blu-Ray, and we have a new HD scan of the film- which looks good, with the more moody candle-lit & flesh-bound moments coming off well. On the extras side, we get a few things. First of these is a commentary track with genre experts/ authors Jasper Sharp & Lindsay Hallam.  They start off by discussing why Tatsumi Kumashiro would want to make a film based on De Sade’s novel Justine, and talk about how the film covers only a small part of the book. We find out there was only one other Pink/ Roman porno film based on De Sade’s work 1988’s Prosperity Of Vice.  We get a breakdown of what the Justine novel was/its characters/ themes. They talk about the most effective use of natural/candlelight in the film, and the film's 1920 setting. Later on we get general talk about the Roman Porno genre, and how in its early days it had creative/ interesting ideas weaved into it- but these became less as the genre went on. We get a bio of lead actress Hiroko Isayama- apparently, she was a trained actor- she made a dozen Roman porno films, before making a few genre-focused films in the later 70s- before going on more formal acting roles in the 80s/ 90’s, before becoming a respected novelist.  We also find out at the time of filming she was going out with her co-star. This a well-researched/interesting track- which I can see myself playing again down the road.

The other new extra here is Pleasure And Pain ( 9.40) which sees genre expert Mio Hatokai discussing the film.  We find out that the film was made/ put out during a period when its releasing studio Nikkatsu was been prosecuted for releasing obscene content, and that the film was the director's response to this. And a few more interesting details/ observations. With the disc finished off with an image gallery and trailer.

The finished release of the film comes with an inlay booklet featuring new writing by Dr Virginie, and it comes with an obi strip.

As a film Woods Are Wet is primed perfectly for those who enjoy uneasy & sleazy slow-burn films from the 70’s. This new 88 Films release takes in a nice clean scan, and a selection of interesting extras