SISTER STREET FIGHTER: FIFTH LEVEL FIST

Genre entertainment of the highest order, the SISTER STREET FIGHTER films are a wild ride through some of the best exploitation cinema Japan produced in the 1970s. Funky and over-the-top, filled with wall-to-wall action, and featuring some of the craziest villains ever depicted onscreen, the series embodies female power in a male-dominated genre and is a magnificent showcase for the physical presence and martial arts skills of its lead star.

1976’s series finale, FIFTH LEVEL FIST, technically features a different main character -- but is also played by series lead Etsuko Shihomi.

Kiku Nakakawa (Shihomi), the only daughter of an old kimono shop owner in Kyoto, is enthusiastic about karate. In order to help her friend Michi avenge her brother, she sneaks into a movie studio in Kyoto where a drug dealing syndicate is based.

“I'm going to have to go against the tide and say I enjoyed this one the best - the martial arts on display (mostly karate) were photographed well and easy to follow, Etsuko looked more confident than in the previous movies, and the self-implicating use of Toei studios as the corrupt, drug smuggling movie studio in the movie is interesting to say the least (it's my understanding there are lots of rumours of impropriety about Toei).” -- Andrew Moncreiff, Letterboxd