"Suzuki's most extreme film, Gate ofFlesh is decidedly not for the faint hearted, the politically correct,or the transcendentally inclined: it lives up to its tawdry title inevery graphic, eye-popping frame. It is the unforgettable portrait of agroup of prostitutes scrambling to survive amidst the corpse-strewnruins of postwar Tokyo, where black marketeers battle for territory, andAmerican soldiers and priests attempt to impose democracy andChristianity on the defeated nation. Suzuki's vision of decay anddegradation is rendered all the more nightmarish by his exaggeratedvisual style, characterized by looming 'Scope close-ups andsuperimpositions; flagrantly fake, rawly lit sets; and garish,retina-ripping Fujicolor coding. ("Green as a symbol forpeace"-Suzuki.) Based on a notorious novel by Taijiro Tamura, thisis a classic of the Nikkatsu subgenre known as roman porno, which twistseros and thanatos into a double helix in stylized scenes of sexualcruelty." -James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario