A feast of feral sex, ultra-violence, impulsive lesbian orgies, and mock crucifixions that goes by the name of the Female Prisoner Scorpion Trilogy. If they've past you by then you've probably been keeping your nose well clear of the grindhouse – all three films have a devoted cult following and are widely considered to be key works of this disreputable but passionately loved genre. The first three Shunya Itō directed instalments in this hugely influential series are all included in this box set, to be released in April by Eureka Entertainment, and all feature Meiko Kaji (femme fatale extraordinaire of the Stray Cat Rock and Lady Snowblood series). Three disc set includes Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 & Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable. I'll let the PR do the rather exciteable talking...

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is Jailhouse Rock for the stay-at-home generation: an amphetamine-fueled descent into the humid cells of a women's lock-up. High-pulse nymphomania, bone-shattering violence, and a gruesomely gynaecological approach to torture rear their collective head in the workyard, in the cafeteria, and in the showers of this messed-up big-house – more akin to a hen-house where all types of filthy birds come to roost. Take Meiko Kaji for instance – she's serving time as a result of circumstances that went a little, well, beyond her control. But whether she's tied down or chained up, Kaji (a.k.a. Nami ‘Matsu the Scorpion' Matsushima) knows how to channel her sense of vengeance into that delta-sized libidinal urge known by any prison-vixen of the sensational ‘70s — and thereby makes the most of her incarceration.

Director Shunya Itô wields the 'Scope frame like a phallic weapon in this cock-eyed classic from the era when the Japanese studios went grindhouse – and Quentin Tarantino's inspirational ground-zero was formed. So take note: before O-Ren Ishii and Kill Bill, there was Nami Matsushima and the Female Prisoner Scorpion series; this film is instalment #1; and it will leave you stung, swollen and bruised. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion is cinema at its most reckless.

Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41. Those who value balanced brain-chemistry and a regular heart-rate should approach Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 with extreme caution. For within this film lie feral sex, hyper-violence, impulsive lesbian orgies, mock crucifixions. Spoons sharpened into shivs. Eye-melting depictions of the most shockingly jagged DIY abortions. Filmed in colours that tilt without warning from ashen, pale shades into scrambled, lurid hues, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 brings the characters from Tooru Shinohara's popular manga to genital-swinging life. The storyline assumes the form of a quest for vengeance by a woman imprisoned — but director Shunya Itô's images and the singular star-presence of Meiko Kaji combine to transcend a common B-film revenge-tale and take on an execution that is unadulterated impact. Although conceived as a follow-up to Itō's Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 can nonetheless be enjoyed and obsessed over as a stand-alone achievement, a unique totem for the annals of 1970s Japanese cine-exploitation. It's in this instalment that full-blown artifice locks horns with psychosexual horror – before collapsing in a pile of offal, wearing the grin of a gassed corpse. Prepare yourself for lock-down.

Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable. An avenging angel...or a seductive siren? Conceive of her as you like – either way, she walks alone, this woman wronged by the world...this Scorpion with a taste for vengeance! Beware her clitoral sting! Meiko Kaji returns as Female Prisoner #701 – now escaped from the very authority who would grind her down. With one severed arm dangling from one handcuffed wrist, Kaji takes refuge in the home of a kindred soul... a latchkey slut in want of all the world's sympathy... forced into a back-alley living for the sake of supporting her retarded brother… whose baby grows ever quick in her womb — oh life! No, it's not long until old enemies rearrive, new adversaries are inaugurated… and this waking nightmare gives way to a new dawn… soiled by indiscriminate abortion!

This third instalment of the Female Prisoner series is perhaps also the finest, and in its concise layout it represents both a fitting conclusion to the Scorpion story as directed by Shunya Itō, and a stand-alone work requiring no familiarity with the preceding episodes. Seen either as a cinematic golf-club spelunking an orifice, or as a loving ode to human hate, one thing is certain: Female Prisoner #701 Scorpion: Beast Stable exemplifies the grindhouse ethos in its haunting depiction of beauty.

OK, if that's sold you and you've not picked up the individual releases from 2006, then on 6th April yopu'll be able to buy all three films as a single box set when they are released by Eureka at the RRP of £15.99. All will feature 2.35:1 anamorphic transfers, but no extra features.