A sultry cabaret singer (KANAKO MICHI) pays a visit to the dentist but this is to be no ordinary checkup. Squirming as she succumbs to the laughing gas, she falls prey to a series of sex fantasies. Pursued through a series of locations including a nightclub and a deserted shopping mall full of mannequins, she winds up repeatedly molested and manhandled by the demonic dentist and his white-uniformed assistant before he binds her tightly and dangles her from the ceiling of his apartment...
What do you get when a respected Kabuki-theater reformist has a crack at a short story written by one of the most highly regarded authors in modern Japanese literature? You wouldn't expect a whacked-out cheesefest like this, that's for sure, but, then again, this is Japan. Throw into the mix completely unrelated psychedelic-style footage shot by its U.S. distributor JOSEPH GREEN (famed director of the 1962 Brain That Wouldn't Die) of well-endowed American performers doing a naked ballet routine while wearing nothing more than cloth masks and... well, you wind up with the ultimate erotic nightmare.
Adapted from a short story by JUN'ICHIRO TANIZAKI, Daydream was a notorious succËs de scandale when it was originally released, initiating a wave of criticism and protest from feminists, citizen groups, and Parent-Teachers Associations worried about the morals of the nation. Even the National Dental Association had their say. The censors got so hot under the collar that they slashed almost half the footage from the director TETUSJI TAKECHI's next film, Dream of a Red Chamber, even while it was awaiting release. A few years later, director Takechi was up in court on a public indecency charge due to the overtly anti-American message in his film Black Snow.
But Daydream was always Tekechi's favorite baby. He was so proud of the monster he created, he remade it in a hardcore version two decades later - not once, but twice! -- Butaniku
Format: DVD-R
Year: 1964
Color: B&W and Color
Starring: Kanako Michi
Co-starring: Akiro Ishihama
Other cast: Chojuro Hanakawa, Yasuko Matsui
Directed by: Tetsuji Takechi