by Jack Ford
“Shogun Assassin” is a somewhat notorious title and one frowned upon by some purists. While Japanese in origin, this film is an amalgamation of the first two films in Toho Studios’ “Lone Wolf and Cub” series, assembled by American filmmaker Robert Houston, who also created new English dialogue and a new title for his version. It is not certain why the decision was made to introduce the Lone Wolf and Cub series – themselves adaptations of the manga series of the same name written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima – to western markets this way. There existed an in-built audience for chambara films overseas and others in the genre had been released in the same territories untampered with.
Nevertheless, It turns out that these films were in safe hands. Despite not having much of a good reason to exist, “Shogun Assassin” not only...
“Shogun Assassin” is a somewhat notorious title and one frowned upon by some purists. While Japanese in origin, this film is an amalgamation of the first two films in Toho Studios’ “Lone Wolf and Cub” series, assembled by American filmmaker Robert Houston, who also created new English dialogue and a new title for his version. It is not certain why the decision was made to introduce the Lone Wolf and Cub series – themselves adaptations of the manga series of the same name written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima – to western markets this way. There existed an in-built audience for chambara films overseas and others in the genre had been released in the same territories untampered with.
Nevertheless, It turns out that these films were in safe hands. Despite not having much of a good reason to exist, “Shogun Assassin” not only...
- 6/16/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the mid-1960s, Seijun Suzuki would go on to make a trilogy of features, now called the “Flesh Trilogy”, that would depict a degraded post-war Japan and people’s poor living standards in it. These depictions were put forth in the form of stories that featured women that trade in their own flesh. The first of these would be “Gate of Flesh”, a production based on a novel by Taijiro Tamura that would go on to stand tall as one of the best in Suzuki’s fantastic and lengthy oeuvre.
Heavily bombed, post-war Tokyo is a dog-eat-dog city where a living is hard to come by and people are still exploited on a daily basis. The city lies in ruin and so do the lives of its inhabitants. In one such bombed building live five prostitutes, all working without any support from any males and taking...
Heavily bombed, post-war Tokyo is a dog-eat-dog city where a living is hard to come by and people are still exploited on a daily basis. The city lies in ruin and so do the lives of its inhabitants. In one such bombed building live five prostitutes, all working without any support from any males and taking...
- 3/5/2021
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Every nation and culture has its own myths regarding heroes. Whether we talk about the Scandinavian sagas, Celtic folktales or the extensive number of Germanic myths such the “The Song of the Nibelung” (“Das Nibelungenlied”). The protagonists within these stories have to go through various tests, fights and perils in order to be victorious, achieve some sort of peace or find their way back home like Ulysses trying to make his way back to Ithaca or Perseus who is given the sheer impossible task of not only fighting but cutting off the head of the Medusa.
In a recent interview, writer Kozuo Koike talks about the inspirations for his long-lasting and successful series “Lone Wolf and Cub”. Since every writer wants his or her series to continue, not only to make money but also to have the opportunity of expanding on the narrative as well as its characters,...
In a recent interview, writer Kozuo Koike talks about the inspirations for his long-lasting and successful series “Lone Wolf and Cub”. Since every writer wants his or her series to continue, not only to make money but also to have the opportunity of expanding on the narrative as well as its characters,...
- 10/28/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“Vampire Doll” was released in 1970 at the height of the European Horror boom and on the surface appears to have all the trappings of the Gothic Horror that had been so successful over the proceeding decade by the likes of Hammer. With the movies gaining an audience at the time in Japan, it was perhaps inevitable that this style would be adapted. It was the first of a loose trilogy by Michio Yamamoto who was to follow it up with “Lake of Dracula” in 1971 and “Evil of Dracula” in 1974.
The prologue begins with a raging storm as Sagawa makes his way to the Mansion to meet his fiancé Yuko. Upon arrival, lightning crashes around and the door is answered by the deaf mute Genzo. Greeted by Yuko’s mother, he learns that Yuko has died two weeks ago in a car accident. Staying the night at the mansion,...
The prologue begins with a raging storm as Sagawa makes his way to the Mansion to meet his fiancé Yuko. Upon arrival, lightning crashes around and the door is answered by the deaf mute Genzo. Greeted by Yuko’s mother, he learns that Yuko has died two weeks ago in a car accident. Staying the night at the mansion,...
- 6/21/2018
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
The Bloodthirsty Trilogy
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1970 – 1974 /2:35 / Street Date May 22, 2018
Starring Yukiko Kobayashi, Chôei Takahashi, Toshio Kurosawa
Cinematography by Kazutami Hara, Rokurô Nishigaki
Written by Ei Ogawa, Hiroshi Nagano
Directed by Michio Yamamoto
Hell-raising vampires invade the normally serene confines of Japanese cinema in three elegant 70’s shockers directed by Michio Yamamoto. Joining far-flung contemporaries like Jean Rollin, Harry Kümel and Stephanie Rothman, Yamamoto’s trilogy helped rejuvenate a genre always hungry for fresh blood.
In 1970’s The Vampire Doll, a restless spirit’s killing spree is the product of a tragic family secret – a storyline out of a Ross Hunter weepy with arterial spray taking the place of tears.
In search of her wayward brother and his girlfriend, Keiko arrives at a lonely country home only to find the sibling gone and his fiancee Yuko dead. Yuko’s saturnine mother is unusually tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding her...
Blu ray
Arrow Films
1970 – 1974 /2:35 / Street Date May 22, 2018
Starring Yukiko Kobayashi, Chôei Takahashi, Toshio Kurosawa
Cinematography by Kazutami Hara, Rokurô Nishigaki
Written by Ei Ogawa, Hiroshi Nagano
Directed by Michio Yamamoto
Hell-raising vampires invade the normally serene confines of Japanese cinema in three elegant 70’s shockers directed by Michio Yamamoto. Joining far-flung contemporaries like Jean Rollin, Harry Kümel and Stephanie Rothman, Yamamoto’s trilogy helped rejuvenate a genre always hungry for fresh blood.
In 1970’s The Vampire Doll, a restless spirit’s killing spree is the product of a tragic family secret – a storyline out of a Ross Hunter weepy with arterial spray taking the place of tears.
In search of her wayward brother and his girlfriend, Keiko arrives at a lonely country home only to find the sibling gone and his fiancee Yuko dead. Yuko’s saturnine mother is unusually tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding her...
- 5/19/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Craig Lines Apr 5, 2017
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
Marvel? DC? They have their moments, but how about Shogun Assassin, and in turn, the Lone Wolf & Cub movies?
Like most western viewers, I came to the Lone Wolf & Cub series via Shogun Assassin – a recut/mash-up of the first two movies, trimmed to 90 minutes and dubbed into English by a pair of enterprising Andy Warhol acolytes. It was one of the original 'video nasties' in the UK, banned for years, so highly desirable to a kid like me. And it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it was probably the goriest movie on the list.
While it may seem criminal now to butcher a pair of bona fide Japanese classics and completely change their meaning and tone, Shogun Assassin got away with it by being so vibrant and hyperactive. The inappropriate score is a joyful synthesiser meltdown and the spirited dub goes full-pelt, even if what they...
- 4/4/2017
- Den of Geek
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