Lady Snowblood, Sex & Fury, American Gothic, Kill Baby… Kill

Lady Snowblood (1973). Dir. Toshiya Fujita. This film, recognizable now from the ‘homage’ paid it by the arch-poseur Quentin Tarantino, is amazing. Engaging, disorienting, and incredibly engaging in its fight choreography as well as its cinematography, there’s much to recommend this title to anyone interested in Japanese action cinema. The ubiquitous usage of the fish-eye lense is one key aspect of the visual aspect of the film, while a little disorienting in scenes with tracking shots, there is something to be said for the fundamental distortion of perspective that this gives the already distorted tale of karmic vengeance.

Following the utter debasement and destruction of her mother and father at the hands of 4 outlaws, the eponymous Shura-yuki-hime hunts down the killers and rapists and does battle.

One thing that I’ve learned from this film is that certain people, not all but a fairly large number thereof, are so full of blood that they veritably explode from the internal pressure. Heaven forbid that any of the actors from this film get a papercut, you’d be looking at a monumental cleaning bill (if not an outright body disposal bill).

In any case, from the music (also lifted by Tarantino) to the amazing set-design and the very distinctive camera work, there’s no question that this film has been very influential in domestic Japanese cinema (notably within the Pinky Violence sebset of Pink films [Thanks Ed!]) as well as abroad.

Sex & Fury (1973). Dir. Norifumi Suzuki. From one of the greats of the Pinky Violence sub-genre comes this masterpiece of exploitation film-making. Featuring Reiko Ike as Ocho Inoshika and Christina Lindberg (notable for her appearance in Thriller: A Cruel Picture) as a british spy.

Some great action sequences and set-pieces more than make up for the greater number of visually standard scenes, especially the scene where Ocho must fend off hordes of Yakuza henchmen in the nude. The film is more than a sum of its various great scenes, however.

I am left wondering about the obvious connections between this film and Lady Snowblood. Featuring incredibly similar scenarios, scenes, and especially certain whole shots towards the end of the picture, it makes me wonder if both Suzuki and Fujita were referencing or using similar source material. In any case these two films make a great double feature, taking place in similar period settings, great action, and beautiful cinematography all come together for me.

American Gothic (????). Dir. Carlos Batts. Even though I appreciate the use of Mastodon, Buzz Oven, Swarm of the Lotus, et al. on the soundtrack, I am going to have to say that this is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. And here’s why. First, it is little more than a glorified music video. In spite of my love of all things metal, there is little that is ’scary’ about it. Almost across the board, and so the use of some great metal bands on the soundtrack is a questionable maneuver. Second, the visual effects are on par with a competent video produced in Flash and uploaded to YouTube, and it’s about as revelatory (probably less so than a number of shorts that you can watch thereon). Third, while the actors make-up and costumes are interesting, they come off as more like a poorly conceived and executed attempt at Matthew Barney meets a Goth dance-club.

I should have known better when I found out that it doesn’t even have an entry on IMDB.

I’ve already wasted too much of my life on this.

Kill Baby… Kill aka Operazione Paura (1966). Dir. Mario Bava. A great entry in Bava’s Gothic oeuvre. Featuring brilliant atmosphere, creepy costuming, and engaging performances I’d heartily recommend this to anyone who’s just seen Bava’s seminal Black Sunday (1960). The only way that Kill Baby… Kill could be improved would have been by a performance by Barbara Steele in the lead role. But, you can’t win them all.