Blind Woman's Curse (1971)

Region 1
16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Japanese Language
English Subtitles
Trailer
Audio commentary by Chris D. of American Cinematheque
About the film


Stunning 70's cult siren Meiko Kaji, star of the LADY SNOWBLOOD, FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION and STRAY CAT ROCK films, blasts off in her first headlining role! A novice yakuza boss in early 20th century Japan, she must defend her clan against a vengeful blind swordswoman (Hoki Tokuda), her bizarre hunchback servant (Tatsumi Hijikata), as well as villain Toru Abe's gang of bloodthirsty killers.

Director Teruo Ishii (FEMALE YAKUZA TALE, HORROR OF MALFORMED MEN) delivers a bizarre hybrid of Japanese horror and yakuza genres featuring a nomadic terror carnival, girls skinned alive for their tattooed epidermis, and a succession of brutal swordfights. Actress Kaji offers prime evidence of why she became the top female action star of 1970's Japan. One of the key cult films from Nikkatsu, the studio that also released the unforgettable, offbeat hit TOKYO DRIFTER.

A True Meaning Of Blind Vengeance

Blind Woman's Curse ia a film directed by the man who directed Female Yakuza Tale and stars Meiko Kaji(from the Lady Snowblood flims)as a ruthless Yakuza ladyboss who, while in a swordfight with rival yakuza clans, mistakenly blinds a Japanese noblewoman with her katana blade, filled with anger and hatred, the blind woman, along with her Quasimodo-type henchman, begins her search for the woman who maimed her. The film has all the unique formulas of a classic 1970's Pinky violence film, cold-blooded swordswomen, Japanese mafia bosses, and pure horror that would make Roger Corman be proud. Blind Woman's Curse has proven that not all Japanese women are docile and friendly. :) June 4, 2007

Blind Woman's Curse

Sure I love serious Japanese films like Seven Samurai, but sometimes its cool to sit back and watch an over the top yakuza horror gorefest like Blind Woman's Curse. It doesn't pander to any certain crowd with pretensions, features over the top action, blood, female yakuza, a freakshow with loads of naked women screaming children and an old guy who seems to be cooking human remains all on the outside of the show and the clencher in a retarded hunchback that likes to skin people just for their dragon tatoos. Yeah thats prime entertainment to me.

Curse is the story of Tachibana Akemi, the young heir apparent of the Tachibana gang slowly coming to fight the Aozora family. The film begins with a showdown between Akemi and a certain group, in which she accidentally blinds the titular blind woman. From then on She feels cursed, a trait she fears is spreading to all of those around her. She comes back to her family unwilling to fight the Aozora group who attack the Tachibana group with a little help from a turncoat spy Tatsu who wants to bed Chie Chan the daughter of a former Tachibana member who now runs a restaraunt. Into this conflict comes the blind woman a performer who's overcome her disability seeking revenge for her disfigurement at Akemi's hands. Everythings convoluted to the Nth degree in this story and I'm sure I'm leaving something out somewhere in that plot description.

Just everything in here entertains from the decent to the over the top acting. After this film and the two Lady Snowblood films Meiko Kaji shows why she was one of the top female actresses of the seventies having a hard beauty that adds to her performance. And the over the top art direction and photography just adds to the sweetness on the icing of this cake. This film isn't great art, but that doesn't keep it from being something more, great entertainment something not even the most serious of films today can achieve.

May 24, 2007

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