Undescribable Perfection

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie begins in 1874 with a woman named "Sayo" (Miyoki Akaza) giving birth to a baby in a Japanese prison. As it so happens, Sayo's husband and her young son were killed by four bandits and she was subsequently taken away by one of them and forced to become his consort. Eventually, Sayo kills her abductor which results in her being imprisoned for life. Although Suyo dies after giving birth her last words to her fellow inmates is to make sure that her baby "Yuki" (Meiko Kaji) gets revenge on the other three people responsible for the atrocities committed upon her family. To honor her request Yuki is then given to a nearby priest who not only raises her but also teaches her the necessary combat skills she will need to exact her revenge. And then at the age of 20 she is released to fulfill her mission in life. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an entertaining movie with a good plot and some fascinating elements of Japanese history and culture. Unfortunately, it also had several action scenes which were much too unrealistic and this greatly limited the overall effect. Even so, in spite of its faults, I still liked this film and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Character and Story: A well executed revenge story, flashbacks were used well, good performance by the protagonist, good pacing, kept me guessing as to when it would end and never seemed tedious. Action: We get loads of violently spraying bright red paint for blood and B-movie dismemberment. This is probably what you are here. The fights seemed a bit cramped and involved a bit much hand-held work, the protagonist not quite as graceful as her deadly results, but I was entertained.Editing\Production: The editing and mixing seemed very uneven. Expect the soundtrack to drop out abruptly in between shots. We get a sense of characters teleporting rather than traveling between locations a few times. The makeup used to depict Ryu's facial injuries was glaringly bad.Overall: 7/10. An entertaining film despite low production values. I would probably recommend people to watch Lone Wolf and Cub over this however.

Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld stars Meiko Kaji as Yuki, conceived and born behind prison bars and raised to take retribution against the four vicious criminals who raped her mother and slaughtered the rest of her family.Typical of the 70s Japanese exploitation genre, the film mixes stylish visuals with extreme violence, and as Yuki hunts down the guilty four, viewers are presented with stunning cinematography, masterfully staged fight choreography, and a copious amount of arterial spray and bodily dismemberment; director Toshiya Fujita even throws in some manga drawings for good measure.An exciting finalé at a decadent masquerade ball sees Yuki despatching her final target in suitably bloody style, only to be stabbed by the vengeful daughter of one of her earlier victims. How ironic! 7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

Based on a comic by late Kazuo Kamimura and Kazuo Koike, Shurayukihime is a story about vengeance and rebellion. Shurayuki who had her father murdered by conspiracy goes out to avenge the three conspirators.The movie's title "Shurayukihime" is a play on "Shirayukihime" which is the Japanese title for Walt Disney's movie Snow White. Very similar title, but the two movies can't be further apart in their contents.In the original plot, there was some element of rebellion against the government that was the ultimate culprit of the conspiracy, but in the movie, this did not play a main role of the story except where Yuki kills the police force that captured Ashio.The movie which attracted little attention when it was released, now has world wide audience thanks to Tarantino giving it credit as inspiration for Kill Bill. The back drop of battle between Oren Ishii and Black Mamba is almost verbatim copy of the last scene from this movie.There is little known part 2 of this movie released in 1974 which picks up after this one with Kaji reprising her role as Yuki.More recently a version done by Yumiko Shaku was released in 2001 with backdrop set in the future, and story which is almost unrelated to the original except Yuki eventually avenges her mothers murderer and that her organization Takemikazuchi was rebelling against the the government.Some of Kamimura's original artwork of Shurayukihime can be seen in his website at kamimurakazuo.comThe movie is unusually graphic for a Japanese movie of its era. Meiko Kaji was a star of another dark comic turned movie Sasori. Her mood fits this type of role perfectly.Watch this movie for its action, and historical value.