Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood 2 [Dual Format Edition] [DVD + Blu-Ray] [1973]

Alongside The Lone Wolf & Cub movies and the slightly perverse Hanzo The Razor series, The Lady Snowblood films represents some of the greatest B-cinema Japan ever produced. If you've yet to see these near perfect examples of Asian pulp cinema and you're a fan of Kill Bill, be prepared to chuckle once again at Tarantino's cheeky appropriations.

Spurting blood, vicious swordplay, a deft mixing of art and trash, the Lady Snowblood movies are titles I return to again and again and Arrow Video offer the fan of offbeat cinema yet another superb package.

Lady Snowblood / Lady Snowblood 2 Limited Edition SteelBook [Blu-Ray] [1973]

Arrow's impressive list of titles released on Blu over the last couple of years has been a bit hit and miss in terms of quality but Lady Snowblood certainly sits at the higher end of the spectrum.

The set comprises of

Lady Snowblood(1973)Dir Toshiya Fujita.4****

Adapting the acclaimed manga by Kazuo Koike of the same name,Fujita reunites with the wonderful Meiko Kaji(they had worked together on the Female Prisoner series)to good effect in this excellent period revenge flick.Kaji is Yuki Kishima,whose mother dies in prison after giving birth to her,and passes onto Yuki the responsibility of avenging the death of her father and her mother's subsequent shaming at the hands of four utter reprobates.

Fujita handles the nicely modulated story with style and grace and with clever use of flashback.The bloodletting is fairly restrained for the most part but the finale drips with the stuff and an "unnecessary" assassination at the film's opening(solely there to showcase Lady S's prowess) is gorgeously shot.

The aspect ratio is 2:35:1 with 2.0 mono sound for those who are interested in that sort of thing.The transfer is pretty impressive -colours are vibrant,exteriors fairly grain free and faces sharp.Some may consider it a little soft but I was blown away with the clarity and Kaji is luminous in the title role.

Lady Snowblood:Love Song Of Vengeance(1974)Dir Toshiya Fujita 2**& a half

Unlikely sequel brings Lady S "back from the dead" to team up with anarchist Ransui Tokunaga(played by Juzo Itami - yes the director of the wonderful Tampopo)who has a letter in his possession that could bring down the government.Initially Lady S is sent by blackmailing gov officials to spy on Tokunaga posing as his maid but Tokunaga sees through this charade and convinces Lady S of the justness of his crusade.

There is just too much story here really and Fujita is more interested in the political overtones of the film's message than action.Admittedly the action,when it comes,is on a par with the original and the finale is nicely appropriate but it lacks the energy of it's predecessor.

The Aspect,etc is as above and the transfer is excellent again.

For a comparison,I would say that the transfer on this set is significantly better than Eureka's Lone Wolf And Cub.

Lady Snowblood is one the finest examples of high quality exploitation films. It's beautifully acted, masterfully directed and shot film with gorgeous Meiko Kaji in the titular role. I personally don't like the Kill Bill films but I will give credit to Quentin Tarantino for introducing this masterpiece to me and other film fans who never ever heard about it before.

Lady Snowblood 2 is pretty much an unnecessary sequel to a near perfect film. But it's a very good movie on it's own terms. It's a good samurai/revenge movie with awesome violence and gore and great score. Not to mention Meiko Kaji who owns this movie. This and Female Convict Scorpion films are the finest examples of great Japanese Exploitation and features their iconic lead Meiko Kaji.

The video and audio quality is stellar. The picture isn't too clean and it's not too grainy as some other films(I'm looking at you French Connection). There isn't a whole lot of extras. There are an interview with Japanese cinema expert which is around 10 minute long. It's really good interview that gives the basic information on Japanese cinema at the 70's, Lady Snowblood films and briefly looks at Meiko Kaji career. There are also trailers for both films and a 20 page booklet about both films. I personally would have liked more extras but hey I'm very thankful for this release! If you want to get started on 70's Japanese cinema this is the best place to start. And please release Female Convict Scorpion films(All 4 of them) on DVD/Blu-ray!!!!