Blind Woman’s Curse Blu-ray Review

• 4th Apr 2014

With many of the late 60s, early 1970s Japanese films there is a quirkiness which makes them ripe for cult status. The latest offering from Arrow is no exception. This is the sort of film that would influence the likes of Quentin Tarantino who took the style and action from the likes of Lady Snowblood (1973) for Kill Bill Vol. 1. As with Tarantino’s films there is a blending of genres here from samurai film to yakuza and horror.

The story is quite complex and centres on a curse passed down from an early 20^th century woman played by Meiko Kaji in one of her first starring roles whose tattooed clan come under attack from a rival gang. She is badly injured in the attack and left blinded with a cat licking her bleeding wounds. The clan of women bandits all have tattoos on their back that when lined up creates a single dragon, bonding them in blood and spirit. Jump forward to the present day with another clan of tattooed women who are killed off one by one with their tattoos flayed off their back and licked by cats! The clan leader (also played by Keji) has strange dreams of a wound licking cat. Enter a blind woman warrior who helps defend the clan.

It’s hard keeping track of this tail of vengeance and horror but the result never fails to surprise or impress but both the plot and the time frames remain confusing to the viewer. You kind of watch to want to be entertained, which it does but unfortunately it also demands the viewer to work out what’s going on. Blind Woman’s Curse is directed by Teruro Ishii, a director also involved with the cult Stray Cat teen action films (four trailers of which appear on the extras) in the early 70s which were equally quirky and bizarre.

There is much to offer from 1960s and 70s Japan, much of which has not been widely seen in the West but will undoubtedly attract the discerning eye of the film buff and cult cinema fan. In this sense Isii is a master ans will be loved by a wider audience. There is also much to admire and to laugh at in Blind Woman’s Curse such as the bowler hatted villain/swordfighter with his purple shirt and waistcoat, wearing nothing else but the underwear commonly adorned by the sumo wrestler. Whenever anyone gets near his crotch they real at the pungent odour. While this raises laughs it is also based off a legend of a Japanese warrior who believed that washing the genitals would lose his power.

It is unfortunate that there are no additional contextualizing extras on the disc that would expand the knowledge of these films and want the viewer to explore more, but is never the less a welcome addition to the Arrow catalogue.

Chris Hick