To say Teruo Ishii was a prolific Japanese filmmaker would be one hell of an understatement. Helming over 90 features between 1957 and 2001 the chances are even if you are not aware of him you may well have clashed swords somewhere down the line with this ‘king of cult.’ Personally my first encounter was probably his incredibly grizzly 1968 film [Shogun’s] ‘Joy Of Torture’ one that did the rounds on secretly traded tapes in the video era. It still has one hell of an impact with its portmanteau of sadistic stories set in 17th century Japan when the shoguns law was meted out in brutal and inventive ways. I doubt it would still have a chance getting through the UK censors today not that this stopped the Japanese lapping it up and in fact it went on to top itself with seven equally nasty sequels. Naturally Ishii dabbled in all sorts of genres from fantasy to pinku, working at some of the most famed studios like Toei and Nikkatsu. Notable films throughout his career included Yakuza 1965 film Ashibiri Prison, 1969 Moreauesque ‘Horror Of A Deformed Man’ as well as forays into Lone Cub tv series and the ever popular female Yakuza flick. He really excelled himself with batty last film 2001 release ‘Blind Beast Vs Dwarf’ which naturally has a plot as bizarre and off the wall as its title suggests.
‘Blind Woman’s Curse’ 1970 is also known as ‘The Tattooed Swordswoman’ and both titles give you some idea what to expect. However nothing can quite prepare you for this nutty viewing experience as it moves along at a cracking pace which at times is completely deranged and baffling. It delivers so many what the fuck moments that one viewing has the scope to leave your head spinning, which ultimately means this is a good movie for coming back to for repeat watches in the future. Starring Meiko Kaji who went on to feature in renowned genre great series such as ‘Lady Snowblood’ and ‘Female Prisoner Scorpion’ the film has her playing tough “woman in a man’s world” role Akemi as head of one of various warring (Yakuza) gangster clans in feudal Japan. In a fight with a rival she accidently slashes and blinds Hoki (Aiko Gouda) who injured falls to the ground only to have a black cat lick the blood from her face. Already we are genre jumping from martial sword films to Ninkyo eiga Yakuza movies with a large dose of Edgar Allen Poe taking things into supernatural territories for good measure. It’s only seconds before we think that we are in a WiP (women in prison) film as we are pitched there and Akemi quickly establishes herself as top dog simply by mentioning her name and showing her impressive back which predates any girls with dragon tattoos by several centuries. Don’t rub hands in glee expecting the normal sordid trappings of the WiP genre though as Akemi must be serving one of the shortest sentences imaginable and is quickly out along with a cast of adoring cute pigtailed and tattooed up ladies who quickly join her gang.
The main gang protagonist is a hilarious pastiche of a character wearing a loincloth, bowler hat and gold waistcoat. Ryôhei Uchida was a popular genre character normally playing much more straight laced roles but here he really hams it up and adds to the wild slapstick feel of the film, which is hilariously meted out in some of the wild fight scenes. His personal hygiene also amusingly becomes one of the films running gags. It may seem quite straightforward but is anything but as the plot evolves and moves into scenes of psychedelic, acid etched madness when a travelling carnival comes to town. These are totally lysergic and here and in many other scenes in the street and market areas colour is particularly pumped up and vibrant making this a visual feast. Combine it with the traditional score complete with quirky errant xylophone gallops and this ranks highly on all levels.
Naturally vengeance is a key element and if you think that being blind means that everything is a bit one sided you obviously have not seen many of these films where any handicap seems to be a blessing rather than a curse. As for that side of things the cat is an omen of doom as it roams about attacking by leaping out of trees and lapping the blood off skinned back tattoos like bowls of cream. Some of the effects of an obvious dummy hurling off are so crazy that the ineptitude of them make this all more charming and delirious. Add to the plot such strange things as a hunchback with a penchant for bowling with people’s lopped off heads and copious amounts of flesh (some of it not actually attached to the body) and plenty of splattery arterial gore gushes, and you really are in for a wild ride from beginning to end. Filling in any necessary gaps caused by resulting brain spasms during the movie there’s an audio commentary from Jasper Sharp and liner notes by Tom Mes both authorities on Japanese cinema.
Finally just in case you have not had enough insanity you can revel in the lunacy of four trailers for the youth gone wild ‘Stray Cat Rock’ trailers which are like The Monkees with lashings of sex, drugs and rock and roll and look an absolute hoot. Naturally they also star Meiko Kaji which is another reason to cross fingers and hope at some point they may get a welcome release. Whacked out and ultimately a bit of a curio from the realms of Japanese cinema Blind Woman’s Curse is definitely worth keeping an eye out for (sorry)!
(Pete Woods)
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