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Tattooed Swordswoman (The) AKA Kaidan nobori ryû AKA Blind Woman's Curse AKA Black Cat's Revenge
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - Arrow Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (26th March 2014). |
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The Film
 ***This is a technical review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** From Teruo Ishii “The King of Cult”, Blind Woman’s Curse (also known as Black Cat’s Revenge) is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role. Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies. A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman’s Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!
Video
Arrow Film's have given "Blind Woman's Curse" it's worldwide debut onto Blu-ray. The transfer was transferred from original pre-print material by Nikkatsu Studios in Japan and then delivered to Arrow Films on a restored master tape. It's presented in an aspect ratio of 2.44:1 using an AVC MPEG-4 encode, and is 1080p. It's a bit of a mixed bag overall, but it still impresses. As previously mentioned, the transfer was conducted by Nikkatsu Studios, and those familiar with this Japanese genre film will know, that it has never looked particularly great. The biggest problem with Arrow's release, is that although there isn't a huge amount of noteworthy damage, there are noticeable blemishes which last several frames, rather than seconds. Some of the more noticeable are at 23:15, when a black circle is visible on the middle right of the screen, and at 64:35 where a small scratch protrudes from the bottom middle. In comparison to the American Discotek DVD release from 2007 though, it becomes clear just how good this newly restored transfer looks, despite these blemishes. Details are strong, especially during facial close-ups, and the greens of shrubbery and bright blood reds look fantastic. The colours and details in the tattoos are of particular note. Some colours do look a little soft overall, but not to the extent where it is worth more than a brief mention. There are no obvious signs of digital noise reduction, and I noticed no signs of aliasing, or other such anomalies. Fans will be pleased. The disc is locked to region B, and the feature runs 84:51.
Audio
Arrow Films have provided a single LPCM 2.0 Dual Mono track in the original language of Japanese. Unfortunately, the track doesn't fare quite as well as the transfer. Although the sound effects of the swords feel quite immersive despite the limitations of the mono sound field, some of the dialogue comes across as slightly jumbled, and there is a slightly scratchy feel at times. Although easy to follow, and free of major problems, it just lacks the sharpness, clarity, and depth that we have come to expect from lossless audio formats. On the plus side, there are no drop outs in the track, and I noticed no signs of background hiss. English subtitles have been included, and they are optional.
Extras
The main extra on this release is an audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert, and Midnight Eye contributor Jasper Sharp. A few months back, I read Midnight Eye's thoughts on 2013 Japanese cinema, and it seemed Sharp and his colleagues had become quite disheartened, even to the point where they had been losing a little interest. Thankfully, Sharp is on fine form in this commentary though. He doesn't stop for breath as he delves into his personal knowledge of the history of Japanese cinema, detailing every possible cast and crew member, the studios, and Japanese cinema history in general. This in-depth commentary is probably Arrow's best to date. Now they have to do the right thing and bring Sharp back to do commentaries on their announced releases of the Stray Cat series. Even better would be to team him up with Tom Mes, his Midnight Eye counterpart. Excellent stuff. The other on-disc extras are self-explantory: Stray Cat Rock Trailers: - "Wild Jumbo" (2:39) - "Sex Hunter" (3:15) - "Machine Animal" (2:45) - "Beat '71" (2:35) Theatrical Trailer (3:12) The release also features a DVD copy, a reversible cover and a booklet featuring: - Credits - "Meiko's Adventures in Professor Ishii's Erotic-Grotesque Wonderland" by Tom Mes - About the Transfer
Overall
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