Black Cat's Revenge

Imagine for a moment if Rob Zombie directed a classic Zatoichi movie, and you're getting warmer to the crazy that is this film. The plot doesn't seem to matter, but what does is imagery and tone - when it delves into the horror and the supernatural and the psychosexual, sometimes all at once, it wins.

Meiko Kaji plays a rookie yakuza boss trying to keep her clan alive during a war with a rival gang. The plot is both pointlessly convoluted and plenty sleazy, and a bunch of it takes place at a carnival which is admirably grotesque. The pace is very plodding through the middle, but the movie is bookended by a pair of fun and extremely bloody swordfights. Probably for hardcore Kaji (or Teruo Ishii) fans only.

Yakuza action thriller meets supernatural horror with some comedy thrown in. Not the most coherent use of narrative/tone but it keeps you interested & has plenty of surprises in store. The mash-up of styles works surprisingly well & it creates impressively varied atmospheres ranging from light & comedic to suspenseful, threatening, psychedelic & grotesque. The action scenes work well & the cast is not bad. Also Meiko Kaji is the boss. Very well shot & too strikingly bizarre to easily forget.

Great visuals and a crazy almost nonsensical plot that is entertaining but not as much fun as one would hope or expect. Meiko Kaji is under used here and the Male heroic lead is much older than he is said to be. The end fight is pretty good with the one on one duel being the highlight. The ending is a bit of a let down tho.

Great start and awesome ending, but what is in between is a unfocused and incoherent mishmash of plots and genres. Despite this Isshi's skilled directing and Meiko Kaji with her severe presence make this still a very watchable movie. No wonder this is said to be the movie that landed her the famous Lady Snowblood role.

BIZARRE Japanese exploitation, a sort of gory, pinky violence remix of 'Johnny Guitar', with two yakuza gangs (both led by powerful women) at each others throats. The elegant and tattooed swords woman Meiko Kaji (in one of her finest performances) versus a blind witch, a blood drinking cat and their gang of traitors, smelly-crotched perverts and deformed freaks!