|
Chambara films
- Chambara
In the 1970s, a brand of revisionist, non-traditional
samurai film rose to some popularity in Japan, following
the popularity of samurai manga by Kazuo Koike, on whose
work many later films would be based.
Films such as Lone
Wolf and Cub, Lady Snowblood and Hanzo the Razor had few
of the stoic, formal sensibilities of earlier jidaigeki
films such as those by Akira Kurosawa -- the new
chambara featured revenge-driven antihero protagonists,
gratuitous nudity, steamy sex scenes, gruesome swordplay
and gallons of blood, often spurted from wounds as if
from a firehose. Many of these films were subsequently
released internationally -- sometimes in truncated form,
as with Shogun Assassin, an edit that combined the first
two Lone Wolf and Cub films.
Famous names at this time included Sonny Chiba,
Shintaro Katsu, Tomisaburo Wakayama and Meiko Kaji.
Kaji, star of the Lady Snowblood films, would further
contribute to Japan's exploitation output by starring in
the Female Convict Scorpion series, that country's
answer to the women in prison genre.
The influence of these films can still be seen today,
both in Japanese films like the Azumi series and US
films like Kill Bill, whose plot and style pay homage to
many of the aforementioned samurai films.
Exploitation film - Zombie films
|
