Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi — Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi( UHD & Blu Ray)
From Eureka Entertainment, Cruel Tales Of The Bohachi is dual UHD/ Blu Ray set, bringing together two blood spurting ‘n’ fleshy samurai films from the mid 70’s- which sit with-in the Pinky violence genre. They are both based on the popular manga by Lone Wolf and Cub creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, and focus on nihilistic/ high amoral ronin in the Edo period. Both pictures are OTT Japanese exploitation films- high with both gory slashings and sleaze- with side roads in torture and rope bondage. Each film recives a new HD scan bold with fleshy & blood red tones. With commentary tracks, and a mix of new & old extras
First up we have 1973’s Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight (aka Poruno jidaigeki: Bôhachi bushido, The Outlaw Samurai and the 5 Naked Beauties). It focuses on a fearless ronin, who is rescued from death by the Bohachi clan- a group of corrupt samurai who operate a prostitution ring.
It was directed by Tokyo-born Teruo Ishii. Between the late 1950s and early 2000s, he had eighty-one features to his name, which shifted through early superhero films, through to crime dramas, onto historic romances, though to tacky Sci-fi. Onto action crime thrillers, through to historic & erotic torture films, onto later drama & more straight-ahead horror. I guess his most notable/ known film is 1969’s Horror Of Malformed Man, which blended horror, surrealism, fantasy, thriller, eroticism, and modern dance performance.
The eighty-two-minute film opens on a red sunset-lit bridge. Where our lead character Shinô Ashita (Tetsurō Tanba) a stern faced & limp -long-haired ronin is fighting/ killing one warrior after another, with splattered blood and clashing steel creating the credits. Limbs and heads are lopped off, but too many warriors keep coming- so he throws himself in the river below, as we see him sinking down into the water.
Next, we see female breasts coming into focus, and we see two nude women withering and writhing on Shinô- warming him, bringing him, and his member back to life. We find out it’s the Bohachi clan who rescued him….and fairly soon he’s introduced to their almost conveyor-belt setup for breaking women’s will and pushing them into prostitution. The women are strung up & burnt, repeatedly raped and tied spread-eagled mid-air. He’s also shown the cell where the diseased/ unwell women go- where we see one woman whose body & face are engulfed by syphilis…we're told see addicted to sex.
Anyway, Shinô has to do several tests to gain membership of the clan- for one reason or another, he doesn’t manage it- and is about to be thrown out of the clan. That’s until the clans aging/ big flat capped/ black teethed boss, Tatsuo Endô (Shirobei Daimon) returns, and sees how many men Shinô can slash down.
He’s given the job of getting rid of all the other sex trade in the area- so with his tubby & constantly chuckling henchmen, we see one bloody and nude attack after another. The remainder of the film takes in loads more splattered edged fights- some with topless women, there’s a shifting colour-filtered lit opium orgy, and more than a little backstabbing.
Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight is a decidedly eventful romp through blood fighting & female flesh- with a side order of torture.
The second picture here is Bohachi Bushido: The Villain, which appeared a year after the first film in 1974. For this film, though we have a different name/ actor playing the role of the nihilistic, blood & flesh hungry ronin- but it’s pretty much a reworking of the first film, with the new actor looking fairly similar to Tetsurō Tanba, aside from long sideburns/ and brief moments of laughter.
It was directed by Asakura, Fukuoka-born Takashi Harada. Between the late 60s and early 80s, he had twelve features to his name. These included the likes of violent crime comedy Hakurai Jingi: Kapone No Shatei (1970), and battling street peddlers’ action Kantô tekiya ikka: Enko no daimon (1971).
So, our lead character here is Kyushi-Issho ( Gorô Ibuki), and we meet him after our calm-before-the-storm opening, which sees a group of Dutch royalty passing through the early morning quiet of a small village. With a flash of his sword Kyushi appears, and guts bloody explode/ limbs are hacked off & spurt. He kills the whole party save for a woman- he rages into a house, saying to the owner ‘here’s your foreign women’- he’s appalled & is quickly gets killed…Kyushi says no point wasting a woman, before stripping her, and having sex over a table- before slashing her throat with his sword- so a very brutal/ sleazy opening to proceedings.
As the film unfolds, Kyushi manages to dodge his own execution/ decapitation, as one of the big prostitution gangs pays big money for the executioner's sword to be turned the wrong way. We once again see how the gang ‘turn’ their women. and it’s a bit more unpleasant/ nasty- for example, we see a group of topless, roped women being half-drowned in water before having it forced back out of them. And another group have every hole except their private parts stuffed with clay- so apparently their lady flower can develop.
As for other main characters, there’s the gun tooting/ no nonsense Monkumatsu (Reiko Ike), who sources the women for the gang- she takes an instant dislike to Kyushi. And later on, there’s a traumatised young woman who starts having a troubled/ violent love affair with Kyushi.
As you’d expect, there is both sleaze & blood, with a few memorable scenes of each together- for example, we have bathroom floor pleasing going on as a man slashes through his eyes.
The first half of the hour-and-twenty-five-minute film whizzes by, but then we get a block of rather dull dialogue scenes between the upper echelon of the gang. Though things do pick up again- before we move into the nihilistic end.
Bohachi Bushido: The Villain is a passable enough sequel to the first Bohachi Bushido film, though you do feel a bit like they were running low on original things to do with our anti- hero.
Moving on to the extras, and first off, we have two commentary tracks for Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight – the first is new & is with East Asian film expert and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes, and the second is archive & is with Japanese filmmakers J-Taro Sugisaki and Takao Nakano. I played the first of these, and as usual Mes gives a most informative/ entertaining track. He starts off by declaring it’s a film that severs up the goods- keeping it up until the end. He chats about Toei Studios- who released the film- exploitation period which run between 1968 & 1975, and how/ why it occurred. He discusses the work of director Teruo Ishii, and how he had a penchant for both sex & violence in his pictures- but always with an eye for both colour and design. Later on, talks about how 70’s Japanese exploitation films moved away from the more political focus of the decade before. We get a brief history of the castles featured in the film. Modern elements that appear in the picture- like drinks/ glasses, and stained-glass. He gives a bio of the lead male actor, and of course much more.
For Bohachi Bushido: The Villain we have a new commentary track from genre cinema expert Arne Venema- this is excellent as he crams in so much info, passion, and recommendation’s- so it’s one you mostly certainly a pen & paper to write down great sounding films. He begins touching on the film’s different titles, and we find out it was first released on Feb 2nd, 1974. He talks about how that while the picture is fictional, it based on historic fact in places- for example the trading between the Dutch and Japanese was very real. He chats about how difficult the film is to tie down into just one genre and talks about how differently the lead character is played in this picture. He talks about the other notable movies helmed by director Takashi Harada. Later on, he discusses the effective use of negative space in some shots, and touches on a few things he feels this squeal does better than the first film. We get a bio of our female, and much more. A great track- which I’ll most certainly be revisiting.
Otherwise on the new side we have the following- From Codes to Chaos (26.58) a video essay on the Bohachi Bushido films and Toei's evolving production strategies in the 1970s by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom. Remembering Teruo Ishii (17.49) interview with director Shinya Tsukamoto (Testsuo: The Iron Man) about working with director Teruo Ishii.
On the archive side there’s: interview with actress Yuriko Hishimi (22.11), and What Is Pinky Violence (15.38). As well as a few trailers.
The finished release is ltd to just 2000 copies, and comes with a O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Poochamin, and an inlay booklet featuring new writing on the Bohachi Bushido films by Jennifer Coates, author of Film Viewing in Postwar Japan, 1945–1968.
If you appreciate either OTT/ extreme samurai films, or generally gory & sleazy 70’s exploitation- then this double disc set is a must. Eureka Entertainment sever up two classy HD prints, as well as a decent selection of new & old extras.