Cruel Tales of the Bohachi
Directed by Teruo Ishii/Takashi Harada
Starring Tetsurō Tamba, Gorô Ibuki, Tatsuo Endô, Reiko Ike, Bin Amatsu, and Takashi Ebata.
SYNOPSIS:
Box set featuring two examples of early 1970s ero guro jidaigeki samurai cult classics.
Eureka Entertainment bring the swords and sex with their latest release Cruel Tales of the Bohachi, a limited edition set featuring two movies labelled as ‘ero guro jidaigeki’, or period movies with a focus on eroticism and violence, i.e. Japanese grindhouse/pinku eiga (pinky violence). Whatever you wish to call it, this is the stuff cult movies are made of.
First up is Code of the Forgotten Eight from 1973. Based on the popular manga by Lone Wolf and Cub creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, the movie stars Tetsurō Tamba as Shino, a samurai warrior who has had enough of life, and after dispatching the latest wave of goons who have gotten in his way he throws himself in a river to drown, but he is rescued by the Bohachi clan. The Bohachi clan are a group of warriors who live their life by a code of ignoring eight different morals in order to keep an ordered existence of sadism and corruption.
Shino is initially banished after failing their tests to join their clan, but the banishment is overturned by the chief who decides to employ the hardened warrior to infiltrate the local area and clear it of cheap prostitution rings so that the Bohachi clan can have the best women. Shino agrees as he has nothing else to do, but it soon becomes clear that there is more behind this plan and the Bohachi clan haven’t been entirely honest with him.
The second movie is The Villain from 1974, and although the movies are not really connected it does play out as a spiritual sequel or even a loose remake of Code of the Forgotten Eight. In this one, Kyushi-Issho (Gorô Ibuki, who also appeared in Code of the Forgotten Eight as a different character) is a battle-hardened ronin with a death wish who gets employed by the Bohachi’s when a turf war breaks out with a rival clan over sex trafficking operations in the local area.
Two movies, two different directors but a shared theme and 2 1/2 hours of bloody samurai action with gratuitous nudity thrown in. Of the two, Code of the Forgotten Eight is easily the better one, featuring slicker fight sequences, some gorgeous cinematography – just the opening establishing shot of Shino on a bridge surrounded by attackers and silhouetted against a red sky alone would make a fantastic poster – and a general sense of fun amidst the moody lead performances and the naked women that fill the screen whenever the fighting stops.
That isn’t to say that this is softcore titillation without any sense of meaning, though, as the movie does have a plot and the dialogue is of a little higher calibre than usual, as Shino questions his existence and the situation he finds himself in. Tetsurō Tamba is wonderful as the deadly serious samurai warrior, battle-weathered and fed up with life but he battles on once he discovers what the clan have been plotting, and one could almost think he is in a different movie given how deadpan he is compared to everyone else, but it works.
The Villain tries to repeat the formula with Gorô Ibuki in the similar role of Kyushi-Issho, and although it doesn’t really do that much wrong in terms of samurai action and grindhouse sleaze – and this one is sleazy – it all feels a little generic, or even lazy, in comparison to the other movie in the set, so if you are watching these one after the other then the difference is very noticeable. That isn’t to say you won’t have a good time with it but be prepared to lower your expectations as the fight choreography isn’t as slick, the cinematography not as stylish and the overall production just doesn’t feel as exciting or ambitious, the tone a little nastier and generally more mean-spirited.
In this set you get Code of the Forgotten Eight on 4K UHD and both movies on a standard Blu-ray (this review is based off the Blu-ray disc), but given how bright and colourful Code of the Forgotten Eight looked on a standard disc then you shouldn’t be disappointed with a UHD upgrade. Extras come in the form of audio commentaries for both movies, a video essay by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom covering the Bohachi Bushido films, an interview with Testsuo: The Iron Man director Shinya Tsukamoto about working with director Teruo Ishii, an archival interview with actress Yuriko Hishimi, archival audio interview with Japanese filmmakers J-Taro Sugisaki and Takao Nakano, theatrical trailer for Code of the Forgotten Eight and a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the Bohachi Bushido films by author Jennifer Coates, so it is a fairly stacked set for content that gives the movies a bit more context if you are unfamiliar with ero guro jidaigeki.
And if you are unfamiliar with the style then this set is the perfect place to start as it gives you all the touchstones in two fairly tight and concise movies. The set is limited to 2000 copies so best to get in quick, but hopefully Eureka will keep these cool little packages coming as these are (mostly) fun insights into a genre that doesn’t get a lot of coverage outside of Asian cinema specialists.
Flickering Myth Rating – Code of the Forgotten Eight – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Flickering Myth Rating – The Villain – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
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Chris Ward
