Shogun Assassin (1980)

Tagline: ’The Greatest Team in the History of Mass Slaughter’
Running Time: 80 minutes

Film Quality: 4/5
Gore Content: 4/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5
Originality: 4/5

Introduction

Marking another diversion for ‘The Horror Video’, this is NOT a horror film but has garnered quite a reputation amongst genre fans, largely thanks to its appearance on the DPP’s ‘Video Nasties’ list and popularity as a long running Manga in the 70s. How this ended up causing offence is anyone’s guess, it’s a hugely entertaining samurai film that is breathtakingly pacy, full of memorable characters, highly moral in its storytelling and also, thanks to how it came to be, utterly unique. Yes, it’s very gory and blood splatters under, over, across and even onto the screen with surprising frequency but it’s rarely gratuitous until the final few minutes and now, thankfully, is being recognised as the great film it is rather than for its notoriety as being banned in the UK.

In a Nutshell

Lone Wolf is the Shogun’s decapitator but when the Shogun becomes fearful of his power he orders his assassination and that of his wife and child. Succeeding only in killing his wife, Lone Wolf becomes an assassin for hire, walking the roads and righting wrongs like a one man ‘A-Team’, knowing that one day he will be able to exact his revenge on the evil Shogun.

So, what’s good about it?

This film has a strange history in that it is a hybrid of two other films. Put together by director Robert Houston (who stars as one of the teens in Wes Craven’s ‘The Hills Have Eyes’), the first 11 minutes is taken from re-edited sections of ‘Sword of Vengeance’ with the remaining hour or so lifted from ‘Baby Cart on the River Styx’. What you get is  the best of both films with very little exposition and a whole fleet of lorries loaded with action, swordplay and fight scenes that are utterly relentless. I honestly can’t think of another film with a background like this but it works. Lone Wolf moves from intense situation to intense situation, the only two pauses being a moment of tension when he and his son Daigaro have a bath with Ninja ready to pounce and a lovely scene where Daigaro tends to his injured father.

The relationship between Lone Wolf (known through the film as ‘Assassin with Son’) and Daigaro (left) is wonderfully done. In fact this is one element that Houston added to the original’s mix by placing Daigaro as the heart and soul of the film with him ‘narrating’ the movie, essentially telling the story through his very young eyes. Daigaro isn’t just a toddler who sits in pram eating whatever passed for jelly babies in feudal Japan, he’s part of the action. With a flick of his hand his cart sprouts knives which decapitate Ninja at the ankle, or knives fly out of the front. There is a truly classic scene where we find out Daigaro’s destiny is to walk the road of vengeance when, as a baby he is asked to ‘Choose the sword or choose the ball’.

"O, Mad One"

The characters are just wonderful. You have the evil Shogun, the Donald Trump of his day who has the audacity to refer to Lone Wolf as “O Mad One” when his own stairs clearly don’t reach the attic. We have the ultimate female Ninja who has her own code of honour and thinks nothing of cutting off the nose, arms and legs of the male Ninja’s strongest man…yet she is revealed to be far from callous. Of course there is the unforgettable ‘Masters of Death’, each with his own personalised gloved weapon and we’ve already covered Lone Wolf and Daigaro, the most dangerous father and son act since Harry and Jamie Redknapp (that’s one for you UK footy fans!).

You can’t talk about ‘Shogun Assassin’ without mentioning the incredible electronic score by W. Michael Lewis and Mark Lindsay. There is no way that 80s electronica should be within 500 yards of a film set somewhere around the 1300s but it works astoundingly well. They’ve been bright enough to leave in some of the music from the original movies and build a pounding electronic score around it, including the unforgettable end credits theme and a Jean-Michel Jarre-esque, beatless piece that accompanies the scene where the Masters of Death are reunited with Lone Wolf.

Finally, one of the things that often lets down a film such as this is the dubbing, but not here. As the film is edited together from two films and dubbed, there has never been a subtitled version so purists can untie their knickers and wind their necks in…that version does not exist. Secondly, a lip reading expert was drafted in to construct dialogue that would conveniently fit with the movement of the actors mouths. The end result is that, far from having dialogue wrapped around mouths which flap about like a school of distressed salmon, they more resemble synchronised swimmers with speech and dialogue unerringly aligned. Again, this is a first and they can get away with it because, essentially, this is a different film from ‘Sword’ and ‘Baby Cart’ so there is no story, plotline or dialogue that they have to stay truthful to.

What about the bad?

We’re talking about two films edited together so it does come across a little bit like a ‘best of’ compilation of both films. Essentially taking the best bits of both films and ditching the ‘talky bits’ we’re left very light on plot but heavy on action. It is a little episodic, almost like an anthology of short stories edited together and there are some loose ends that aren’t tied up in a satisfactory manner. But does it really matter when the end result is such a ride? Perhaps not, and the ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ film series, which stands at six, has certainly benefitted from the popularity of ‘Shogun Assassin’ but some purists dismiss it as low grade ‘Grindhouse’ rubbish, disown the film as an abomination and not part of the series.

My personal take on it is that they’re very different films. I’ve seen the originals and the adaptation is reasonably faithful. Yes, the source material is more fully formed and contains more character development but that doesn’t detract from what a fun film ‘Shogun Assassin’ is. There is room in this world for all seven films and my only surprise is that those six films didn’t become a trilogy of ‘Shogun Assassin’ films.

Release History

The film suffered around 10 seconds of cuts by the BBFC before this cinema version inexplicably ended up on the banned list! VIPCO were then very naughty in the mid-90s, as they did with ‘Zombie Flesh Eaters, releasing an ‘Uncut Cinema Version’ which still contained those cuts alongside a widescreen version. The film was finally released completely uncut (a machete in the head, blood pouring down a man’s arms and a particularly gory eye-gouging were put back where they belonged) in 1999. Since then it has played uncut on Film4 and released as part of the ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ boxed set on DVD.

Any Themes?

The film has a lot to say about honour and how power corrupts. The Shogun is an evil man and the Ninja, though physically powerful are weak, wimping out of attacking Lone Wolf and instead raping and killing his wife. Contrast that with Lone Wolf who, when confronted with the injured female ninja leader who is vulnerable and freezing, spares her life and tends to her. Who is the stronger man? She initially resists his attempts to keep her warm by saying ‘You’re trembling…more afraid of peace than war?’. She eventually lays down her sword and lets him go, realising he is not the monster the Shogun has portrayed.

Even the Masters of Death show elements of honour. They explicitly say they will not attack unless Lone Wolf makes a move against them, again honourable up to a point and they respect the power and skills Lone Wolf possesses.

Cultural Impact

Haven't we seen this somewhere before Mr Tarantino?

The film has been championed by Quentin Tarantino who cited it as a major influence on his two ‘Kill Bill’

films, including a clip of it within the second film as The Bride watches TV. It’s difficult to watch the ‘Crazy 88s’ scene in the first movie and the geysers of blood without bringing to mind one of the many fight scenes in ‘Shogun Assassin’, particularly the vertical head slice which is so spectacularly performed by Lone Wolf.

The Lone Wolf and Cub Manga was hugely popular in its native Japan, running for six years from 1970 and an estimated 8,000 pages over 28 volumes, selling around 8million copies. When finally translated into English for the American market in the 80s with Frank Miller doing one of the covers. Unfortunately the run was never completed and only around a third were ever translated. Thankfully Dark Horse picked up the baton and released a full set in the noughties.

Ghost in the Shell producer Steven Paul has expressed a desire to remake the movie with a largely Japanese cast, whether or not this comes to fruition is another matter but it displays the film’s growing popularity amongst the ‘edgier’ elements of Hollywood. It has been developed into two TV series, one released in the 70s that ran for three series and a second in 2006, neither have seen western dvd releases.

You can’t talk about the Shogun influence without mentioning the hip-hop community, specifically Wu-Tang Clan who have sampled the movie many times. It plays an intrinsic part in GZA’s album ‘Liquid Swordz’ with a number of audio samples of movie dialogue and music cues. The album sleeve as well is reminiscent of Manga covers with prominent blood spurts and swordplay linked to ‘Shogun Assassin’.

Final Thoughts

Not one for the purists and definitely not a horror genre film but is has been embraced by the horror community for its imaginative bloodletting and cult status. If you’re not familiar with Japanese samurai films then the ‘blood from a hosepipe’ nature of the gore will come as a massive shock and the pace at which this film rocks along is as relentless as any action flick you’ve even seen come out of Hollywood. There’s a great deal of fun to be had watching this with a few like-minded mates, a crate of beer and a pizza which, great though the individual ‘Lone Wolf and Cub’ movies are, you just don’t get from the original movies. A unique one off to be savoured and enjoyed.

Memorable Quotes

Master of Death: “When cut across the neck a sound like the wailing winter winds is heard they say. I’d always hoped to cut someone like that someday, to hear that sound. But to have it happen to my own neck is……..ridiculous.”

Voice of Daigaro: “I don’t remember much of this myself, I only remember the Shogun’s ninja hunting us wherever we go. And the bodies falling…and the blood.”

Voice of Daigaro: “I guess I wish it had been different….but a wish is only a wish.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Lady Snowblood’, ‘Battle Royale’, ‘Kill Bill’