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13 ASSASSINS (1963)
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Our Price: $24.98
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The original version of Takashi Miike’s 2010 samurai film about a daimyo who rapes and murders, yet goes unpunished due to his political connections. In order to remove this stain from the Shogunate before the feudal lord seizes more control, a rogue samurai is given a suicide mission: he and 12 other brave swordsmen must assassinate the lecherous man before he gets to the throne in Edo. Filmed in stark black and white, Thirteen Assassins is a solid jidai geki that draws upon the classics of the genre. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Eiichi Kudo---Japan---1963---125 mins.
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3 SECONDS BEFORE EXPLOSION
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Our Price: $29.95
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Akira Kobayashi stars in this fast-paced, action-packed spy film from Japan's Nikkatsu studios. He plays a secret agent who goes rogue in order to penetrate a gang of violent, globe-trotting jewel thieves. If you like big explosions, bare bodies, bad guys, and bad clothes, Three Seconds Before Explosion (or Three Seconds to Explosion or Bakuhatsu Sanbyomae) is a must see. Co-starring Hideki Takahashi. In Japanese with optional English Tan Ida---Japan---1967---84 mins.
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AME AGARI ( AFTER THE RAIN )
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Our Price: $89.95
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Winner of 8 Japanese Academy Awards including Best Picture, Takashi Koizumi's uplifting historical drama is based on a short story by Shugoro Yamamoto, with a script by Akira Kurosawa. Set at the dawn of the Kyocho Era, the film tells of a ronin (Akira Terao) and his wife (Yoshiko Miyazaki), who impress the residents of a country inn with their selfless generosity. As a reward, the lone samurai is invited to serve as a fencing instructor for a feudal lord (Shiro Mifune), but his presence sows discontent among the master's swordsmen. In Japanese with English subtitles. Takashi Koizumi---Japan---1999---91 mins.
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ANGEL GUTS
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Our Price: $79.95
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A collection of five films based on the manga of Takashi Ishii, Angel Guts is a bold and controversial effort to explore the physical and emotional effects of rape on the male aggressor and the female victim. Part of the Japanese "Romanporno" genre (Romantic Porno), each of the five films concerns a sexual assault on a central woman figure, and in most cases the depictions are unrelentingly brutal and extremely graphic. Includes High School Co-Ed, Red Classroom, Nami, Red Porno, and Red Vertigo. In Japanese with English subtitles. Noboru Tanaka/Hiroyuki Nasu/Toshiharu Ikeda/Chusei Sone/Takashi Ishii---Japan---1978-1988---536 mins.
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ANGEL GUTS NAMI
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Our Price: $24.95
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Part of a controversial series of films based on the manga of Takashi Ishii, this provocative and unsettling work of Japanese "romanporno" tells of a journalist whose probing articles about rape victims win her fame and prestige. Nami Tsuchiya (Eri Kanuma) cares little about invading the privacy of her subjects, but her continued fascination with their plight begins to take a toll on her sanity. Noboru Tanaka's film contains scenes of graphic sexual violence that may offend some viewers. In Japanese with English Noboru Tanaka---Japan---1980---94 mins.
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ANGEL GUTS RED PORNO
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Our Price: $19.95
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Part of a controversial series of films based on the manga of Takashi Ishii, this provocative and unsettling work of Japanese "romanporno" describes a photo shoot that takes a dark and disturbing turn. Nami (Jun Izumi) agrees to stand in for a friend during a modeling session, but finds herself roped into participating in a hardcore S&M shoot. When the pictures are published, the young woman finds her reputation irreparably damaged. Contains scenes of graphic sexual violence that may offend some viewers. In Japanese with English Toshiharu Ikeda---Japan---1981---62 mins.
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ANGEL GUTS RED VERTIGO
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Our Price: $19.95
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Part of a controversial series of films based on the manga of Takashi Ishii, this provocative and unsettling work of Japanese "romanporno" describes a vicious cycle of rape of violence. After surviving a sexual assault, Nami is released from the hospital only to discover that her boyfriend has been unfaithful. Blinded by anger, she accidentally hurls herself in front of a moving car driven by a man whose own sexual trials have become unendurable. Contains scenes of graphic sexual violence that may offend some viewers. In Takashi Ishii---Japan---1988---74 mins.
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ANGEL GUTS: RED CLASSROOM
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Our Price: $19.95
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Part of a controversial series of films based on the manga of Takashi Ishii, this provocative and unsettling work of Japanese "romanporno" stars Keizo Kanie as Tetsuro Muraki, an erotic photographer who grows obsessed with the starlet in a no-budget stag film he watches. After successfully tracking the young woman down (Yuuki Mizuhara), Tetsuro is amazed to discover that she's far from the innocent nymph who's handled roughly in the film, and instead an aggressive nymphomaniac. Contains scenes of graphic sexual violence that may offend some viewers. In Japanese with English subtitles. Chusei Sone---Japan---1979---63 mins.
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ASSASSINATION (SHINODA)
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Our Price: $69.95
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One of Shinoda's first period films, this black-and-white 'Scope samurai film begins in the waning years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Tetsuro Tamba stars.
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BABYCART AT THE RIVER STYX
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Our Price: $39.95
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More Samurai graphic violence and sex in this journey of terror along a river of blood! The Yagyu clan has murdered Ogami Itto's wife and stripped him of his position of Official Shogunate Second. Now Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro wander the countryside as the hired assassins known as Lone Wolf and Cub, bent on the desire for revenge upon the Yagyu. In Japanese with English subtitles. Misumi Kenji---Japan---1972---81 mins.
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BAIAN ASSASSIN VOL 1 OF 4
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Our Price: $29.95
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An acupuncturist has a secret second life: he is a trained assassin assigned to kill those persons he considers unworthy of mercy. His weapon of choice is a very long needle used on the back of the neck in order to leave no traces. In Japanese with English subtitles. Yasuo Furuhata---Japan---1981---170 mins.
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BALLAD OF ORIN
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Our Price: $89.95
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Orin is a traveling musician plagued by blindness and socially imposed celibacy. After she is raped, she is banished by her group and becomes an outcast. She sets out to reclaim her sexual identity, and becomes infatuated with a progressive young man who opposes Japanese militarism. Tragically, his revolutionary opposition to female subjection forbids him from sexual intimacy; encroaching upon Orin would render him as hypocritical as the oppressive patriarchy. The horrific fate of this natural paradox is poignantly expressed by the film's climax, in which Orin commits suicide after her prudent man is destroyed. In Japanese with English subtitles. Masahiro Shinoda---Japan---1977---109 mins.
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BANDITS VS. SAMURAI SQUADRON
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Our Price: $29.95
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A former samurai warrior has abandoned his class to become the leader of a gang of bandits. He leads his outlaws in a planned attack on the castle of his former clan, as revenge for the destruction of his family by the very official whom he served so loyally. But can a group of thieves stand up to the might of a clan of well-trained samurai? With Tatsuya Nakadai, Shima Iwashita, and Shogoro Ichikawa. In Japanese with English subtitles. 2-disk set. Hideo Gosha---Japanese---1978---163 mins.
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BATTLE OF OKINAWA
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Our Price: $29.98
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Action director Kihachi Okamoto (Samurai Assassin, The Sword of Doom) responds to American war films like The Longest Day with this brutal retelling of the Battle of Okinawa in 1944. The suicides of ordinary Japanese citizens play out against the deaths of thousands of Japanese soldiers, sacrificing themselves to defend a woefully underprotected island outpost that would act as a stepping stone for Allied forces into mainland Japan. Keiju Kobayashi plays Gen. Ushijima. Shot in anamorphic by Hiroshi Murai. Kihachi Okamoto---Japan---1971---149 mins.
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BLACK TIGHT KILLERS
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Our Price: $24.99
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This wild debut feature from director Yasuharu Hasebe, a protege of Seijun Suzuki at Japan's Nikkatsu Studios, is representative of the kind of fare Nikkatsu specialized in at the time--fast-paced, low-budget genre films with generous doses of sex and violence. Hasebe's debut also demonstrates a healthy sense of humor toward the sensational material. Singing star and matinee idol Akira Kobayashi plays a combat photographer trying to save his stewardess girlfriend from an alliance of Japanese and American gangsters after some gold hidden by her father during World War II. Also after the gold is a band of female assassins who use 45 rpm records and bubblegum as part of their arsenal. "An invigorating cocktail, two parts Seijun Suzuki crime film mixed with one part beach-party movie" (American Cinematheque). In Japanese Yasuharu Hasebe---Japan---1966---87 mins.
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BLIND MENACE, THE
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Our Price: $24.98
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Before playing a blind swordsman hero in a number of Zatoichi films, Shintaro Katsu was as a blind villain in Shiranui Kengyo, a.k.a. Secrets of a Court Masseur and The Blind Menace. "The film is infused with a dark vision of humanity and of a society where deception and crime are sure ways to get to the top" (Midnight Eye). In Japanese with English subtitles.
Kazuo Mori---Japan---1960---91 mins.
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BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE
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Our Price: $19.95
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An historical yakuza gangster story and horror film atmospherics combine in this cult favorite, starring 1970s action siren Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood). Blind Woman's Curse follows the chain of mysterious events that unfolds when a female yakuza boss accidentally blinds a woman from a rival clan. Soon violence threatens to engulf everyone in sight. In Japanese Teruo Ishii---Japan---1970---85 mins.
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BLOODY TERRITORIES
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Our Price: $19.95
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A stylish yakuza thriller from one of the great talents to emerge from Japan's Nikkatsu Studios, Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Convict Scorpion). A law-enforcement crackdown in Tokyo leads a large yakuza gang to disband, but one small group refuses to bow to police pressure. As they attempt to reestablish their control over the "bloody territories," they face opposition from an unknown force. In Japanese with English subtitles. Yasuharu Hasebe---Japan---1969---88 mins.
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BODYGUARD/ SISTER STREET FIGHT
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Our Price: $12.98
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You better take a disco nap before heading to the grindhouse tonight, because Sonny Chiba is kicking double-time. Action thriller The Bodyguard (Karate Kiba, USA/Japan, Simon Nuchtern, 1976, 89 mins.) has Chiba playing a karate star that publicly vows to protect anyone who will offer up information on Japanese drug lords. Co-starring Etsuko Shihomi, Judy Lee, and Jiro Chiba. Then in Sister Street Fighter (Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, Japan, 1974, 86 mins.), Tina Long's (Etsuko Shihimi) brother is working as an undercover drug agent when his cover is blown. Now the police are looking to Tina to find him. A martial arts teacher (Chiba) lends an able hand. With Sue Shiomi, May Mayakawa, and Harry Kondo. Dubbed in English. Simon Nuchtern/Kazuhiko Yamaguchi---Japan/USA---1976/1974---175 mins.
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BOHACHI BUSHIDO: CODE OF FORGO
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Our Price: $29.95
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Like most pinky violence flicks, this entry in the eight-film Joys of Torture series by Teruo Ishii goes by many names: Porno Samurai Theater: Bohachi Code of Honor, Porno Jidai-Geki, and Clan of the Forgotten Eight. It's a stylish, well-made softcore period film about a band of brutish samurai who collect comely women for enslavement in Edo's sex trade. However, one such swordsman, played by Tetsuro Tamba, revolts against the corrupt shogunate, and many a limb is hacked off in his wake. "Ishii's cold, no-nonsense approach to sadistic behavior makes these movies seem all the more aberrant; in fact, these projects became known as Ero-Gro (Erotic Grotesque) to describe the most perverse of the S&M genre" (Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films). In Japanese with English subtitles. Teruo Ishii---Japan---1973---81 mins.
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