An utterly unprecedented scale! A final showdown on a snowy mountain against Yagyu Retsudo and the full might of the Yagyu clan's massive ski army — enough to make Kamen Rider and Rainbowman turn pale. The roaring baby cart transforms into a rapid-fire machine gun and then a sled, exploding across the snowfields! And the dead rise again, putting zo ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)mbies to shame! Creepy, creepy — the psychic powers of the stealthily encroaching Tsuchigumo telekinesis clan! Katsu Productions' direction shines here, an excess of entertainment spectacle that easily leaps beyond the bounds of the period drama and even beyond the original gekiga manga. Magic of light. Skulls skewered, blood gushing and spraying! Bodies blown spectacularly apart by explosives. Kunihiko Murai's big-scale funky score is a thrill too. Daigoro's expressions are as wonderful as ever. Minoru Oki and Isao Kimura also turn in fine performances. After this film, Tomisaburo Wakayama and Shintaro Katsu had a falling out and Wakayama left Katsu Productions. As a result, this sadly became the last of the "Lone Wolf and Cub" film series. The TV series began after this. It can't be played on standard Japanese DVD players, but can be viewed on a computer. A Japanese edition is also available, but this import version is more affordable. Directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda, released April 1974, 83 minutes. "No good. I'm freezing..." is a classic line. Long live "Papa" and "Daigoro!" (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)

The baby cart transforms into a boat in a flash, with merciless assassins striking from the river. And even while Daigoro is out taking a dump, ruthless killers come after him! The showdown with the master gunman who wields two pistols is a joint operation with Daigoro that's frankly way too underhanded — just one of the new sides shown in this thi ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)rd installment. The scale has grown to the point where it's practically all-out war. Dynamite blasting away, gimmick-blade slicing, and showers of blood! But above all, this film belongs to Go Kato! Defeated in a samurai duel and beheaded, Kato's severed head rolls across the ground, and the way his field of vision gradually fades to pure white is simply too beautiful. What is the true way of the samurai? This cannot be played on standard Japanese DVD players, but can be viewed on a computer, etc. A Japanese edition is also available, but this overseas edition is more reasonably priced. Directed by Kenji Misumi, released September 1972, 89 minutes. A Katsu Production, of course. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)

The opening alone — a Yagyu henchman catching a blade with his face plus a spray-of-blood shower — is already mind-blowing, but above all it's the meticulous obsession with staging by Shintaro Katsu and his crew that's simply too magnificent. The artistry of electronic sound effects mixed with concrete sounds, the synergy of varied camerawork with ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)its cuts, angles and focus, and the way silence is balanced in and out of the cut-ins and cut-outs — it's all just too cool. The battles against the kunoichi disguised one after another as traveling entertainers and farmers, the hidden blade inside a daikon, the psychedelic effect created by camerawork synced to the rhythm of drums, the direction of the gazes and the spinning kimono patterns — highlight after highlight. And of course Daigoro gets plenty of action with all the baby cart gadgets. The battle on the sand dunes is Japan's spaghetti western meets El Topo. "The head — I can hear my head weeping." This can't be played on ordinary Japanese DVD players, but it can be viewed on a computer and the like. A Japanese edition is also available, but this overseas edition is more affordable. Directed by Kenji Misumi; released April 1972; 81 min. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)

Lone Wolf and Cub was a smash-hit series for Katsu Production, even outdoing Zatoichi. Of course, this was made before the TV series. Makes you wonder why Tomisaburo Wakayama wasn't cast in the TV version. Right from the opening you're overwhelmed: a raging sea on the right, a road of flames on the left — a Ten Commandments-style "either way it's h ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)ell" path that he just keeps walking down! It's a famous story that Wakayama, the elder brother of the family, who plays the official executioner Ogami Itto, personally visited original author Kazuo Koike again and again to finally get the film adaptation he longed for. In any case, it's one brutal splatter scene after another. This is where Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez got their start. Heads go flying, both legs get severed at once and bodies slide off at an angle — pure splatter! Packed with shocking imagery. And above all, the sword choreography is superb! Gonnosuke Ito's Yagyu Retsudo is a tour de force. And Yoshi Kato's screen presence remains one of a kind. Includes four Katsu Production trailers. This can't be played on standard Japanese DVD players, but it can be viewed on a computer. A Japanese edition is available as well, but this overseas edition comes at a lower price. Directed by Kenji Misumi; released January 1972; 83 minutes. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)