gorelover
12-17-2003, 12:34 PM
Synopsis:
Set in the Tokugawa period in feudal Japan, two stories containing scenes of extreme violence and torture are presented to the unexpecting viewer.
The first one takes place in ancient Nagasaki of 1628, where Christianity was outlawed and avowing Christians were forced to foreswear their belief or be murdered. A sadistic magistrate has Christians tortured for his own amusement.
The second one is set in Fukagawa in 1821. An imposter is forced to work in a brothel as handyman to pay off his debts. The prostitutes there are being treated with uttermost brutality to make them pliable. Soon he can't take it any longer and persuades one of the prostitutes to abscond with him. On their way, they commit several petty crimes until they're being caught by local authorities and brought to justice.
The movie:
When I first put this disc into the player, I didn't quite know what to expect. From searching the Internet I knew this movie originally was released back in 1969, so I thought of something comparable to the typical Japanese mainstream movies of that time. Yet after watching the first minutes, I realised this was different stuff.
Both stories are being told in a half-documentary way, which reminded me of 'Men Behind The Sun'. Storylines are less important (though existent), main focus lies on the various torture scenes which from a technical standpoint are pretty well done. It clearly shows that this is no low budget production, there has been put a fairly amount of money and effort into it.
Be warned that you've got to have a strong stomach to sit through this movie, some examples of the gruesome scenes shown are
- decapitation
- crucification
- drowning
- rape
- brandings
- performed abortion
- bashing
- stabbing with spears
- emasculation
- dismemberment
- quartering
The transfer:
Japan Shock did a new anamorphic widescreen transfer from the original 35 mm negative, and the movie looks amazingly good. Quality-wise I'd say you could almost compare it to the recent 'Once Upon A Time In The West' release from Paramount where the source material is about as old. As usual in Japanese movies, frontal nudity is blurred. One funny (some would say distasteful) feature of this DVD is the main menu: You see a scene in a backyard of some Japanese estate with three torture victims, one's being hanged and is missing the lower part of his body, the second one's sitting in a cauldron with boiling liquid, the third one's being burned at the stake. Now if you select a menu option, a torture animation starts to play, eg the guy being burned at the stake starts to scream while the flames blaze all around him burning him to ashes. Geez now this is my kind of stuff! ;-)
The DVD:
Shogun's Sadism
Japan 1969
Director: Yuji Makiguchi
Cast: Yuusuke Kazato, Rena Uchimura, Akira Shioji, Masataka Iwao, Ryuuji Nagashima, Yuusuke Tsukasa, Tetsuo Fujisawa
Language: Japanese DD 1.0
Subtitles: English, German, Dutch
Region Code: 0
Video Format: PAL, 2.35:1 anamorphic Widescreen
Label: Japan Shock
Extras:
- Slideshow
- Trailer show
- Original trailer
- Scene selection (8 chapters)
http://www.diabolikdvd.com/covers/shogunssadism.jpg
-gl
Set in the Tokugawa period in feudal Japan, two stories containing scenes of extreme violence and torture are presented to the unexpecting viewer.
The first one takes place in ancient Nagasaki of 1628, where Christianity was outlawed and avowing Christians were forced to foreswear their belief or be murdered. A sadistic magistrate has Christians tortured for his own amusement.
The second one is set in Fukagawa in 1821. An imposter is forced to work in a brothel as handyman to pay off his debts. The prostitutes there are being treated with uttermost brutality to make them pliable. Soon he can't take it any longer and persuades one of the prostitutes to abscond with him. On their way, they commit several petty crimes until they're being caught by local authorities and brought to justice.
The movie:
When I first put this disc into the player, I didn't quite know what to expect. From searching the Internet I knew this movie originally was released back in 1969, so I thought of something comparable to the typical Japanese mainstream movies of that time. Yet after watching the first minutes, I realised this was different stuff.
Both stories are being told in a half-documentary way, which reminded me of 'Men Behind The Sun'. Storylines are less important (though existent), main focus lies on the various torture scenes which from a technical standpoint are pretty well done. It clearly shows that this is no low budget production, there has been put a fairly amount of money and effort into it.
Be warned that you've got to have a strong stomach to sit through this movie, some examples of the gruesome scenes shown are
- decapitation
- crucification
- drowning
- rape
- brandings
- performed abortion
- bashing
- stabbing with spears
- emasculation
- dismemberment
- quartering
The transfer:
Japan Shock did a new anamorphic widescreen transfer from the original 35 mm negative, and the movie looks amazingly good. Quality-wise I'd say you could almost compare it to the recent 'Once Upon A Time In The West' release from Paramount where the source material is about as old. As usual in Japanese movies, frontal nudity is blurred. One funny (some would say distasteful) feature of this DVD is the main menu: You see a scene in a backyard of some Japanese estate with three torture victims, one's being hanged and is missing the lower part of his body, the second one's sitting in a cauldron with boiling liquid, the third one's being burned at the stake. Now if you select a menu option, a torture animation starts to play, eg the guy being burned at the stake starts to scream while the flames blaze all around him burning him to ashes. Geez now this is my kind of stuff! ;-)
The DVD:
Shogun's Sadism
Japan 1969
Director: Yuji Makiguchi
Cast: Yuusuke Kazato, Rena Uchimura, Akira Shioji, Masataka Iwao, Ryuuji Nagashima, Yuusuke Tsukasa, Tetsuo Fujisawa
Language: Japanese DD 1.0
Subtitles: English, German, Dutch
Region Code: 0
Video Format: PAL, 2.35:1 anamorphic Widescreen
Label: Japan Shock
Extras:
- Slideshow
- Trailer show
- Original trailer
- Scene selection (8 chapters)
http://www.diabolikdvd.com/covers/shogunssadism.jpg
-gl