Customer Reviews

Shogun Assassin

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"Shogun Assassin" is actually a combining of two Japanese movies for American release that bring to the screen a story that has long been very popular in Japan (aka "Lone Wolf and Cub").
Some may recognize the title "Shogun Assassin" from the movie "Kill Bill Vol. 2". In that story, it is the movie that mother and daughter watch together at bedtime. How sweet. Tarantino is, no doubt, both making a joke and giving a nod to what is one of the bloodiest of all Samaurai movies, a genre known for its high splatter factor.
I first saw this movie in the 80's and am happy it is now available on DVD. I recommend it highly to any fan of Samaurai movies for its clever story line, customized baby carriage and over-the-top sword fighting sequences. It may not be high-brow, but it is must-see!

Shogun Assasin is a great Samurai movie on its own merit, the Lone Wolf and Cub Movies are better, but this one is a violent combinations of the first two in that series. However, the DVD is crap. Non-Anamorphic picture and the print looks like a thirty year old video tape. Save your money and wait for a U.S. release.

Roger Corman is legendary for dubbing and editing foreign films together for the American market. His company, New World, outdid themselves on this one. Unleashed on unsuspecting stateside audiences in 1980, Shogun Assassin has gained a mythic stature of it's own. Backed with a killer soundtrack by ex-Raider Mark Lindsay, this puppy is the sort of grindhouse picture that simply doesn't exist anymore. Cobbled together from the first two Lone Wolf & Cub movies, "Assassin" is the story of a renegade samurai in ancient Japan, travelling with his son, cutting down the Shogun's ninja spies who murdered his wife. The Shogun's men hunt them at every turn. Extraordinarily graphic stuff. Check out the Master of Death who praises The Wolf's technique even as a bloody mist sprays from his slit throat! Decapitations, impalations, heads cut in half, you name it, it's here. But...there's one big problem, kemosabe. This print looks atrocious, squeezed into the middle third of the screen by artifical letterboxes. Definitely get the two disc version that should be arriving in a few weeks. GZA fans NEED to see this movie. "Liquid Swords" samples it continously.

This is one of the best movies I've seen. It has enough of everything to please all types of sword fighting martial arts fans.

Story line is great, acting is wonderful, and how can you go wrong with the kid narrarating the whole movie.

Fans of early work by Wu-Tang Clan would also recognize this move as the one used for all the sound bites for Gza's 'Liquid Swords'.

I Highly Recommend it to all.

Thye information shown in the synopsis is incorrect-the star is Tomisaburo Wakayama, not Shintaro Katsu[a star in his own right in the Zatoichi series, and real life brother to Wakayama.]
Regardless,I regard this film as the definitive one in the "Baby Cart" series.

This presentation is muddy and not worthy of the DVD format and is unfortunately not authorized, which is why the transfer and print are of such subpar quality. But, there is no reason to dispair:

Currently, AnimEigo, a legitimate company that have released seven of the Toho-owned ZATOICHIs, and numerous Chambara films such as SAMURAI BANNERS, SAMURAI ASSASSIN, RED LION and LONE WOLF & CUB (the original versions of what became SHOGUN ASSASSIN), are busy at work restoring SHOGUN ASSASSIN to its original widescreen glory:

"The most famous samurai film in North America and probably most bootlegged one! You've begged us to do it for years, and we're giving it the full AnimEigo treatment - we're restoring it using our brilliant transfers of the original component films (LONE WOLF & CUB 1 & 2). We're literally going to replace every frame in SHOGUN ASSASSIN with the exact same frames from the original films!"

(...)

This is one of my favorite movies of all time but the quality is simply aweful, not worthy to be sold as a DVD. Why don't they go back to the original and get a decent rip?

This product took ages to come through the post, because it's an american product and i live in england. This was pretty annoying, but what was more annoying was that when it finally got here, it was NOT shogun assassin! It was "horror rises from the tomb" and "loreley's grasp": two spanish films, probably from the same era of which shogun assasin was made. a little help, anyone, on how i am to send this back as trade for what i actually ordered???

When the emcees came to live out their name... Yo! This flick is tha lick, word up! Roll up a fat one, sit back and enjoy this non-stop action thriller! You won't regret the purchase and the flick is ill, son! Holla at your man!

This is grindhouse cinema, it's supposed to be grainy. This movie simply kicks (or slices) butt. Great fight scenes, and plenty of that thick corn syrup everywhere.