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Five years ago, Akemi (Meiko Kaji) was thrown into prison for killing a
Yakuza boss who killed her Yakuza boss father. Now she's out again and
takes over as leader of the Tachibana clan - but she sees to it that the
clan keeps out of criminal activities as good as possible ... however, her
right-hand man Tatsu (Shiro Otsuji) has other ideas and soon enough secretly joins
forces with the competing lcan led by Dobashi (Toru Abe) and wants to
throw the Tachibana clan into a gangwar with the Aozora clan so Dobashi
and Tatsu can then take over both their territories.
Before long, Dobashi and Tatsu are joined by a mysterious blind
swordswoman who desperately wants revenge on Akemi, who has blinded her
and killed her brother 5 years ago, but who actually
disapproves of Dobashi's foul play. Dobashi and Tatsu meanwhile have
Akemi's men (and women) ambushed and killed in no short supply, and often
even put the corpses on display, just to mock Akemi. And while Tatsu
more and more wants to rush her into a war with the Aozora clan, she
hesitates.
In the meantime, righteous Tani (Makoto Sato), who wants to help Akemi
even if she refuses his services, makes some investigations on his own,
and soon finds out that Dobashi and Tatsu are indeed behind
all the confusion - but eventually he ends up imprisoned and tortured
by Dobashi.
At around the same time, Dobashi also decides it would be better to get
rid of the blind swordswoman because she could pose a threat once she had
her revenge on Akemi, and he sets a trap for her, one that actually
springs - but she's not at her wits' end yet ...
Eventually, Akemi finds out about Akemi and Tatsu's foul play as well,
and she and her (diminished) clan attack Dobashi full force - but being
outnumbered, that might be a one-way ticket to hell. And even if she
should make it out alive, Akemi still has the blind swordswoman to face
...
The basic plot of Blind Woman's Curse is a more or less routine
Yakuza tale, but Teruo Ishii's direction makes it look more like a
horrorfilm: It's got sadism aplenty, creepily atmospheric filmmaking throughout, it's
got a hunchback, a ghostlike creature (the blind swordswoman), plenty of severed limbs,
fountains of gore, eerie dream sequences, black cats and whatever else there is ... and Teruo
Ishii knows how to make good use of these elements. The outcome is
probably the spookiest Yakuza-film there is, and a very weird blend of
genres that is definitely worth a look.
Recommended.
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