In an interview Teruo Ishii gave to Chris D. he mentioned about “The Blind Woman’s Curse”: As far as being coherent, I feel the movie was nonsensical. It is in this phrase that both the aesthetics and the narrative of the film are synopsized, in a title that combines yakuza, ghost story (Nikkatsu actually ordered Ishii to include ghost elements after he started shooting), ero-guro and exploitation elements. Furthermore, it was Meiko Kaji‘s first starring role and also the first time she performed the title song, “Lullaby of Honour”.
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Akemi Tachibana, the daughter of a now deceased yakuza leader that fosters a huge dragon tattoo in her back, is the leader of the Tachibana clan. As the movie begins, in a rather impressive gang sword fight, she and her henchmen attack a rival group. They emerge victorious, and Akemi kills the opponent boss, but in her effort, she wounds his younger sister, Aiko with her sword, blinding her. At that moment, a black cat appears out of nowhere, leaking the blood that spurts from the wound, in a rather surreal scene that is revealed as quite significant later on.
Akemi spends three years in prison after the events, where she also becomes the leader of the convicts there, after a rather imposing scene where she introduces herself in almost ritualistic fashion. Despite her evident self-confidence, Akemi is tormented by nightmares, all of which include the aforementioned cat.
After her release, Akemi returns to take her place as leader of the Tachibana clan, but finds herself in a peril, since a new group of rivals, the Dobashi-gumi, headed by a rather despicable man whose lust and power have led him into owning a harem of drug-addicted sex slaves, are trying to invade their territory. The Dobashi use every dirty trick in the book to achieve their goal, including using a turncoat of the Tachibana clan, Tatsu, to help them in their plans. Furthermore, the blinded girl, who had joined the circus after her injury, seems to have also joined them in her effort to exact revenge, and is accompanied by a worm-like hunchback (Tatsumi Hijikata, in a role quite similar as the one he played in “The Horror of Malformed Men”) and the black cat, all of which seem to be able to use black magic.
The presence of a rather crazy individual, who wears just a loincloth from the waist down (with the camera frequently zooming in on his bare buttocks) and smells rather badly, Aozora, also starts acting in the area. On the other hand, a number of girls who have tattooed on their back the continuation of Akemi’s tattoo come to her help, with the same happening to Tani Shouichi, a man whose recently peaceful life is destroyed by the actions of the Dobashi-gumi.
Evidently, Teruo Ishii directs and pens along Chusei Sone, a rather episodic narrative, where the events unfolding on the screen make very little sense, even if the main storyline of the feud between the two gangs permeates the whole film.
On the other hand, the presentation of all these absurd episodes and characters is equally visually impressive and rather entertaining, highlighting the job done in both the excellent cinematography by Sei Kitaizumi and Akiyoshi Satani’s art direction, along with the nonsensical, but definitely imaginative writing.
Starting with the first showdown between the gangs, continuing with the finale one, which also features the five-part tattooed dragon in all its glory, and concluding with the final duel, the action scenes are truly astonishing, a testament to both the quality of the production values and the action choreography.
The same prowess extends to the characters, and subsequently, to the acting. Meiko Kaji as the female yakuza boss is impressive in every scene she appears in, with her portraying her rage, worry, resolve, and guilt with equal eloquence, while her trademark visage steals the show whenever the camera makes a close-up to her face. Toru Abe makes a truly despicable villain as Dobashi; Shiro Otsuji portrays the coward turncoat Tatsu quite fittingly, while the “dangerous clown” Aozora is portrayed with gusto by Ryohei Uchida, in a role that seems to have inspired Sonny Chiba for his portrayal of Otomo in “Hiroshima Death Match“. Hoki Tokuda as the blind Aiko is equally mysterious and dangerous, while Tatsumi Hijikata puts the final straw in this absurd collage of characters as the hunchback dancer.
Add to all that a number of scenes of torturous exploitation, a permeating sense of occasionally perverse and violent sensualism, a number of comic relief characters, and most of all, the rather memorable composition of the half-naked, monster-looking, dancing girls in front of the circus building, and you have the backbone the movie.
“The Blind Woman’s Curse” does not make sense, but the artfulness, fun, and overall entertainment it offers result in an impressive title, that has also managed to age well within its cult status.
