Shogun Assassin (1980)

Media Reviewed: UK DVD (Vipco)

Director: Robert Houston
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ohki, Masahiro Tomikawa


In the late seventies Robert Houston obtained the rights to the first two films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Sword of Vengeance and Babycart at the River Styx and edited them together, re-wrote the dialogue in English and added a new electronic score. What could have been a total mess of a film ends up as a thoroughly entertaining, thoroughly cheesy, thoroughly violent film.

The plot involves the Shogun's decapitator, Ogami Itto (Wakayama) and his young son, Daigoro (Tomikawa). The shogun order's Itto's wife dead after he becomes paranoid and believes Itto to have betrayed him. Itto refuses to submit to the Shogun and the rest of the film involves hordes of ninja and samurai trying to hunt him down. This results in an carnage and bloodshed - people are literally sliced to pieces in an orgy of gory action.

Shogun Assassin uses parts of Sword of Vengeance in order to explain the plot in the first ten minutes of the film, the rest uses action from Babycart at the River Styx (my personal favourite of the six Lone Wolf movies). Whilst the original films have a lot more plot going on in them, with a lot of interesting references to Japanese history, Shogun Assassin goes for action and uses footage from both films extremely well. The electronic score is very cheesy, but fits the action of the film perfectly. The English dialogue and dubbing will draw unintentional laughs and adds to the entertainment value of the film.

The action scenes are well choreographed and feature some excellent swordplay from Wakayama. The more outrageous moments truly need to be seen to be believed - a standout moment in the film occurs when Lone Wolf pushes his son down a hill in a wooden buggy towards some samurai; he activates blades that spring out of the wheels, ploughing into the samurai and severing their legs. Throughout the film bright red blood literally sprays out of wounds and, whilst not realistic, it adds to the entertaining, over-the-top feel of the film.

Whilst the original films are better plot-wise, with much more interesting narratives, Shogun Assassin is excellent if you just want to sit down and enjoy violent, bloody carnage for ninety minutes. The UK DVD version from Vipco is uncut, but not ideal, as the image is non-anamorphic and a bit of a pain to get right on a widescreen TV. Those who enjoy this would be well advised to seek out the originals and their best bet would be to go for the US box set from Animeigo containing all six films.

Phantasm (1979)

Media Reviewed: UK DVD (Anchor Bay)

Director: Don Coscarelli

Starring: A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm

Mysterious things are going on in the small town of Morningside. A boy, Michael, first senses something strange is going on when he sees a mysterious, tall undertaker lifting a heavy coffin by himself into the back of a Hearse. His curiosity gets the better of him and he investigates, meeting psychotic hooded dwarves, a severed finger that turns into a giant fly and flying spheres that drill into their victim's head and discovering a dimensional portal located in the town's mausoleum. Soon his brother and their friend get involved, determined to put an end to the evil goings on.

Phantasm is a one-of-a-kind gem in the horror genre and, indeed, the sci-fi genre. It has a compelling, if not necessarily well written plot and an eerie atmosphere that hasn't been replicated to this day, all set to a wonderful score by Fred Myrow. It's a very low budget film, but what it lacks in production values it easily makes up for in imagination and innovation. Don Coscarelli, only in his early twenties at the time, manages to create a vision that is truly his, with a bizarre, nightmarish logic all of its own.

The chemistry between the cast is also one of the film's strong points. Whilst not outstanding actors by any means, Baldwin and Thornbury are believable as Michael and Jody, the Pearson brothers and Bannister is great as the likeable ice cream man, Reggie. A scene between Jody and Reggie in which they play a song together is a nice touch and introduces a plot device used later on in the film.

The last of the main cast members, Angus Scrimm, is outstanding as the infamous Tall Man and helps in creating a villain that is up there with Englund's Freddy Krueger and Lugosi's Dracula. The Tall Man is truly a great presence in the film, managing to be both enigmatic and frightening and his legion of evil dwarves and killer flying spheres all add to the enduring originality of Phantasm.

Phantasm is a horror classic and whilst not flawless is quirky and endearing as well as mysterious and chilling. What works so well for Phantasm is its originality and imagination, it creates an experience that you can't find anywhere else and its iconic villain as well as the chemistry between the cast raise it onto another level for low budget horror of the era.

Three sequels have spawned from the original and due to the imagination and care of director Don Coscarelli the series has remained intriguing and entertaining throughout.

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

Media Reviewed: UK DVD (Warner Bros)

Director: John Boorman
Starring: Linda Blair, Richard Burton, James Earl Jones, Louise Fletcher


A little while ago on this very site I posted a review of the infamous Troll 2, thought of by some as the worst movie ever made. Whilst Troll 2 is indeed a woeful exercise in filmmaking (definitely one to seek out for lovers of bad movies) there is one film that instantly springs to mind when I think about the worst movies ever made - Exorcist 2: The Heretic.

Many will agree with me when I say that The Exorcist is one of the greatest horror movies ever made, with its overwhelming atmosphere of dread throughout its duration, iconic soundtrack and some great performances from the cast. While any sequel to The Exorcist was never going to match its predecessor in any way, who would have thought that the first one would be so catastrophic?

John Boorman, director of the excellent Deliverance, was hired to direct the Exorcist sequel, but immediately this was a problem - he openly admitted to despising The Exorcist. His intentions were to create a completely different film in terms of feel and, in a sense, he succeeded. Exorcist II is nothing like The Exorcist and in the worst possible ways.

Regan (an older Linda Blair returning to the role) has relocated to New York and is undergoing psychological treatment for nightmares. Father Phillip Lamont (Burton) is sent to investigate the circumstances of the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow returns in the form of flashbacks). Through some kind of ridiculous new hypnotic technique involving flashing lights in which a person may enter the subconscious of another it becomes apparent that the demon that possessed Regan is still there, lying dormant. Father Lamont learns that the demon's name is Pazuzu and later travels to Ethiopia in order to find a man named Kokumo (James Earl Jones) who has battled with the demon before.

As you will have noticed this film contains a few very well known names, James Earl Jones and Richard Burton in particular. Even these well known, well respected actors can't even bring any credibility to this film - Richard Burton looks like he doesn't want to be in the film and James Earl Jones spends a portion of the film dressed as a giant moth. It's such an unbelievable waste of talent.

The film tries to take The Exorcist into interesting new territory by exploring the demon Pazuzu's origins and taking Father Lamont into bizarre African locations, but the script is so bad (laughable at times) that the film makes very little sense and - most importantly - leaves the viewer bored throughout the duration of the film.

Those who defend this film often say that it's the change of tone and ideas that make this film worth watching (and indeed is why it may hold an appeal for those who disliked the original), but as a sequel to The Exorcist, a film that still manages to chill people to this day, it just doesn't work. It's like making a sequel to Blazing Saddles without any jokes. The only possible positives I can think of about this film are that it's occasionally quite good-looking, the Ennio Morricone score is unfittingly good (the only talent associated with this film that was fully used) and Linda Blair's refusal to wear a bra throughout the duration of the film. However, none of these positives make Exorcist II worth watching and the film still turns out as an abject failure.

Exorcist II: The Heretic was a commercial failure too, and rightly so, with test audiences laughing the film off the screen. John Boorman was forced to recut the film slightly, removing certain scenes. It was followed up by The Exorcist III, which was much better than it had any right to be.

Note that this trailer makes the film look far more entertaining than it actually is.