Shogun Assassin
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Director: Kenji Misumi, Robert Houston Run Time: 85 min. Format: Digital Release Year: 1980 Language: English Dubbed
Starring: Akihiro Tomikawa, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ōki, Shin Kishida, Tomisaburō Wakayama
Screenwriter: Kazuo Koike
Producers: Shintarô Katsu, Hisaharu Matsubara
Co-presented by Synth History
One of the most deliriously entertaining samurai movies ever made, Shogun Assassin crams in as many epic sword fights, sudden decapitations, and baby-cart-related violent deaths as its 90-minute runtime will allow (maybe in part because it’s actually a re-edit of two different Japanese movies from the “Lone Wolf and Cub” series of the 1970s). Tomisaburo Wakayama plays Ogami, the Shogun’s executioner, who is forced to go on the run with his toddler son after his master turns against him and marks him for death. Ogami soon becomes an assassin for hire, and much arterial blood-spray ensues. Just how cool is this movie? It’s the film that the Bride and her daughter watch together in Kill Bill Vol 2, and GZA used audio samples from it for his album “Liquid Swords.” That’s how cool.
About the Score:
The film features an incredible synth-laden soundtrack composed by W. Michael Lewis and Mark Lindsay. The credits also list “psycho-acoustics” by Malcolm Cecil, and legend has it that TONTO was used to create the score—”The Original New Timbral Orchestra”—the world’s first analog synth to feature multitimbral polyphony.
Accessibility Options: Amplified Audio, please see the box office for devices.