Lady Snowblood by Toshiya Fujita (1973)
Arterial sprays abound in this classic Japanese exploitation film from 1973 that served as the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. Meiko Kaji is riveting as the beautiful young woman who’s been trained since birth to avenge her family’s murder, and Lady Snowblood is particularly powerful when it leans into the inherently tragic nature of her vengeance-fueled existence. The film’s visuals, which are drenched in color (usually due to the copious amounts of blood) are riveting, and the film employs an interesting meta framing device that highlights our heroine’s doomed fate. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the funky soundtrack, and especially the haunting theme song (“Flower of Carnage”), sung by Kaji herself.
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