Cast Member: Isao Natsuyagi

Fans of exploitation cinema as well as students of international cinema and its trends will have solid reward from ‘Female Convict #701: Scorpion’ and the powerful ferocity of the onscreen tale of love, betrayal and revenge it weaves.

Short but sharp samurai flick from an early on in his career Hideo Gosha, ‘Samurai Wolf’ still packs a punch despite its short running time and being almost 60 years old.

Slicker and swifter this time around, ‘Samurai Wolf II’ is still some dark, fight filled, chanbara entertainment but is perhaps unnecessarily complex and convoluted for its own good.

A tough film with many unlikable characters but a thrilling tale of gangster revenge that has lost none of its force over the past 50 years.

You will probably have to be in a certain mood to watch a film as pessimistic as this, but the reward is an excellent piece of entertainment with plenty of food for thought.

‘Yellow Fangs’ is an excellent creature feature that may have slipped under the radar for many audiences. Hopefully, Sanada’s burgeoning reputation worldwide might mean that this changes soon.