Shogun Assassin (1980) with guest Jonathan Wroot

Join us for a blood-soaked discussion on this classic video nasty, an American remix of two equally classic Japanese films Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance and Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (both 1972, Kenji Misumi).

Our guest this month is Dr Jonathan Wroot, an expert in Japanese cinema, and he gives us a fascinating overview of the history of this film, the original Lone Wolf series and its brother-in-arms, Zatōichi. Along the way we talk hip hop, blood pressure, Andy Warhol and killer penises. Just a regular episode of Second Features.

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Reading List (generously supplied by Jonathan):

A review (Jasper Sharp, 2001) of Sword of Vengeance, scenes of which appear in Shogun Assassin

A feature article (Robin Gatto and Tom Mes, 2005) on Kenji Misumi, who directed the footage that appears in Shogun Assassin

FrameRated review of the Lone Wolf and Cub film series by Remy Dean (2020) including the different DVD releases

Derek Johnston’s research paper on the transcultural impact of Lone Wolf and Cub

And so you can hear RZA talk about Wu-Tang Clan far more eloquently than Adrian can:

Wu-Tang’s RZA Breaks Down 10 Kung Fu Films He’s Sampled

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