Based on a comic by late Kazuo Kamimura and Kazuo Koike, Shurayukihime is a story about vengeance and rebellion. Shurayuki who had her father murdered by conspiracy goes out to avenge the three conspirators.

The movie's title "Shurayukihime" is a play on "Shirayukihime" which is the Japanese title for Walt Disney's movie Snow White. Very similar title, but the two movies can't be further apart in their contents.

In the original plot, there was some element of rebellion against the government that was the ultimate culprit of the conspiracy, but in the movie, this did not play a main role of the story except where Yuki kills the police force that captured Ashio.

The movie which attracted little attention when it was released, now has world wide audience thanks to Tarantino giving it credit as inspiration for Kill Bill. The back drop of battle between Oren Ishii and Black Mamba is almost verbatim copy of the last scene from this movie.

There is little known part 2 of this movie released in 1974 which picks up after this one with Kaji reprising her role as Yuki.

More recently a version done by Yumiko Shaku was released in 2001 with backdrop set in the future, and story which is almost unrelated to the original except Yuki eventually avenges her mothers murderer and that her organization Takemikazuchi was rebelling against the the government.

Some of Kamimura's original artwork of Shurayukihime can be seen in his website at kamimurakazuo.com

The movie is unusually graphic for a Japanese movie of its era. Meiko Kaji was a star of another dark comic turned movie Sasori. Her mood fits this type of role perfectly.

Watch this movie for its action, and historical value.

I am not a particular fan of martial arts and samurai films but this one is not only colourful and tightly constructed but stars the lovely Meiko Kaji, she of the Female Prisoner Scorpion films, as well as many others. She is perfect here as the beautiful young woman born to avenge her mother and we are with her and her motion throughout. Director Toshiya Fujita has an eye on the look all the time and when we are not treated to views of the young lady and her weaponry we have wondrous views of the land and seascape with opening and closing scenes in the snow. That Lady Snowblood is the basis of Tarantino's Kill Bill gives this 50 year old film added interest but for whatever reason you might choose, this is well worth a watch..

This film and its sequel are the inspiration of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" movies. Having seen the Taratino films, it was very obvious that he based his film on the "Lady Snowblood" films because the plots are very, very similar. Now this is NOT a complaint--and the Tarantino films have a style and artistry that puts them in an entirely different league.

The film is told in a non-linear fashion. You eventually learn that the lady, Yuki, is the product of a very, very strange and horrible series of events. It seems that before her birth, her father and brother were murdered and her mother was beaten and repeatedly raped--all by four evil dirt-bags. As Yuki's mother was soon imprisoned and was dying at Yuki's death, she instructed her friends in prison about an elaborate plan for revenge for the destruction of her family. It seems that once incarcerated, the mother deliberately slept with every male she could in order to become pregnant--just so she could give birth to a child to carry out her revenge!! This inter-generational revenge tale is truly bizarre and original. After the mother's death, the child is trained viciously by a crazed priest--and made into a merciless killing machine.

The second half of the film concerns Yuki tracking down three of the four evil scum who destroyed her family (the first had already been killed by her mother). One by one, she tracks them down and coldly dispatches them to Hell. There are many twists and turns along the way and it's all done very stylishly and with HUGE amounts of blood and gore for a 1970s film.

Overall, the film has excellent acting, a wonderful and original story as well as fantastic direction. Do not expect a film exactly like the Tarantino one (it lacks the amazingly cool sound track and the body count of this one pales compared to "Kill Bill: Part 1". For fans of Tarantino or martial arts films, it's a must see--and is among the best films of its genre.