Lady Snowblood (Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld) (Shurayukihime) poster & wallpaper
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Meiko Kaji, Masaaki Daimon, Akira Nishimura, Toshio Kurosawa, Miyoko Akaza ... see more see more... , Shinichi Uchida , Takeo Chii

A woman seeks the revenge that was her birthright in this action thriller from Japan. A gang of ruthless thieves break into the home of a rural couple, and after taking their valuables, they murder th... read more read more...e husband and rape the wife once they've beaten her senseless. When the ravaged wife tracks down one of the thieves and attacks him, she is arrested by police; she was left pregnant by the rape, and gives birth to a daughter months later, dying shortly after delivery. The daughter, Yuki (Meiko Kaji), is raised by a priest who teaches her how to use a sword and trains her to show no mercy to the men who brutalized her family. When she turns 20, Yuki sets out to seek revenge, looking beautiful and tranquil on the outside but possessing a powerful taste for vengeance against those who wronged her and her mother. Lady Snowblood was written by Kazuo Koike, who also scripted several of the most memorable films in the Lone Wolf and Cub series. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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79% liked it

11,528 ratings

R, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Toshiya Fujita

Release Date: February 15, 2005

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DVD Release Date: May 11, 2004

Stats: 442 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (442)

  • animegirlaya
    July 19, 2011
    animegirlaya
    Films like I Spit on your Grave don't even come close to these revenge flicks made here.

    What can i say? Great acting (Or even BETTER!) cool action story with pleanty of gore and violence. Fucking awesome soundtrack.

    Nice costumes and themes...ECT. Though i liked the secon... read mored more.
  • SirPant
    December 8, 2009
    SirPant
    Wow, I hadn't realised quite how much of this film QT actually ripped off! Lady Snowblood is certainly one of the more intelligent films of it genres, Meiko Kaji kicks arse as does the soundtrack, fight sequences and overall beauty of this film.
  • rubystevens
    July 6, 2009
    rubystevens
    stylish and gory and i might have enjoyed it alot more if i'd never seen kill bill...so thx quentin, for ruining it for me :(
  • garyX
    May 14, 2009
    garyX
    When a gang of confidence tricksters murder a schoolteacher and rape his wife she plots bloody vengeance against them, but when she is imprisoned for life she passes the task onto her newborn daughter. There's no way around saying it; this IS Kill Bill. A cold blooded but beautif... read moreul assassin who hunts down her enemies one by one, each assigned their own headed chapter of the story with blood and violence contrasted with tranquil scenes of falling snow...? There's even a section when a flashback is told through manga comic art. Quentin, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. This attractively shot film actually has a tinge of Spaghetti western about it despite the katanas and blood spurts because of the theme of lone stranger cutting down their enemies to exaggerated sound effects and a deeply 70s soundtrack, and the combination works very nicely. There are some fantastic images and beautifully framed shots and Meiko Kaji is perfect as the steely beauty. Plot is a little thinner on the ground and there is little emotional involvement as the main character is SO single minded, but its massive influence over more contemporary films has kept it feeling very fresh and it's a landmark hack and slasher for those interested in the genre.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    October 13, 2008
    DragonEyeMorrison
    Kazuo Koike's theory is right, great characters make the stories write by themselves. Add someone with great screen charisma like Meiko Kaji and you have a winner.
  • cancercapricorn2002
    October 12, 2008
    cancercapricorn2002
    Whatever you think of Tarantino's Kill Bill, its success meant that some of the little known(in the west at least) films that inspired that film have had some dvd releases, and Lady Snowblood is among the best of them. The films plot is fairly simple. a woman gives birth in pris... read moreon and dies. Before she passes away she tells the other locked-up women that her daughter has only one reason in life: revenge. We then find out what has happened to cause this situation. the woman's husband was murdered and she was beaten and raped by a group of five. After managing to kill one of this gang herself, she was sent to prison. In the prison she whores herself out to any man available so that eventually ends up pregnant with the aim that the child will revenge her dead husband and her own sad demise. The film follows this daughters training and eventual attempt to revenge her parents.Of course, it all gets a bit messy.

    For such an old film Lady Snowblood doesn't seem very old fashioned. It's a tale of revenge which is very bloody chopped limbs and gushes of blood and if the story seems tired, it's actually told in a fairly original way. Told in chapters (like Kill Bill) these story moves at a slow pace but you know each small part will have its own climax so theres never to long to
    wait before a new development. The film also incorporates an extended scene where the story is told via illustrations (the story is based on a bestselling manga, and this is a technique which is also "borrowed" by Kill Bill, albeit in an animated style) and its with this mixture of
    storytelling techniques that the film seems quicker and more lively than it actually is. Which is of course a good thing. The lovely Kaji Meiko plays Yuki, otherwise known as Lady Snowblood, otherwise known as the crazy bitch out for revenge. For the most part Yuki's un-expressive face manages to reflect all kinds of anger as well as a real sadness. Watching her facial expressions really translates this sense of untrust. The film looks amazing, contrasting all sorts of wide camera shots with close-ups, incorporating the landscape as well as close-ups of faces and with the added use of the weather (she isn?t called Snowblood for nothing), Lady Snowblood pulls you into its narrative.

    Again, Tarantino nicked some of the framing ideas and compositions of shots, and you can hardly blame him because they're so effective. For an example of this, simply see the scene
    where the group are looking down on Yuki's mother - laughing and smirking at her - and you get a sense of the way this film works on a back to basics level. Lady Snowblood seems to reduce themes, character and camera shots to a primitive level, it's only flourishes are the way the story is told. The action is also handled very well, swords swing leaving gushing blood and all sorts of detached limbs, while maintaining an ironic beauty. Blood on snow (like her name) is quite beautiful, but disturbing. Despite its b-movie plot, this is a film which is full of style.

    Lady Snowblood Blizzard From The Netherworld is an excellent revenge-flick and all-too an obvious influence on some contemporary cinema. Its not the most subtle film, but it has a huge amount of character and is still a step above the average hack-and-slash revenge story. Its one of those films that surprises you at how good it is and almost begs for a repeat viewing. If this review seems to compare the film to Kill Bill too much, then watch this film and you'll see why Lady Snowblood is superior in many ways.
  • matertenebraum
    October 8, 2008
    matertenebraum
    This is one of those movies that have an all Japanese motivation. A girl is trained from childhood to avenge the death of her father and the brutal rape of her mother. Then she does it. Lots of blood and lots of sword fighting. Well, she does most of it, everybody else pretty muc... read moreh dies.

    The movie is well done, although I think it is hard to watch for most of the people nowadays, since it has that 60's-70's feel to it. I can see how this could have been an inspiration for Kill Bill. If you liked Kill Bill for other reasons than that it had Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu in it, then you will love this film.

    If you watch the movie, you will probably have fun, but if you look at the whole picture (pun intended) there isn't much to it other than the actual revenge and death of everyone. The girl is very nice, the acting is OK, the atmosphere, settings and soundtrack are good, but that's all. No strange twists of the story, nothing unexpected
  • DrBenway
    March 23, 2008
    DrBenway
    Inspiration is a funny word

    lady snowblood
  • deano
    January 11, 2008
    deano
    I see this Japanese samurai movie that inspired Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. This is the best and most savage samurai of a femme fatale I ever saw.
  • kenstachnik
    January 8, 2008
    kenstachnik
    Really well done revenge flick that was a major inspiration for the Kill Bill films.

    Interesting film grammar and stage theatric elevate this genre gem above it's contemporaries

View All Lady Snowblood (Lady Snowblood: Blizzard from the Netherworld) (Shurayukihime) Reviews

Critic Reviews

March 28, 2007
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Blood sprays, limbs fall, bodies are chopped in half -- business as usual in this moderately diverting feudal Japanese revenge story, enlivened by peculiar plot twists and offbeat cinematic flourishes... Full Review

Brian Mckay
February 21, 2004
Brian Mckay, eFilmCritic.com

Mandatory viewing for all KILL BILL fans. Meiko Kaji is a heartstopping beauty with big, expressive eyes that are suitably haunted-looking for the character she portrays. Full Review

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