Review of Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974) by Adam A — 13 Jul 2004

'Lady Snowblood' is the film Quentin Tarantino cited as the main influence for his own tale of revenge 'Kill Bill', and particularly the avenging lead, The Bride.

Yuki (Snow) Kashima is born solely for her mother's vengeance on the four who killed her husband, and raped her. Her mother gives birth in jail, after apparently behaving like "a bitch in heat" since her arrival, trying desperately to concieve.

After giving birth, and a lengthy speech, her mother promptly dies, leaving instructions with one of her fellow inmates regarding the child's upbringing.

The rest goes, as revenge tales tend to. The story progresses quickly, taking various twists and turns to keep it interesting. Every time something is revealed, or rectified, new questions are posed, keeping the audience guessing.

Lady Snowblood is a cold, calculated killer, set on revenge, as her childhood has been spent in brutal training reigimes shaping her to be. However, she still has displays of human emotion frquently enough to be a realistic character.

The action sequences are well realised set pieces. All are individual, and very memorable because of it. The violence is also plentiful, keeping your blood - thirst quenched, as the red stuff sprays in fountains from every slice.

I'd definately reccomend seeing 'Lady Snowblood' if you enjoyed 'Kill Bill', as there are many similarities, and it's also interesting to see the origin of many of his ideas. However, it's also an excellent film on it's own merits, and worth watching anyway. I picked up the box set of 'Lady Snowblood' and the sequel 'Love Song of Vengeance' for very very little from amazon, so that's tonight's viewing sorted aswell.