Camelot picks up ‘Samurai Avenger’

Although by the title it reads like something straight off a grindhouse movie screen double feature from the 1970s, SAMURAI AVENGER: THE BLIND WOLF is actually a new 2009 film that was recently picked up for distribution by Camelot Entertainment Group’s DarKnight Pictures label. Perhaps confirming its grindhouse pedigree is news that DarKnight’s other initial offering will be NUDE NUNS WITH BIG GUNS. There’s a double bill for you.

Directed by and starring Kurando Mitsutake, SAMURAI AVENGER follows a blind man who seeks revenge against a psychopath who took away his sight as well as the lives of his wife and daughter.

Based on the trailer below, this low-budget actioner looks to be a cheesy homage to the chambara and Italian Western genres with copious amounts of arterial blood sprays, limb cleaving and gunplay.

This East-meets-West premise has been done before of course, and no, I’m not referring to SHANGHAI NOON. In 1971, Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune and Alain Delon came together to star in the samurai-in-the-Old-West tale RED SUN. The difference here is that although this is a U.S. production, Mitsutake seems to be following current Japanese genre film trends by embracing over-the-top gore and sleaze.

What I find most intriguing about this schlocky throwback to those good old days of grindhouse action cinema is that Mitsutake pulls off a remarkably good likeness to ZATOICHI star Shintaro Katsu.

The film has been making the festival rounds since February where it has been gaining a modest yet mostly positive response from attendees who generally see the action as silly and excessive yet infectious.

With BLACK DYNAMITE and MANDRILL both successfully repackaging other aspects of classic ’70s action films, this may be the year that grindhouse cinema makes its big comeback. With the kings of modern grindhouse action, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino promising upcoming genre actioners MACHETE and KILL BILL 3, it looks like grindhouse action is here to stay.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter