Renegade officer Hanzo’s (Shintaro Katsu) investigation of a fouled abortion at the hands of a cult-like practitioner leads him to a twisted S&M party hosted by a Buddhist nun and attended by a high-ranking treasury officer he had previously insulted. As a result of this insult, Hanzo is put on his toughest case yet, to catch the country’s most notorious thief.
Round two in the Hanzo the Razor samurai exploitation trilogy sees Shintaro Katzu (The Tale of Zatoichi) return to the role of a tough-as-nails police officer out to uncover corruption with an array of fierce weaponry, torture practices and his oversized penis with which he uses to interrogate his female suspects into pleasured compliance. It’s part gut-wrenching chambara, part sleazy sexploitation and all live-action manga from the creator of Lone Wolf and Cub.
Easily-offended viewers beware. The Snare and its two companion films are not your typical samurai movies. Filled with unrepentant violence and sexual depravity, they are Shintaro Katsu’s answer to the popular Western exploitation films of the early ’70s. And of the three, The Snare is probably the most sensational.
It kicks off with a bang as Hanzo and his loyal deputies chase down a pair of petty thieves, only to end up in a tussle with samurai in the employ of a high-ranking treasury officer. This sets Hanzo on a collision course with trouble as he makes enemies of the officer’s samurai bodyguard and ends up having to take on the country’s most notorious thief or face the possibility of ritual suicide. Of course, he goes about his business with his usual lack of tact and discretion. This includes tracing a string of ritualistic abortions to an S&M gathering at a Buddhist Temple where nuns are kidnapping and drugging women to satisfy the sadistic pleasures of the treasury officer and a group of business owners. Unable to prove the officer’s involvement, Hanzo tortures and pleasures the head nun into a full confession. With his career and life at stake, Hanzo takes on the mission to bring in the country’s most dangerous criminal, a killer and thief named Shobei Hamajima (Kei Sato). Hanzo sets a trap at the treasury by hiding away with the female steward, a widow he decides needs a little special attention in order to keep her from giving his presence away when the thief arrives.
Japan is known for creating some pretty eccentric entertainment. One look at the adult anime and manga business will provide plenty of examples. Even so, there is little to prepare a viewer for the Hanzo films. The Snare is easily one of the most outrageous samurai movies ever made and probably has more in common with Hong Kong’s category III period films like Sex and Zen than your typical samurai actioner. Shintaro Katsu shamelessly runs around half naked through the film, conditioning his enlarged manhood with a stick, defiling a sack of rice with it, and jamming it into reluctant women who are quick to call out for more. At one point, he is nearly crushing a bald nun’s legs with the weight of large bricks and the next, has her suspended from the ceiling and spinning in delight as he “probes” her for more information while threatening to stop.
Katsu’s “gift” to Japanese cinema is in creating a winning formula and revisiting it over and over again without fully tapping it dry as he did with the Zatoichi franchise. While keyed up a bit, this film is essentially a rehash of the first, Sword of Justice. It improves in its pacing and exploitive nature, while appearing less of an overt rip-off of blaxploitation cinema. With a nod to the cult-like fetishes of European trash cinema of the day and a ramping up of topless nudity, sadist action and grizzly deaths, Katsu even more clearly defines his exploitive take on the samurai genre. However, its these same features that will undoubtedly turn off more mainstream audiences whose preferences lean towards compelling period drama and classical swordplay.
Any way you slice it, The Snare is still just just Shintaro Katsu’s sensational attempt to cash in on a trend and neither represents the jidei geki well nor his abilities as an action film star. Anyone not easily offended who is looking for something out of the ordinary might find this of interest. Typical chambara fans would be better served by sticking with Katsu’s equally exploitive, but more action-oriented Lone Wolf and Cub films.
by Mark Pollard
