Unfortunately, I was not able to watch this movie in its original form, as it had been dubbed into English. While there could be multiple dubbed versions, I assume there is only one and was surprised to see it was described by one reviewer as having "Ernie and Burt" dubbing. That's because while far from perfect, when it comes to Asian martial arts films, there are many, many films with far worse dubbing! Overall, with the so-so dubbing it was still pretty watchable.
When the film begins, it appears to be a serious movie about the 17th century massacres of Japanese Christians--an excellent and under-discussed subject from history. No one knows the exact numbers, but at least tens of thousands of converts were ordered brutally killed by the Shogun. The vividness of all the decapitated heads and the rest of the carnage was exceptionally well portrayed for a film from 1981.
Unfortunately, instead of remaining a serious historical drama, the film veered off to weirdness when a surviving Christian (and an apparently not very good one) sells his soul to Satan in order to have the power to create death and destruction in retribution both for the massacres AND God's not stopping it. While this is very strange and convoluted logic, his plan works out very well as he's given powers to take anyone from the brink of death and make them servants of the dark forces. Of those enlisted to this evil cause was the mega-famous Musashi Miyamoto--known to history as one of the greatest swordsmen of all time (I'm sure he was rolling in his grave like a rotisserie when this movie came out).
The group of demonic beings bent on revenge now numbered five and they set about killing and doing nasty stuff with no real set goal--just destruction for the sake of destruction. Their leader even created a plague that wiped out all the crops and the poor rebelled. While these rebellions are historical facts, I sincerely doubt if demons caused them. In addition to all this, they really enjoyed just being nasty--as in one scene, one of the nicer demonic possessed beings was ordered to rape and murder a girl who looked to be about 12. This, and the copious amounts of nudity make this a film that no sane parent would let their kids see.
So, with five maniac demons running amok, who's to stop them? Well, it's up to Jubei Yagyu (played by Sonny Chiba) to obtain a special sword that will allow him to slay these creatures. It turns out that like Musashi, Jubei Yagyu was also a real-life legendary swordsman who lived during this same period (during the massacres). Considering that Chiba is a huge star in Japan and plays the lead, the conclusion of the film isn't a great surprise, but the action is spectacular though a tad goofy due to all the supernatural mumbo-jumbo.
Once again, while this is an enjoyable martial arts film, I must point out that this is NOT a film for kids as it has nudity throughout and shows a rather savage attempted rape as well as lots of violence. So despite the Christianity angle, this is NOT a particularly religious or uplifting film--just one with lots of hack and slash!
When the film begins, it appears to be a serious movie about the 17th century massacres of Japanese Christians--an excellent and under-discussed subject from history. No one knows the exact numbers, but at least tens of thousands of converts were ordered brutally killed by the Shogun. The vividness of all the decapitated heads and the rest of the carnage was exceptionally well portrayed for a film from 1981.
Unfortunately, instead of remaining a serious historical drama, the film veered off to weirdness when a surviving Christian (and an apparently not very good one) sells his soul to Satan in order to have the power to create death and destruction in retribution both for the massacres AND God's not stopping it. While this is very strange and convoluted logic, his plan works out very well as he's given powers to take anyone from the brink of death and make them servants of the dark forces. Of those enlisted to this evil cause was the mega-famous Musashi Miyamoto--known to history as one of the greatest swordsmen of all time (I'm sure he was rolling in his grave like a rotisserie when this movie came out).
The group of demonic beings bent on revenge now numbered five and they set about killing and doing nasty stuff with no real set goal--just destruction for the sake of destruction. Their leader even created a plague that wiped out all the crops and the poor rebelled. While these rebellions are historical facts, I sincerely doubt if demons caused them. In addition to all this, they really enjoyed just being nasty--as in one scene, one of the nicer demonic possessed beings was ordered to rape and murder a girl who looked to be about 12. This, and the copious amounts of nudity make this a film that no sane parent would let their kids see.
So, with five maniac demons running amok, who's to stop them? Well, it's up to Jubei Yagyu (played by Sonny Chiba) to obtain a special sword that will allow him to slay these creatures. It turns out that like Musashi, Jubei Yagyu was also a real-life legendary swordsman who lived during this same period (during the massacres). Considering that Chiba is a huge star in Japan and plays the lead, the conclusion of the film isn't a great surprise, but the action is spectacular though a tad goofy due to all the supernatural mumbo-jumbo.
Once again, while this is an enjoyable martial arts film, I must point out that this is NOT a film for kids as it has nudity throughout and shows a rather savage attempted rape as well as lots of violence. So despite the Christianity angle, this is NOT a particularly religious or uplifting film--just one with lots of hack and slash!