Kinji Fukasaku and Sonny Chiba made a few movies together, their best being (arguably) either The Yagyu Conspiracy or Deadly Fight In Hiroshima. In 1984 they'd team up for a Samurai/fantasy hybrid film entitled The Legend Of The Eight Samurai that would give Fukasaku a chance to show off his penchant for directing action scenes, and Chiba a chance to chew through some scenery.

Based on the long running series of books by Bakin Takizawa, The Legend Of The Eight Samurai follows Princess Shizuhime (Hiroko Yakushimaru) just as she's forced out of her kingdom by an army of the undead who have just slaughtered her entire family. It turns out that they were sent after her and her kin by the rival Hikita Clan, and she's got to get out of town before they find her and she shares her family's fate.

Princess Shizuhime figures that the safest thing for her to do would be to go and take refuge with her uncle, but that's going to involve a bit of a journey. As she heads out to get a move on, she runs into a samurai named Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba) who, after enlightening her about the curse that is on her family, decides to help her out a bit. Together the two of them enlist the aid of eight samurai, each one with some magical ability.

With the help of the eight samurai, Shizuhime sets out to rescue a few members of her clan's court and get revenge on the Hikita Clan for murdering her family. It won't be an easy task though, as the Hikita Clan has some powerful abilities that they're more than happy to unleash on Shizuhime and her rag tag band of samurai.

I really didn't like this movie the first time I saw it. It didn't help that the first viewing was on a beat up old VHS tape, dubbed and pan and scan and of horrible quality, but the movie itself just didn't click for me. Seeing it again, properly this time, it was a lot easier for me to appreciate the fantasy element of the movie. I think the first time I saw it was expecting a hard hitting and brutal movie, the kind Chiba and Fukasaku are both really well known for, but that isn't what The Legend Of The Eight Samurai is. It's a fun, light hearted fantasy film that provides plenty of action but no small amount of laughs and fun as well.

Seeing it properly also allows you to take in just how good this movie looks. While some of the effects work is dated, the sets (particuarly that blood pool ceremonial chamber) look great, with all sorts of mist and fog and primary colors that wouldn't look out of place in a European horror film from the late 60s or early 70s. There's also some interesting wire work in the film (common in Hong Kong cinema but not so much in Japanese filmmaking) highlighted by the giant snake attack at the end of the film.

Plenty of action, monsters, magic, evil queens, giant snakes, and goofy rock music make this one fun, while Sonny Chiba, Henry Sanada (of The Last Samurai and The Twilight Samurai, Etusko Shiomi (Sister Streetfighter herself ) and Kenji Onba (who appeared opposite Sonny in Kill Bill Vol. 1 provide a great cast with great screen presence. The film is a little long in some spots and drags a little bit in the middle, but ultimately it makes for a fun trip. Just don't go in expecting the seriousness of The Yagyu Conspiracy or the hard hitting brutality of The Streetfighter and you won't be disappointed.

Video:

A vast, vast, vast improvement over the cheapo bargain DVD releases of this film that have surfaced on DVD over the last couple of years, Adness' anamorphic 2.00.1 widescreen transfer presents the film in its original aspect ratio with a gorgeous color pallet and a very nice level of detail. There is some mild print damage but it's only occasionally that you'll even notice it and there aren't any compression artifacts to speak of. Some edge enhancement is noticeable, as is a fine coat of grain, but for the most part this disc looks fantastic and seeing the movie in widescreen as compared to the pan and scan releases that are out there makes all the difference in the world. There's a lot of information missing in the pan and scan/fullscreen versions, and with this legitimate widescreen release now available, there's really no reason to bother with them anymore, at least from a video perspective.