Title: The Complete Lone Wolf & Cub Boxset

Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Fumio Watanabe, Taketoshi Naitô, Kayo Matsuo

Directors: Kenji Misumi, Buichi Saito, Yoshiyuki Kuroda, Robert Houston

Genre: Action / Swordplay

Run Time: 596 minutes

Language: Japanese

Subtitles: English

Region Code: 2

Distributor: Eureka Video

Disc(s): 7

Cert: 18

Reviewer: Mike Fury

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Based on the now-legendary manga from Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, the stylised and highly controversial Lone Wolf & Cub series is brought together in one unique package for die-hand fans of Japanese cult cinema. The boxset features Sword of Vengeance, Baby Cart At The River Styx, Baby Cart To Hades, Baby Cart In Peril, Baby Cart In The Land Of Demons, White Heaven In Hell and the ground-breaking Shogun Assassin (a now-famous cut from the two first movies). For fans of Asian action who never witnessed Ogami Itto’s demonstrations of monstrous, blood-soaked swordplay, there has never been a better time to catch up and relive some of the defining moments from Japanese action cinema.

DVD EXTRAS:

Original Japanese Trailers

Liner notes by Japanese film expert, Tom Mes

CONCLUSION:

Presented as a neat, collectable boxset, The Complete Lone Wolf & Cub series is a must-have for all fans of Japanese, action and exploitation cinema. All these titles contribute something new and exciting to the series, but for pure, unflinching swordplay action of the most unrestrained variety, the second title, Baby Cart At The River Styx, remains a firm favourite and also captures the beautiful imagery and stunning camera often overlooked in favour of the more widely referenced action sequences. Also featuring original trailers unearthed from the archives, as well as informative notes by Tom Mes, The Lone Wolf & Cub series is presented here in clean, sharp digitally remastered quality that captures the cinematic glory of these defining moments from action cinema history.