Kibakichi (aka Kibakichi: Bakko-yokaiden) Movie Review

Written by Neon Maniac

DVD released by Saiko Films / MTI Home Video

Written by Mugi Kamio

2004, Region 1 (NTSC), 95 minutes, Rated R

Movie:

Kibakichi is a loner.  Half man, half werewolf, all Samurai.  He wanders the Japanese countryside like Caine from "Kung Fu."   He's an archetype, the reluctant hero.  The bad-ass with a heart of soft stone.  He would find find comraderie with Toshiro Mifune's Sanjuro, or Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name.

Review:

Kibakichi is Saiko (pronounced "psycho") Films first release in the US, and represents MTI Home Video's foray into Asian horror.  Where most US companies are importing the thoughtful, creepy Japanese horror films, Saiko seems to be going after the low budget B movies.  It's an interesting move and a niche that needs to be filled. Not all Asian horror is dead girls and angst filled ghosts — there are plenty of  bloody, rubber suited gore fests to be had, and they need to be introduced to US audiences.

At first glance, Kibakichi can appear to be Kurosawa's Yojimbo with monsters.  To a limited degree it is, but at the same time it's an interesting melding of Japanese samurai and monster films.  Kibakichi trades Yojimbo's  mischievious humor for a brooding melancholy, and while there are some parallels, Kibakichi is its own film.   Starting out with a strong slice of samurai action, Kibakichi weaves a story of mystery and melodrama that only Japanese filmmakers seem to be able to get away  with.  While the first half of the film focuses on characters and exposition, the last half pays off with more samurai werewolf action than you can shake a katana at.

Kibakichi has a nice mix of over-the-top samurai action and monster mayhem.  Fight choreography is top notch, with none of the modern slow-mo, pan and rotate, or other Matrix style effects that tend to clutter up many modern films. This is good, old fashioned hack and slash (and occasionally bite) action.  Inevitably, there are things in this movie that will make western audiences shrug their shoulders in confusion, but there's nothing that will ruin the movie or stymie the viewer.  It is a fun flick that should appeal to a wide audience of Samurai, Shaw Brothers and Japanese film fans in the US. 

Video and Audio:

The review screener was non-anamorphic widescreen, again the final release should be anamorphic 1.85:1.  The print that I saw was very dark, and a lot was lost in the shadows.  At times it appeared as if the Contrast setting was turned up to high on the TV, with all blacks and grays being the same shade.  Hopefully the release DVD will be better.

Special Features:

There were no extras on the screener aside from a trailer.  The release DVD will have an English audio dub track along with the original Japanese language track with optional English or Spanish subtitiles. Also promised is a "behind the scenes" feature.  The screener DVD only had the English audio dub available, but it was quite good.  Some of the voice actors seemed to be quite inspired, and  fit the characters very well. 

Grades:

Movie –

(Neon's Movie Lounge contains a  Zenith  42" Plasma EDTV, Oppo DV971H DVD player using a DVI connection, JVC 5.1 DD/DTS receiver and JBL Northridge E Series speakers.)

Want to comment on this review? Head over to the Horrortalk Review Forum.

© 2005 HorrorTalk.com. No use of this review is permitted without expressed permission from HorrorTalk.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .