Blu-ray Film Review | Eureka

Legend of the Eight Samurai (1983) • Limited Edition Blu-ray [Eureka! Masters of Cinema] — ’80s horror-fantasy fusion still entertains

Only eight legendary warriors can protect a cursed princess from an ancient supernatural clan…

Kinji Fukasaku is one of Japan’s most unpredictable and interesting directors. He’s made chaotic craziness like Message from Space (1978) and, the same year, the beautifully crafted The Fall of Akō Castle (1978). Until a recent rash of restored releases on Blu-ray, he was mainly known in cult genre circles for his Roger Corman-esque sci-fi films, which were given limited theatrical distribution outside Japan but had a second life as trimmed and poorly-dubbed VHS transfers. Now he’s best known for kicking off the Asia Extreme movement with Battle Royale (2000) and for his brutal and uncompromising yakuza thrillers, typified by the game-changing Battles Without Honour and Humanity (1973). He also pioneered an inventive fusion of chanbara fantasy and Gothic horror with Samurai Reincarnation (1981), and this is the clear precursor…