Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 24, 2024

The mod swingin' sixties are typically thought of as part and parcel of any number of Western urban centers, notably London, as was so delightfully parodied in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, among others. But if there's one thing that Black Tight Killers makes clear, it's that the whole zeitgeist of the mid to late sixties in general and how it was depicted on film in particular certainly matriculated to Japan. The always interesting and informative Jasper Sharp contributes a typically enjoyable commentary on this disc where Sharp doesn't shy away from some of the deficits of the plotting of Black Tight Killers while also extolling what is arguably this film's strongest calling card, its almost audacious visual style. That style features several outré presentational elements like female ninjas clad in black tights (as the very title of the film makes clear) and bra like tops on occasion (as in the opening credits sequence), but who also engage in frenetic dancing and "attack" moves like spitting "gum bullets" at the eyes of victims to temporarily blind them.

The film begins with a relatively brief pre-credits sequence introducing war photographer Daisuke Honda (Akira Kobayashi), who is in the middle of some kind of battle fracas (supposedly in Vietnam), which Sharp kind of jokingly states is in the film for no other reason than to start things out with both a figurative and literal bang. After an interstitial credits sequence which introduces our dancing female ninjas, the story segues to a flight home for Daisuke, where stewardess Yuriko Sawanouchi (Chieko Matsubara) has done some kind of repair work on Daisuke's shirt (Japanese stewardesses are evidently a lot more skilled than their American counterparts, or at least more willing to help out with unusual requests). Yuriko has obviously caught Daisuke's eye, and the two are soon on a date at a local nightclub, where Yuriko freaks out when a sinister looking man keeps following them.

The result is the gruesome death of that man at the hands of some of the female ninjas, who also abscond with Yuriko. When Daisuke is fingered as the sinister man's killer by two mysterious guys in trenchcoats who keep reappearing throughout the film, Daisuke finds himself momentarily detained by police, until an alibi witness shows up like a veritable Deus ex Machina. That allows Daisuke to start investigating the mysterious disappearance of Yuriko himself, which kind of comically (given that Austin Powers reference above) ends up being tangentially related to what some archvillain might call "one million dollars" with his pinky up to his lips.

As Jasper Sharp kind of alludes to, the plot is almost disposable here, since it simply provides a framework for any number of almost astounding scenes where director Yasuharu Hasebe and cinematographer Kazue Nagatsuka play with mise en scène, offering a crazy quilt of weird framings and psychedelically tinged vignettes, as in a dream sequence where Daisuke imagines confrontations between Yuriko and the ninjas where Yuriko repeatedly attempts to escape by literally tearing through colored backdrops which turn out to be made of paper. Other weird color choices suffuse the production, including a number of driving scenes where the backgrounds kind of inexplicably change from one deeply vivid hue to the next for no ostensible reason.

Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Black Tight Killers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Radiance tends not to provide a wealth of technical information about their transfers, and that's once again the case with this release, with only the following minimal information included in their insert booklet:

Black Tight Killers was transferred in high definition by Nikkatsu Corporation and supplied to Radiance Films as a high definition digital file.

Additional restoration was carried out by Radiance Films in 2023.

While there are some passing minor issues with densities and color temperature, this is an often extremely enjoyable looking presentation. The film's almost hallucinogenic palette is typically reproduced very well, though as indicated, there are some noticeable variations where things can become just slightly brown looking at times. Bright blues, yellows and reds are especially vivid throughout the film and more often than not resonate very powerfully. Detail levels are also generally nice throughout, with a few exceptions like the opening war sequence and the credits which have a bunch of opticals courtesy of on screen text. There is some very minimal but still noticeable age related wear and tear, including a bit of image instability during the Nikkatsu masthead and, later, a few passing nicks and white flecks. Grain resolves organically throughout.

Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Black Tight Killers features a rambunctious DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono mix in the original Japanese, though kind of interestingly there is some English spoken throughout the film. The sound design is intermittently hyperbolic, filled with the same sort of goofy sound effects that often populate older martial arts films, here combined with a fun score by Naozumi Yamamoto, which is certainly of its era but which is hugely enjoyable. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. While optional English subtitles are available, they translate only the Japanese dialogue.

Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Jasper Sharp


• Yasuharu Hasebe (HD; 8:33) is an archival interview from 2000 with the director. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 2:48)

Additionally, Radiance provides another nicely appointed insert booklet, this one with an interesting essay by Chris D., along with the typical assortment of stills and cast and crew information. Packaging features a reversible sleeve and Radiance's Obi strip.

Black Tight Killers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Black Tight Killers is a stylistic tour de force, and its visual energy helps to offset some occasionally clunky plotting. Performances are also very winning, if inherently cartoonish a lot of the time. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplements, especially the commentary by Jasper Sharp, very interesting. Recommended.