Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie Review

The girls with the dragon tattoo.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 28, 2018

Well, maybe it was a curse, or perhaps due to some blind individual (like maybe a mail carrier), but this release only just recently got delivered to me with a stack of other Arrow screeners, whereas looking at our listing for it seems to indicate it’s been out for several years. As Jasper Sharp gets into in the appealing commentary included on this Blu-ray disc as a supplement, Blind Woman’s Curse manages to be part of several subgenres in the world of Japanese cinema, and as such it’s kind of surreal hodgepodge of ideas and styles. Akemi Tachibana (Meiko Kaji) is a female yakuza of sorts, one identified by a dragon tattoo. An opening vignette, which is kind of part kabuki, part over the top gonzo theatrics that might have delighted Hunter S. Thompson were he a fan of Japanese cult cinema, Akemi is involved in a fracas with a rival gang, when an injury she delivers to an opponent seems to have an occult underpinning. And indeed at least some of Blind Woman’s Curse plays like a supernatural ghost story, as might be inferred from the film’s very title.

As Sharp also gets into in his commentary, Nikkatsu’s straits as a studio may account at least in part for the patent weirdness of Blind Woman’s Curse, as the film manages to work in carnival shows, flaying of tattoos off of corpses, and more traditional yakuza “shenanigans” (for want of a better word), all within a freewheeling style courtesy of bizarre framings and editing. It’s one of the more surreal viewing experiences imaginable, one that arguably doesn’t make one whit of sense when you get right down to it, but one which is almost consistently riveting, simply because it is so weird.

Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blind Woman's Curse is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in the kind of unusual aspect ratio of 2.44:1. Arrow's insert booklet has the following kind of minimal information on the transfer:

Blind Woman's Curse was transferred from original pre-print material by Nikkatsu Studios in Japan. This was delivered on a restored master tape to Arrow FIlms. The film is presented in the 2.44:1 widescreen aspect ratio with mono audio.

That "pre-print material" description is a new one for me personally, and makes me wonder if the source was an interpositive or internegative, since there are some signs of fading, inconsistent contrast and kind of milky black levels at times, some of which can hopefully be gleaned in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. Detail levels are generally good, if not always optimal, with close-ups understandably faring best in terms of overall fine detail levels. The palette looked a tad on the purple-blue side to me, but densities are generally okay, if again somewhat variable throughout the presentation. There are minor signs of age related wear and tear, but no major problems that I noticed. Grain can be fairly heavy at times, but resolves without any major compression issues.

Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blind Woman's Curse features a decent sounding LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese. The entire track is just a bit boxy sounding, something that's especially apparent in some of the more raucous cues of Hajime Kaburagi's score. Dialogue and ambient environmental effects (a lot of the film takes place outside) are rendered relatively well, though there's an arguable lack of midrange and low end that keeps things sounding a bit thin at times. There's no major damage of any import.

Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Jasper Sharp


• Trailer (1080p; 3:20)


• Stray Cat Rock Trailers include:

  Wild Jumbo (1080p; 2:42)

  
  

  Sex Hunter (1080p; 3:18)

  
  

  Machine Animal (1080p; 2:48)

  
  

  Beat '71 (1080p; 2:37)

Additionally, Arrow has provided a nicely appointed insert booklet.

Blind Woman's Curse Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blind Woman's Curse is definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I'd say for those who like more outré Japanese outings (think Miike for one example) may well find this a rather astonishing viewing experience, even if it's all over the place in terms of both content and style. Technical merits are good if improvable for those considering a purchase.