The concept of action movies starring female protagonists was quite prevalent in East Asian cinema during the 70s and 80s but toned significantly down after that. However, lately, and as the epicenter of action movies moved towards Asean countries, it surfaced once more, as the fact that women can also can add an element of sex appeal to the action worked for a number of filmmakers. At the same time, the concept was not restricted to action movies, but also extended to art ones, as a couple of the movies in the following list will eloquently highlight.
Without further ado, here are 40 Asian movies where the action mostly derives from women, in chronological order.
1. Come Drink With Me
That also comes from the story storyline. Co-written by director Hu and Ting Shan-hsi, ‘Come Drink’ includes poignant drama into the mix as well as the action. Each of the characters has...
Without further ado, here are 40 Asian movies where the action mostly derives from women, in chronological order.
1. Come Drink With Me
That also comes from the story storyline. Co-written by director Hu and Ting Shan-hsi, ‘Come Drink’ includes poignant drama into the mix as well as the action. Each of the characters has...
- 5/10/2023
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
Within the art of Butoh, choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata is without a doubt the most famous performer, who actually founded the genre. While it is essentially hard to define what Butoh is, with even Hijikata having trouble or expressing “distress” in doing so, it is another way of expression, often resulting in new way of approaching matters and issues through movements. Besides the stage, Hijikata frequently worked with other artists to show his work to a bigger audience and address themes he could not do in the theater, for example, in his collaboration with photographer and filmmaker Eikoh Hosoe in the short feature “Navel and A-Bomb”. Through a collection of short choreographies involving the ocean, the beach and various animals, such as chicken, goats and a cow, Hosoe and Hijikata attempt to present a vision of the world after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagaski.
Navel and A-Bomb is screening at...
Navel and A-Bomb is screening at...
- 9/19/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
“Anma” is a classic piece of Butoh dancing, by creator and legendary figure of the particular style, Tatsumi Hijikata, who performs along with a number of other dancers, including co-creator Kazuo Ohno, Yoshito Ohno and Akira Kasai, among others, under the experimental/noise music of Tomomi Adachi. The particularly film by Takahiko Iimura is an effort to capture the performance of “Anma” but at the same time, it is realized as cine-dance, essentially filming choreography and choreographing film at the same time, through a meta approach, that also has the director performing with his camera among the dancers on the stage and includes footage from the audience watching the whole endeavor.
“Anma” is screening at Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival
Multiple texts on black screen split the movie into various segments, while explaining where the dancers got their inspiration from, each time, in regard with the concept of anma,...
“Anma” is screening at Japanese Avant-Garde and Experimental Film Festival
Multiple texts on black screen split the movie into various segments, while explaining where the dancers got their inspiration from, each time, in regard with the concept of anma,...
- 9/18/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Japanese Avant-garde and Experimental Film Festival announces full programme for Jaeff 2021: Bodies in advance of ticket sales on 22 July. Jaeff 2021: Bodies will be held at The Barbican from 16-19th September, and online from 20th-30th September.
Jaeff 2021: Bodies explores how we interact with other beings, spaces around us, and how expressions of the unutterable become vital means of communication and connection.
This third edition of the Japanese Avant-garde and Experimental Film Festival considers the body and sensation, and features work from directors Kon Ichikawa, Toshio Matsumoto, Susumu Hani, Chiaki Nagano, Takahiko Iimura, Tatsumi Kumashiro, Shuji Terayama and more.
In a time where words, facts and logic are increasingly ineffectual, powerless and absurd, this year’s programme attempts to make sense of the nonsensical. Finding that sometimes, the most powerful form of expression is often what we feel, rather than what we can say, write, or even think.
Jaeff 2021: Bodies explores how we interact with other beings, spaces around us, and how expressions of the unutterable become vital means of communication and connection.
This third edition of the Japanese Avant-garde and Experimental Film Festival considers the body and sensation, and features work from directors Kon Ichikawa, Toshio Matsumoto, Susumu Hani, Chiaki Nagano, Takahiko Iimura, Tatsumi Kumashiro, Shuji Terayama and more.
In a time where words, facts and logic are increasingly ineffectual, powerless and absurd, this year’s programme attempts to make sense of the nonsensical. Finding that sometimes, the most powerful form of expression is often what we feel, rather than what we can say, write, or even think.
- 7/19/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
In an interview Teruo Ishii gave to Chris D. he mentioned about “The Blind Woman’s Curse”: As far as being coherent, I feel the movie was nonsensical. It is in this phrase that both the aesthetics and the narrative of the film are synopsized, in a title that combines yakuza, ghost story (Nikkatsu actually ordered Ishii to include ghost elements after he started shooting), ero-guro and exploitation elements. Furthermore, it was Meiko Kaji’s first starring role and also the first time she performed the title song, “Lullaby of Honour”.
Akemi Tachibana, the daughter of a now deceased yakuza leader that fosters a huge dragon tattoo in her back, is the leader of the Tachibana clan. As the movie begins, in a rather impressive gang sword fight, she and her henchmen attack a rival group. They emerge victorious, and Akemi kills the opponent boss, but in her effort,...
Akemi Tachibana, the daughter of a now deceased yakuza leader that fosters a huge dragon tattoo in her back, is the leader of the Tachibana clan. As the movie begins, in a rather impressive gang sword fight, she and her henchmen attack a rival group. They emerge victorious, and Akemi kills the opponent boss, but in her effort,...
- 3/2/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Legendary Toei director Teruo Ishii tells three stories of moral sickness set during Japan s prosperous Genroku era in this bloody follow-up to his sexploitation classic Shogun s Joy of Torture, and the fourth entry in Toei s abnormal love film series. Ishii s politically incorrect moral lessons paint a trio of tales of tragic heroines caught up in violence, sadomasochism, incest and torture.
Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord...
Told in anthology style by an impassive physician (Teruo Yoshida), the first story follows Oito (Masumi Tachibana), an innocent young girl deceived by a handsome yakuza and sold into prostitution who finds herself in a doomed love affair with the man who brought her to ruin. The tale of Ochise (Mitsuko Aoi) is about the daughter of a rich merchant whose insatiable appetite for filth and perversion draws her deeper into violence, darkness and betrayal. Finally, the story of Omitsu (Miki Obana) follows a sadistic lord...
- 11/5/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Horrors of Malformed Men
Blu ray – Region Code: B
Arrow Films
1969/ 2.35:1 / 99 Min. / Street Date September 17, 2018
Starring Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa
Cinematography by Shigeru Akatsuka
Directed by Teruo Ishii
The Toei Company made their mark in the 50s with a series of atmospheric horror films like Kinnosuke Fukada‘s Ghost Cat of Karakuri Tenjo and Tai Katô‘s The Ghost Story of Oiwa’s Spirit – esoteric shockers rooted in folklore and Kabuki theater that were rarely seen beyond Japanese cinemas. American audiences wouldn’t become familiar with the peculiar pleasures of Toei product until matinee-friendly fare like the animated charmer Alakazam the Great and the rubber-monster freak-out of The Green Slime invaded stateside theaters in the 60s.
Across town at Shintoho Studios – Toei’s closet competitors – director Teruo Ishii was busy shuttling between children’s fare (1957’s Super Giant) and tawdry exposes like 1961’s Sexy Chitai until the studio went...
Blu ray – Region Code: B
Arrow Films
1969/ 2.35:1 / 99 Min. / Street Date September 17, 2018
Starring Teruo Yoshida, Yukie Kagawa
Cinematography by Shigeru Akatsuka
Directed by Teruo Ishii
The Toei Company made their mark in the 50s with a series of atmospheric horror films like Kinnosuke Fukada‘s Ghost Cat of Karakuri Tenjo and Tai Katô‘s The Ghost Story of Oiwa’s Spirit – esoteric shockers rooted in folklore and Kabuki theater that were rarely seen beyond Japanese cinemas. American audiences wouldn’t become familiar with the peculiar pleasures of Toei product until matinee-friendly fare like the animated charmer Alakazam the Great and the rubber-monster freak-out of The Green Slime invaded stateside theaters in the 60s.
Across town at Shintoho Studios – Toei’s closet competitors – director Teruo Ishii was busy shuttling between children’s fare (1957’s Super Giant) and tawdry exposes like 1961’s Sexy Chitai until the studio went...
- 10/9/2018
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
“The dance of darkness must spout blood into the air, in the name of the experience of evil” Tatsumi Hijikata
Made in 1969 and to this day still banned in Japan, “Horrors of Malformed Men” is a classic “ero guro nansensu” (erotic grotesque nonsense) film, based on few stories by Edogawa Rampo, whose work includes other novels-turned-films like “Blind Beast” and “Gemini”. The main inspiration of director Teruo Ishii was “The Strange Tale of Panorama Island” but he and co-scriptwriters Masahiro Kakefuda ended up adding parts of other Rampo’s novels, making “Horrors of Malformed Men” a screenwriting pastiche that doesn’t do the film any favors in terms of continuity and coherence, but infuses it with originality, fun and a unique surreal flavor.
The ban in native Japan was not due to violence or gore – the film is in fact rather tame for a cult horror – but...
Made in 1969 and to this day still banned in Japan, “Horrors of Malformed Men” is a classic “ero guro nansensu” (erotic grotesque nonsense) film, based on few stories by Edogawa Rampo, whose work includes other novels-turned-films like “Blind Beast” and “Gemini”. The main inspiration of director Teruo Ishii was “The Strange Tale of Panorama Island” but he and co-scriptwriters Masahiro Kakefuda ended up adding parts of other Rampo’s novels, making “Horrors of Malformed Men” a screenwriting pastiche that doesn’t do the film any favors in terms of continuity and coherence, but infuses it with originality, fun and a unique surreal flavor.
The ban in native Japan was not due to violence or gore – the film is in fact rather tame for a cult horror – but...
- 9/10/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Equal parts yakuza revenge picture, sexualized exploitation romp, bakeneko (or ghost cat horror flick), and absurd comedy, Teruo Ishii’s bizarro Blind Woman’s Curse refuses to settle into categorization. Following on the heels of his much talked about Joys of Torture series which ran 1968-69, Ishii made this in addition to three other features in 1970. Sporting an inexhaustible work ethic and a taste for both the violent and absurd, one might say he is the direct predecessor of modern ludicrous Japanese cinema, Takashi Miike. It’s telling then that Arrow Films, an upscale UK home release distro who specialize in genre films, are just now making their way to Us soil with releases (amongst others) of both Ishii’s ghost cat/yakuza mash-up film and Miike’s completely insane murder musical The Happiness of the Katakuris.
Before going on to silver screen immortality in Lady Snowblood and Female Convict Scorpion,...
Before going on to silver screen immortality in Lady Snowblood and Female Convict Scorpion,...
- 4/21/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
(The following review pertains to the UK release of the film on Region B/2 formats)
By Howard Hughes
The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo
Following on from its release of ‘Lady Snowblood’ and ‘Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance’ in 2012, UK company Arrow Films has released another Japanese cult classic in ‘Blind Woman’s Curse’, a film which mixes swordplay, horror and the supernatural into a bloody vengeance scenario.
Also known as ‘Kaidan nobori ryû’, ‘The Tattooed Swordswoman’ and ‘Black Cat’s Revenge’, this is unusual action fare from director Teruo Ishii. Meiko Kaji, who went on to star as Lady Snowblood, cuts her teeth – and several villains’ major arteries – as Akemi, the head of the Tachibana Clan. In the opening rain swept swordfight, she accidentally blind’s Aiko (Hoki Tokuda), the younger sister of Yakuza clan leader Boss Goda. After a three-year stretch in prison, Akemi returns to her role as Tachibana leader,...
By Howard Hughes
The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo
Following on from its release of ‘Lady Snowblood’ and ‘Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance’ in 2012, UK company Arrow Films has released another Japanese cult classic in ‘Blind Woman’s Curse’, a film which mixes swordplay, horror and the supernatural into a bloody vengeance scenario.
Also known as ‘Kaidan nobori ryû’, ‘The Tattooed Swordswoman’ and ‘Black Cat’s Revenge’, this is unusual action fare from director Teruo Ishii. Meiko Kaji, who went on to star as Lady Snowblood, cuts her teeth – and several villains’ major arteries – as Akemi, the head of the Tachibana Clan. In the opening rain swept swordfight, she accidentally blind’s Aiko (Hoki Tokuda), the younger sister of Yakuza clan leader Boss Goda. After a three-year stretch in prison, Akemi returns to her role as Tachibana leader,...
- 8/5/2014
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Stars: Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda, Makoto Satô, Hideo Sunazuka, Shirô Ôtsuji, Tôru Abe, Yoshi Katô, Yôko Takagi, Tatsumi Hijikata, Shirô Yanase | Written by Teruo Ishii, Chûsei Sone | Directed by Teruo Ishii
When you start to watch a film called Blind Woman’s Curse starring Meiko Kaji you would expect a tale of revenge, probably featuring samurai swords and plenty of action. I think in Arrow Video’s latest release it is fair to say that you do get action, but in a very surreal way. Often hard to keep up with Teruo Ishii’s visually stunning movie is a ride into a vulgar world of the weird and very strange.
Meiki Kaji stars as Akemi Tachibana the leader of a Yakuza Gang. At the start of the movie we see her and her men fighting for vengeance against their opponents. Fighting the leader, Akemi lunges her sword only to miss...
When you start to watch a film called Blind Woman’s Curse starring Meiko Kaji you would expect a tale of revenge, probably featuring samurai swords and plenty of action. I think in Arrow Video’s latest release it is fair to say that you do get action, but in a very surreal way. Often hard to keep up with Teruo Ishii’s visually stunning movie is a ride into a vulgar world of the weird and very strange.
Meiki Kaji stars as Akemi Tachibana the leader of a Yakuza Gang. At the start of the movie we see her and her men fighting for vengeance against their opponents. Fighting the leader, Akemi lunges her sword only to miss...
- 4/1/2014
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
By MoreHorror.com
Possibly the single most interesting contribution to noir horror/scifi epic Way Down in Chinatown has been made by actress and Anoku-Butoh expert, Nicol Razon. Casting Razon was most definitely a coup for WDiC producers, Eric Kochmer, Angel Corbin and Maria Olsen (both of MOnsterworks66) and Jonathan Haloossim (22Mm Productions).
Razon plays a denizen of the weird and wonderful world that is to be found way down beneath Chinatown, and the film gives her a much needed opportunity to showcase her stunning Anoku-Butoh dance skills. For those not in the know, Anoku-Butoh – Dance of Darkness – is the performance art dance style developed by the Japanese specifically to help them express their horror at the devastation caused by the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War.
Razon, who was born in Vina Del Mar, Chile, was first introduced to Anoku-Butoh by University of...
Possibly the single most interesting contribution to noir horror/scifi epic Way Down in Chinatown has been made by actress and Anoku-Butoh expert, Nicol Razon. Casting Razon was most definitely a coup for WDiC producers, Eric Kochmer, Angel Corbin and Maria Olsen (both of MOnsterworks66) and Jonathan Haloossim (22Mm Productions).
Razon plays a denizen of the weird and wonderful world that is to be found way down beneath Chinatown, and the film gives her a much needed opportunity to showcase her stunning Anoku-Butoh dance skills. For those not in the know, Anoku-Butoh – Dance of Darkness – is the performance art dance style developed by the Japanese specifically to help them express their horror at the devastation caused by the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War.
Razon, who was born in Vina Del Mar, Chile, was first introduced to Anoku-Butoh by University of...
- 8/7/2012
- by admin
- MoreHorror
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