Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance

The stunning Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Shurayuki-hime (roughly translated "Princess Snow-Hell"), the beautiful agent of death. This time she is not out for personal vengeance, but is caught up in the political intrigue of the Meiji era of 19th century Japan. Caught between revolutionaries and secret policemen, Yuki makes sure the bad guys meet a particularly nasty end. It's great to see a samurai film featuring a female in the lead role. It was co-written by Kazuo Koike of "Lone Wolf and Cub" fame and features a role by Juzo Itami who later went on to direct "Tampopo" and "A Taxing Woman" among other films. Director Toshiya Fujita has a wonderful sense of color and this movie is a vibrant and violent classic.

Toshiya Fujita's "Shura-yuki-hime: Urami Renga" aka. "Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song Of Vengeance" of 1974 is a quite different, but more than decent sequel to Fujita's blood-soaked and beautiful 1973 gem "Shurayukihime" (aka. "Lady Snowblood"). While the film does not nearly reach the greatness of its superb predecessor, "Love Song Of Vengeance" is yet another original and highly entertaining film that no lover of Japanese Cinema in general, and Chambara and Japanese Exploitation in particular should consider missing. The film sadly cannot compete with its predecessor's unique style and beauty, but it is still stylish, and furthermore delivers a good story, and, most memorably, the wonderful Meiko Kaji, who comes back with greatness as the eponymous (anti-)heroine.

As it was the case with several other sequels to popular Japanese 70s exploitation flicks, the sequel adds some political/social commentary to the mainly vengeance-based plot of its predecessor. Obviously, the film is set several years after the events in the original "Lady Snowblood". Yuki/Lady Snowblood (Meiko Kaji) is captured, and sentenced to death for the thirty-seven killings committed by her in the predecessor. She is then offered to carry out an assassination in order to escape her execution... I don't want to give away more, but I can assure that the plot gets quite interesting for my fellow Chambara-fanatics. Japanese Exploitation-Goddess Meiko Kaji (one of my personal favorite actresses ever) is once again stunningly beautiful and brilliant in her role. My personal favorite Kaji role will always be that of female prison escapee Nami Matsushima in the brilliant "Joshuu Sasori" (aka. "Female Prisoner Scorpion") films, but the role of Lady Snowblood is also essential, and no lover of Cult-cinema could afford to miss her in the role (especially in the original, but also in the sequel). Meiko's presence alone would make any film worthwhile, in my opinion, and the film has a lot more to offer. The film's is, once again, filled with quite a bit of stylish bloodshed, which is not quite as aesthetic, but at some points even bloodier than in the predecessor. Unfortunately, the score in this one is not as memorable as that in the original (for which Meiko Kaji sang the theme song), and yet it is more than decent. Nowadays, the "Lady Snowblood" films are probably best known for being the main inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films, but they sure deserve more attention for their own sake. The first film, "Lady Snowblood", is brilliant, and while "Love Song Of Vengeance" is not the masterpiece its predecessor was, it is still a highly entertaining, stylish and memorable film that I highly recommend to every lover of Chambara and Cult Cinema. My rating: 7.5/10

The general consensus here on IMDb seems to be that Love Song of Vengeance isn't quite as good as its predecessor, Blizzard from the Netherworld. Not one to toe the line, I would say that it is easily as entertaining—a little more complex and bit less bloody perhaps, but still a very worthy addition to the 70s Japanese exploitation genre.

Having somehow survived being shot and stabbed in the first film, Yuki (Meiko Kaji) is trapped by the police and found guilty of killing 37 people. On the way to the gallows, she is rescued by the Japanese secret police, who want her to go undercover as a maid to spy on anarchist Ransui Tokunaga (Jûzô Itami) who is in possession of a letter that could be used to incite riots and topple the government.

But when Yuki learns that the letter contains evidence of a conspiracy to frame innocent anarchists for an act of unrelated terrorism, she decides that the corrupt officials involved need to be taught a lesson.

It's easy to understand how this more serious, politically themed plot might not sit well with those who enjoyed the simplistic revenge tale of the original, but I found the story engrossing. As far as the violence is concerned, there may not be quite the volume of bloodletting as first time around, but when it happens, it is suitably nasty, with brutal scenes of torture, graphic eye trauma, and an over-the-top finalé which involves hacked-off limbs and arterial spray.

7.5 out of 10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

The first film had a solid story, good acting, and some nice stylistic flourishes. This film has a rambling story that doesn't carry any of the emotional weight of the first one. Kaji Meiko was spell binding in the original, but here she isn't given much to do. The sword fighting scenes are far less bloody than the original which is a good or bad thing depending on your taste. To me it's bad. The straight choreography of both films was lacking compared to Hong Kong films and some of the better Samurai films, but the exaggerated gruesomeness of the original's scenes gave it a kick. Here it seems as though they were trying to shoot the scenes as quickly as possible (lots of long takes). The second film didn't have the humor either. Just stick with the first one.

'Lady Snowblood: Love Song Of Vengeance (1974)' is, by all rights, a sequel that needn't exist. It links into its predecessor in a natural yet superficial way and is clearly just a response to positive audience feedback. Having said that, the movie manages to deliver both a solid stand-alone story and an inoffensive follow-up. It isn't as good as its predecessor but it isn't trying to do the same things, either. Instead of focusing on vengeance, the flick focuses on political intrigue. Indeed, its near espionage elements are far more engaging than you'd expect. The protagonist is hired by the secret police to assassinate an apparent anarchist; she soon comes to question her allegiances and might just prove a problem for those who initially sought to take advantage of her. The picture is slick, stylist and splattered with blood. Its action is exciting, its plot is intriguing and its characters are empathetic. It isn't all that predictable in the moment, either. It's an entertaining time throughout. 7/10