Poruno jidaigeki: Bôhachi bushidô

The wanted assassin Shiro is recruited by the immoral Bohachi clan after he is nursed back to health due to injuries suffered from throwing himself into a river to escape capture. The Bohachi clan run an organized prostitution ring and enlist the help of Shiro to kill any prostitute and john who risk doing business freelance and not paying the clan fee. Shiro is granted temporary immunity from the government but as his body count escalates every one is after his head including his own clan. This film is gorgeously shot with empathize on a variety of color tones and spectacular wide angle shots when swordplay is initiated. The female nudity is plentiful and beautifully captured filling the screen with a lethal dose of sensual atmosphere and mean spirited sleaze. The final act is an opium induced orgy that transcends into an epic final showdown that features dismemberments and blood geysers aplenty!

"Porno Jidaigeki: Bohachi Bushido" aka. "Bohachi: Clan Of The Forgotten Eight" of 1973, should be interesting to all my fellow fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema, as it is a film that combines the work of Teruo Ishii and Kazuo Koike. Teruo Ishii is the brilliant director responsible for films such as "Female Yakuza Tale", "The Black Cat's Revenge", "The Executioner" or "Horrors Of Malformed Men". Kazuo Koike is the genius writer behind such masterpieces as the "Kozure Ôkami" films with Tomisaburo Wakayama, the "Hanzo The Razor" films with Shintaro Katsu, or "Lady Snowblood" with Meiko Kaji (Koike wrote the comic-books these films were based on, and, in most cases, the screenplays). The pairing of Koike and Ishii promises something stylish, brutal and sleazy, and this memorable film truly has all these attributes. While "Porno Jidaigeki" is not one of the most memorable Chambara/Sexploitation crossovers (films like "Hanzo The Razor: Sword Of Justice" and "Sex And Fury" come with my highest possible recommendations) this is definitely a very interesting, blood-soaked and delightfully sleazy film that fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema should not miss.

In 17th century Japan, a Ronin named Shiro (Tetsuro Tamba) is recruited by the ruthless Bohachi-Clan, which controls prostitution in the area. The Bohachi-Clan's forces include the 'Bohachi Women', some sort of mixture between prostitutes and beautiful but lethal (and mostly naked) female assassins. Shiro is to wipe out the Clan's competitors in prostitution business... Tetsuro Tamba is stone-cold and bad-ass as always, and he was the perfect choice to play Shiro. The yummy female cast members are naked for about 99% of their screen time, and the film is filled with vast amounts of perverted sleaze as well as lost of stylish bloodshed, so most of my fellow Exploitation-lovers should be satisfied. The score is also pretty cool, and the photography and choreography are great. The story may be a bit messy, but the film's great style, and, especially, the sexy female cast and tons of sleaze and violence make up for this easily. Overall, "Bohachi: Clan Of The Forgotten Eight" is a more than entertaining film that should satisfy all my fellow fans of Japanese Exploitation cinema. Highly Recommended.

It's been a while since I first laid eyes on this film, I now feel it's my duty to share my feelings and views on what happened here. Firstly, if the opening scene does not grab you and slam you into your seat, then you don't really enjoy Grindhouse Chanbara! From the vivid colors to the stylish camera angles, to the Badassery of the lead character Shino, Bohachi - Clan of the forgotten 8 is a masterpiece of sleaze that no male should miss! Nudging elbows with the Baby Cart series, Bohachi adds tons more skin to get your blood pumping even more. Many scenes are reminiscent of a comic, same style as Baby Cart. Violent, while not going over the top reaching gorebore. There is plenty red stuff spraying to keep your utmost attention. It screams style, cult and just looks so damn beautiful doing it. Shino could be related to Ogami Itto, or even Charles Bronson in fact! This film may be wildly off the wall, but it takes it's self dead serious, I believe. All you men, next time girls night out comes around, treat yourself to this beast!

I had no idea what I was getting myself into and it turned out to be quite the ride. Now let's say the obvious thing and adress the elephant in the room: This is sleazy! If you think women are portrayed in a good light here, don't even consider watching this. Fortunately the focus switched a bit during the movie. After a very nicely shot and edited beginning (action wise), it gets quite dark and you see some despicable things.

Now as I mentioned it shifts gear, right before our main character is going over or rather crosses a line, I know I wouldn't have been able to overlook. But even so, apart from him there are quite a few despicable and quite obnoxious characters. Sleazy would be another word to describe them. Now I had not seen or read the Manga this is based on, but the DVD gives you a comparison option. You can see some of the drawings and the movie seems to come very close to those (changes were made of course).

So quite a lot of blood and violence and at least as much nudity (upper area and behind) made people call this "adult". For the 70s it more than was ...

There are more bare breasts than you can shake a stick at in "Boachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight". In fact it seems like there is scarcely a scene in the movie in which female nudity is not depicted, usually from many naked or topless women in the scene at once. Some of them are quite beautiful, but I didn't find it erotic.

The violence is overrated. Mostly it's just sword swipes with people falling over, and maybe a bit of blood, which of course looks like bright red paint. It's only in the climactic scene that legs and heads are chopped off, and you can clearly see the strings attached to these prop-body parts as they fly, or rather hang, in the air.

I'm not entirely sure what the movie was about. I get that it was something to do with a joyless samurai assassin who was hired by a guy who owns a cadre of cooze, but other than that, I don't really know. The guy who hires the anti-hero is pretty damn ugly, which black teeth, a pig like face, and an ability to talk without moving his mouth, apparently.

Most of the movie is just girls baring their breasts, walking around naked, being "stolen" by men, or molesting them. In one scene they molest a Western woman, who is tied to a bench, and then fight over her, saying they each wanted to taste her body.

There's no full frontal nudity in the movie though. Japan has always been weird like that. A country synonymous with tentacle rape, sharking, gokkun, futanari... but pubic hair and genitals are a bridge too far, to this day.

I still enjoyed the movie. It is not made without skill, and has a crazy, phantasmagoric feeling to it, like Jodorowsky.