SHOGUN ASSASSIN

• Director: Kenji Misumi & Robert Houston
• Cast: Tomisaburô Wakayama, Kayo Matsuo, Minoru Ôki, Akihiro Tomikawa
• 1980 | Film: 90mins | Japan & USA | No Subtitles | Event: 20:45 – 23:10 [18+]

A swordsman and his four-year-old son escape a paranoid Shogun and become assassins for hire, embarking on an epic journey of blood, death, and vengeance for his murdered wife.

“MEET THE GREATEST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF MASS SLAUGHTER.”

Cult film night BAR TRASH continues with BANNED, an uncensored season of the Video Nasties.

Based on a best-selling manga series, the six intensely kinetic LONE WOLF AND CUB films (1972–1974) elevated the Japanese genre of chanbara (Samurai cinema) to bloody new heights. The series tells the story of the Shogun’s executioner, Itto Ogami (Tomisaburô Wakayama), who takes to wandering the countryside along with his infant son, Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa), and a heavily weaponised pram, helping those he encounters while seeking vengeance for his murdered wife.

Robert Houston’s SHOGUN ASSASSIN took the first two titles in the series (Kenji Misumi’s SWORD OF VENGEANCE and BABY CART AT THE RIVER STYX), smashed them together into a radical dubbed reedit, producing a midnight movie sensation that firmly embedded samurai mythology within Western pop culture. With its pulsing synth soundtrack and delirious action set pieces – kinetic whirlwinds of flashing blades, spurting blood, and severed limbs – cult favourite SHOGUN ASSASSIN is a giddily entertaining, mesmerisingly gory slice of grindhouse mayhem.

SHOGUN ASSASSIN was originally passed with cuts by the BBFC to achieve an X certificate for cinema release in 1981. It was released by video provocateurs Vipco on uncut, uncertified home video in 1983 and subsequently banned during the Video Nasties furore. SHOGUN ASSASSIN was passed with cuts to achieve an 18 certificate for re-release in 1992 and finally passed uncut in 1999.

Polite notice: We are showing SHOGUN ASSASSIN without subtitles from the best available digital source. 

/// BAR TRASH is a celebration of cult and curious cinema, hosted by queer film fanatic, Token Homo. Films are served with themed drinks, introductions, intermissions, prize giveaways, and subtitles/captions where possible. Tickets from £3. Strictly adults 18+ only. Follow @tokenhomo on Instagram for news and updates. //