review for Lady Snowblood on AllMovie

Stylish, brutal, and terrifically bloody, Lady Snowblood is a revenge tale of the highest order that continues to inspire since its release in 1973. A tale of fluid beauty that explodes in excessive streams of the red stuff (à la the Lone Wolf and Cub film series), the film is visually alive thanks to exceptional swordplay, costuming, and brilliant camerawork. With its stunning look and an arresting performance by Meiko Kaji in the lead role, the film aligns itself with the best of early '70s samurai cinema. Kaji had already made a name for herself with the wild, garish Stray Cat Rock series along with the brutal women-in-prison Scorpion films, but it's here, with her killer cold stare, that she made an indelible mark on cinema. The film is also known for its chapter structure, which Tarantino ingeniously copped in his Kill Bill films (where it was just as much an ode to this one film as any that have been documented). Lady Snowblood is revenge storytelling at its finest, headed by bravura performances and rock-solid direction by Toshiya Fujita.