Not having one of these firmly in my hand while schlupping around kindergarten is why I’m damaged I think

every *single* frame has been perfect

The Sword of Doom (1966) is a slightly frustrating film because it was intended to have a sequel that never happened, so the story arc is never realized. Nakadai plays a purely evil sociopath and there is a tension in the way he suppresses his natural charisma. He centers the movie perfectly.

A super distinctive color palette cast over the familiar Shaw Brothers inner worlds of sets and mattes, all club lighting and black light and glow-sticks. A proud spectacle of special effects over martial choreography. Bang and flash battle as the work of psychotic stage magicians.

The cinematography is truly terrific, testament to the noir shadows and high contrast shear of mid-late 60s Japanese black and white, but it notches to a whole other level when we spear into winter. Inky blood splattering on liminal white, the world of sociopathic samurai made so much smaller…