Satomi hakken-den (1983)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Kinji Fukasaku

Writers:

Kinji Fukasaku (writer)
Toshio Kamata (writer)

Release Date:

10 December 1983 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Fantasy | Action | Drama

Plot:

Princess Shizu's family is wiped out by an family of undead seeking revenge. The eight samurai can save her, but who and where are they?

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Blood | Samurai | Undead | Castle

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Hiroko Yakushimaru	...	Princess Shizu
Hiroyuki Sanada	...	Inue Shinbei Masashi
Sonny Chiba	...	Inuyama Dosetsu Tadatomo
Etsuko Shihomi	...	Inusaka Keno Tanetomo
Yuki Meguro	...	Hikita Gonnokami Motofuji
Mari Natsuki	...	Tamazusa
Nana Okada	...	Hamaji
Masaki Kyômoto	...	Inuzuka Shino Moritaka
Kenji Ohba	...	Inukai Genpachi Nobufuchi
Nagare Hagiwara	...	Yonosuke
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Takuya Fukuhara	...	Inukawa Sosuke Yoshito
Seizo Fukumoto
Akira Hamada	...	Akushiro
Shunsuke Kariya	...	Inuta Kobungo Yasuyori
Keiko Matsuzaka	...	Princess Fuse (voice)
Mikio Narita
Tadashi Naruse
Akira Shioji	...	Genjin
Minori Terada	...	Inumura Daikaku Masanori
Taiji Tonoyama
Mamako Yoneyama	...	Funamushi

Directed by
Kinji Fukasaku

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Kinji Fukasaku		writer
Toshio Kamata		writer

Produced by
Hiroshi Sugawara	....	producer

Original Music by
Joey Carbone
Richie Zito

Cinematography by
Seizô Sengen

Production Design by
Tsutomu Imamura

Art Direction by
Tsutomu Imamura		(as Chikara Imamura)

Visual Effects by
Tetuzo Osawa	....	visual effects designer: Marbling Fine Arts

Other crew
Hiroo Minami	....	horse master

Production Companies

• Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho
• Toei Company

Distributors

• Toei Company (1983) (Japan) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1984) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Starmaker Entertainment (2000) (USA) (video) (dubbed)
• Sinister Cinema (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Vídeo Room (2001) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Platinum Disc (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Leisure Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Sinister Cinema (2003) (USA) (video) (DVD-R)
• VCI Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (USA) (video)
• Brentwood Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Vintage Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2005) (USA) (TV)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• JAC Command  action setting

Also Known As:

Legend of Eight Samurai (International: English title)
Legend of the Eight Samurai (USA) (dubbed version)

Runtime:

Brazil:133 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Australia:M | UK:15

Company:

Kadokawa Haruki Jimusho

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Shinbei goes "evil" and attacks the princess and her friends when he jumps off the back of the horse you can see the black wire that's attach to his back that's keeping him off the ground. Futhurmore if you check out the top corner of the screen you can see the winch that the other end of the wire is connected to swinging around.

Movie Connections:

Version of Ju-ichinin no samurai (1966)

Soundtrack:

Hakken-shi no Têma (White Light)

Should be one of the legends of campy Japanese Film

Satomi Hakkenden will be understood the moment the viewer realizes that the soulful, classically Japanese score is being played on a cheap Casio synthesizer, and that somehow that is good. Being one of the country's very traditional legends (stolen from China), the writers drew from literary sources to make their movie, and it shows. The movie has heaping doses of melodrama, decapitations, and dead children. It also has characters dressed like a costume shop exploded, giant flying snakes hanging by ropes, a truly terrible 70's power ballad love song, and a plot so stereotypically Japanese it can be considered prototypical.

None of that is to say that the movie is bad. All of those things add to the ambiance of the movie. It also contains incredible special effects for 1983, some of the moments are surprisingly poignant, and the fight scenes are great. The plot may be telegraphed from a mile away, but it is still entertaining to watch it all unfold. If you are at all a fan of Japanese culture, you have seen this movie before, in one way or another. Yet if this sounds at all appealing to you, you owe it to yourself to see the original. Satomi Hakkenden deserves a larger spot in great camp history.