by Mark Murton and Linda Kay

Original Title: Kaidan nobori ryû

Also Known As: Black Cat’s Revenge; The Tattooed Swordswoman; Strange Tales Of the Dragon Tattoo

Directed by: Teruo Ishii

This review contains a Kitty Carnage Warning!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: In a duel with the rival Goda gang, Akemi (Meiko Kaji), the dragon-tattooed leader of the Tachibana gang, slashes at the rival gang leader and in the process slashes the eyes of his sister as she tries to intervene. A black cat appears to lap the blood from her gushing wound. Akemi believes she is now cursed, something that seems to be coming true when members of her gang turn up dead with the dragon tattoos skinned from their backs.

Featured Feline: Akemi watches in horror as the cat licks at the blood of the injured woman.

Aware that he is being watched, the cat stops and turns to gaze at Akemi, then leaps at her face.

This turns out to be a memory. Akemi is now in prison and the other inmates are disturbed by her recurring nightmare. She explains to them how she believes she is cursed by a black cat. They scoff but as she speaks a black cat appears outside the bars of the cell window.

The cat cries at them before running off (or rather is pulled backward out of sight).

The story moves forward three years; Akemi is back leading the Tachabani clan, and has been joined by several of the woman from the prison who have had their backs tattooed to form the body of the dragon to accompany the head on Akemi’s back. Other gangs are plotting to take over Tachabani territory and as the bodies of two of her gang are returned by rival gang leader Dobashi, another member of her gang, Koji turns up, crazed (acting like a cat) and blinded, before running off again. Again Akemi declares “I am cursed” as the camera pans to a black cat on a nearby roof.

The cat appears to jump into frame on the roof, but actually the animal was pulled backward off the roof (likely using wires) and the film run in reverse.

Meanwhile, a young blind woman, Aiko (Hoki Tokuda), offers her services to Dobashi in the feud. Dobashi has her followed and learns she works as a knife thrower as part of bizarre circus sideshow. Her cohort in the troupe is Ushimatsu (Tatsumi Hijikata), a strange hunchback who later salaciously caresses Aiko’s legs and feet as she pets a black cat.

The theatre show is attended by Tachibana members Kantaro (Hideo Sunazuka) and Nobuko. Afterwards, Kantaro arrives back at the gang’s headquarters totally drunk and is refused entry by some of the girls. He goes to a nearby tree to relieve himself, during which a black cat drops from above onto his head, knocking Kantaro off his feet before scurrying off.

This leads to the discovery of Nobuko’s body, her dragon tattoo having been skinned from her back. A note informs them “I’ve taken one dragon tattoo, I’ll get you all.” Akemi now tells her gang of the curse. Koji’s body is found, only for another gang member, Haniko, to disappear. Unnoticed on a nearby roof, the black cat watches and cries at them. The poor cat actor’s face appears to be smeared with fake blood.

Back at the headquarters, Kantaro discovers the tattooed flesh skinned from Nobuko’s back and informs the others. As Akemi sits nearby in silent prayer she realizes with horror that a black cat has appeared and is licking at the skin.

The cat notices her watching and stops licking to stare at her.

The cat (or rather a fake cat pulled on a wire) seizes the skin in its mouth and rushes past the gang members towards the exit. In the first shot of this action the real cat jumps off the table with the skin somehow attached to its body to make it look as if the cat is dragging the skin away.

Several gang members give chase. They split up and Kantaro follows the (fake) cat through a cemetery and into the theatre. He eventually finds the cat on a table with two skinned tattoos. The cat licks at one of the tattoos before looking up at him. As the cat leaps at Kantaro’s face (another obvious fake on an even more obvious wire) the hunchback comes up behind him and wraps his hands around his neck.

Aiko intervenes to stop the fight and, as Kantaro runs off, she goes to the table where the tattoos are. With the cat close by she touches one of the tattoos and realises what they are. She admonishes Ushimatsu for his cruelty. He tells her he thought she’d be glad and begs for forgiveness but she shrugs off his pleas.

Kantaro reports back that he has found the skin from Hanako’s back and the gang hurry to the theatre. Outside they see the cat which leads them to another message declaring “I will have the dragon’s head, too.”

Kitty Carnage Warning! The cat disappears from the story until after the climactic blood-spattered battle between the gangs when Aiko and Akemi meet for a final showdown duel. Aiko now reveals herself as the woman blinded by Akemi in the fateful fight five years previously. As they fight, out of nowhere the black cat suddenly leaps at Akemi and she slashes at it with her sword as she herself is slashed by Aiko’s sword. The poor fake cat is grievously wounded.

Akemi implores Aiko to deliver the coup de grâce but realizing Akemi held back while fighting Aiko refuses, telling her, “My sword cannot kill someone with a pure heart like you.” With the cat mortally wounded she concludes, “It seems I have spent my life foolishly.” Aiko looks down at the still breathing cat. (A real cat is used in this shot with just a token bit of blood on one front leg rather than the gaping wound just inflicted on the fake cat. However the scene is heartbreaking, as the kitten is lying curled and looks so vulnerable.)

Aiko picks up the now lifeless (and fake again) body of the cat and walks away.

Behind the Scenes

It’s clear that several different cats were used in the film, from adults to kittens. The cat was also featured prominently on posters and artwork promoting the movie.

A lot of speculation has been floated about this film and the meaning of the black cat within. Most agree the cat is a kind of bakeneko, a supernatural or ghost cat common throughout Japanese mythology. The director even revealed in an interview that it was the production company which insisted some kind of supernatural quality be added to the story even when filming had already started. The cat would have been an easy go-to, but allow us to offer our own take on the cat’s purpose in the film.

The cat appears as soon as Aiko is wounded and laps at her blood. The cat then immediately attacks Akemi. To our mind, the cat represents the desire for revenge (blood thirsty revenge) which sets upon Aiko. Akemi believes she is the one cursed by the cat, which she is to a point, but both women are actually affected by the curse. Aiko spends years training to kill people with the sole purpose of taking revenge upon her attacker. Akemi spends those same years living in fear of reprisal for her act, however unintentional it may have been.

When the two women meet, the curse comes full circle. The cat again attacks Akemi and is mortally wounded by her. Aiko attacks Akemi and slashes her back because Akemi turns her back to her, she doesn’t fight back. Aiko also inadvertently slashes the eyes of the dragon on Akemi’s back. It is in this moment she realizes that Akemi never intentionally meant to hurt her, and that she has wasted her years seeking revenge on someone who did not deserve it. The cat, now dying, is the dying of the revenge curse and both women may now find peace.

This is, of course, sheer conjecture and doesn’t really explain the other cat-related moments, such as when Koji seems to be possessed by a cat. Even Ushimatsu acts like a cat sometimes, and one would believe he is, in fact, the cursed cat in human form (which would support the bakaneko theory) if we didn’t see them together in the same scene. But this is the kind of film which can be interpreted many different ways, so we encourage you to have a look and decide for yourself what the heck is happening.

Final Mewsings: Cats don’t care how fake their movie substitutes look if it saves them from having to perform stunts.

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