Blind Woman's Curse

This 1970 Japanese film mashes up yakuza action with a ghost story into an odd genre hybrid. Meiko Kaji plays Akemi, a gang leader marked by a dragon tattoo across her back, who accidentally blinds a rival boss's sister during a duel. After serving time in prison, Akemi returns to find a mysterious blind woman and a group bent on revenge picking off the women in her gang one by one. Director Teruo Ishii was ordered by the studio to bolt on supernatural elements after shooting had already begun, which leaves the narrative disjointed at times, something Ishii himself later admitted made the film incoherent. Even so, its elaborate circus tent and torture dungeon sets, along with a swirling, nightmarish finale, make it one of Ishii's most striking films. It also marks Meiko Kaji's first starring role and the first time she performed her own song on screen, an early step toward the career peak she would reach a few years later with Female Prisoner Scorpion and Lady Snowblood. Who it's for: Fans of Japanese cult cinema curious about its ero guro strain, tolerant of visual daring over narrative coherence. Who it's not for: Viewers expecting a clean, unified story, since the forced supernatural turn midway can lose them.