Written by Kazuo Koike (of the Lone Wolf And Cub series) and directed by Toshiya Fujita (of the Stray Cat Rock series) and starring the lovely Meiko Kaji (of the Female Convict Scorpion series), Lady Snowblood is a veritable Japanese cult film fans dream come true.

Kaji plays Yuki, a young woman whose family is pretty much exterminated before she is even born when a gang of ruthless bandits kidnap, rape and beat her mother and kill off her husband. 

The mother is left alive, though just barely, and eventually winds up on prison after tracking down and whipping out one of the thieves. The only thing that's keeping her going is her hatred and her lust for revenge. How does she get her revenge? She gets pregnant of course! Though she dies during childbirth, she does make sure that her daughter, Yuki, will be raised as an assassin capable of killing those who beat ruined her family.

She's taken from the prison after her mother's death and trained by a priest for the next two decades of her life. He teaches her to put aside all emotion and compassion and to function purely as an instrument of death - going so far as to convince her that she is in fact a product of the Netherworld.

When she completes her training, she takes her sword and sets out to find the three surviving members of the gang that her mother intended her to kill.

Lady Snowblood is a beautifully shot, picture-esque story of bloody revenge, heavy emphasis on bloody. Those familiar with the aforementioned Lone Wolf And Cub films will feel quite at home here as limbs are lobbed off and arterial spray paints the picture red with blood. Those put off by Kaji's pretty looks can rest assured that this woman is a true bad ass, porcelain doll features or not. She's very convincing as a woman hell-bent for vengeance - and her eyes say it all, conveying some serious anger and animosity towards anyone who might be so unfortunate as to get in her way.

Fujita makes sure that the camera captures not only all of the action but plenty of gorgeous shots of the feudal Japanese locales in which it is set. Plenty of wide angle shots of Yuki walking through beautiful sets such as snow covered streets or the rocky shores of the Japanese coast are contrasted with dramatic close ups which soon lead way to carnage. It's a dark and serious film that is played completely straight, resulting in an effective and dramatic samurai film with knock out visuals and a solid performance from its lead.

The obvious influence on Quentin Tarantino's recent Kill Bill also needs to be mentioned, as Lucy Lui's character might as well be named Yuki, especially when she's all decked out in her white robes and wielding a sword - a direct and obvious homage to Lady Snowblood.

Lady Snowblood is presented in its original Japanese language with optional and typo free English subtitles. Being a mono track, there's obviously not much going on as far as channel separation or directional effects but the track is nice and clear with well balanced levels that nicely bring the dialogue to the playing field in conjunction with the films excellent soundtrack.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of supplements here. Some extensive liner notes put the film into historical and cultural context, but aside from that, there is nothing else save for a few trailers for other Animeigo samurai releases.