Sleepy Eyes of Death 12: Castle Menagerie (1969)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Naoko Kubo, Shiho Fujimura, Kayo Matsuo, Saburo Date, Shinjiro Ehara, Hideko Yoshida, Asao Koike, Atsumi Uda, Machiko Hasegawa

Raizo Ichikawa made the Sleepy Eyes of Death films. His performance, even when the scripts were patchy or the direction uneven, kept these films afloat throughout this portion of the series. He embodied the anti-hero characteristics and the razor-sharp expressions that betrayed his almost nonchalant, devil-may-care attitude. It’s because of his brilliant work that this twelfth entry, Castle Menagerie, has a tragic aura to it. There is a lot in this film about death and finding oneself face to face with a mirror image of one’s own flaws, a reflection that is both the same and inherently different. Sleepy Eyes of Death 12 is also Ichikawa's last portrayal of Kyoshiro before his unfortunate passing. Knowing this and considering the themes and visual styling of the film, the haunting aura of this film along with some of its bolder choices with the narrative and plot make it one of the best films of the franchise. A sad reminder of just how fantastic Ichikawa is as an actor and how quickly ones flaws can bring about their passing.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 11: In the Spider's Lair (1968)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Mako Midori, Maka Sarijo, Ysuke Kawazu, Furnio Watanabe, Minori Terada

Going into the eleventh entry of the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, it was hard not to hope that the series could rebound a little bit from the previous two entries, which, while entertaining, were subpar overall. Perhaps it was the low expectations from the last two entries that allowed me to enjoy what Sleepy Eyes of Death 11: In the Spider’s Lair had to offer, but the film was quite fun and entertaining. This entry into the chanbara series pulls back and simplifies its story and narrative even further and instead of trying to find a balance of approaches, it aims to entertain and provide a consumable and gimmick filled Kyoshiro adventure first and foremost. I’m not saying that In the Spider’s Lair is the best of the series, hardly, but it’s silly streamlined focus on adventurous entertainment certainly hit a sweet spot for me.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 10: Hell Is a Woman (1968)

Director: Tokuzo Tanaka

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Miwa Takada, Yaeko Mizutani, Takahiro Tamura, Eitaro Ozawa, Toru Abe, Yunosuke Ito

As I continue my stint in reviewing the seemingly unending entries into the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, it’s fascinating to see what themes and threaded narrative elements come seeping through the various adventures of Kyoshiro as I start to head around the final bend. One of those threaded elements is how the main character, once again played with robust nuance by Raizo Ichikawa, retains a very complicated viewpoint and opinion of women. Often enough, it’s not a very positive viewpoint and I’ve mentioned this in some reviews prior. This aspect of the series becomes a highlight of the tenth entry simply due to its subtitle, Hell Is a Woman. Considering how generally nihilistic and misogynistic the lead character is, a title like this sets up a pretty extreme reaction. On one hand, Hell Is a Woman is not nearly as bad as it might have been in these regards, but on the other it’s par for the course in how it treats its female characters which only solidifies it as one of the major problems of this franchise. In the end though, the biggest problem of the film is not that it doesn’t attempt to fix this as it bounds straight into the topic, but that the film doesn’t make a statement at all in almost any regard. This leaves Sleepy Eyes of Death 10 as simply an unmemorable entry.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 9: A Trail of Traps (1967)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Nobuo Kaneko, Toshio Kimura, Haruko Wanibuchi, Mikio Narita, Naoko Kubo, Kayo Mikimoto

One of the things that keeps rising to my attention, at least while I am working my way through the rest of the Sleepy Eyes of Death series, is that often my opinion of individual films goes against the popular one. I found that Sleepy Eyes of Death 8 was surprisingly effective and cinematic, despite it being one that was generally unpopular with fans, and for the ninth entry, A Trail of Traps, my opinion once again swung the opposite direction.  Where fans tend to find this one massively entertaining and above the usual quality of the series, as the film rolled to a close, there was a feeling that the potential of the concept did not equal the film that was delivered. Despite some fantastic moments, a strong visual approach by director Kazuo Ikehiro, and another set of really strong performances from the cast, A Trail of Traps is a film where the meandering script has no real sense of purpose and seemingly strings together a half dozen plot threads in an attempt to layer a film that doesn't have the nuance and momentum to make it work. It is entertaining, for sure, but the fun concept isn’t enough to keep the film from floating off on its own trail of narrative traps.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 8: Sword of Villainy (1966)

Director: Kenji Misumi

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Shigeru Amachi, Shiho Fujimura, Kentaro Kudo, Ryuzo Shimada, Yasushi Nagata, Tatsuo Endo, Koichi Uenoyama, Ryosuke Kagawa, Koichi Mizuhara

After the surprisingly successful quality of the previous entry, it was hard not to jump into Sleepy Eyes of Death 8: Sword of Villainy with some high expectations. Not that this series has always been the most consistent with quality overall, but the seventh entry managed to produce a well-executed film with some lofty and off beat gimmicks and this eighth entry was bringing back one of Japan’s finest genre directors to helm it, Kenji Misumi. As Sword of Villainy plays out, it’s almost the polar opposite in style to Mask of the Princess. This film is dense, playing out at times like a socio-political drama more than a gimmickier chanbara film, and it runs the gauntlet in a more artsy, theatrical, and vague manner. It’s no wonder that many fans have mixed feelings on the film. Even when the narrative flow feels flawed or pushes too far in one direction, the film is still carried through by its phenomenal cast and another brilliant round of direction from Misumi. Just make sure that you keep open to what it has to offer.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 7: The Mask of the Princess (1966)

Director: Akira Inoue

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Yaeko Mizutani, Ichiro Nakatani, Keiko Kayama, Michiko Ai, Tamotsu Fujiharu, Ryutaro Gomi, Kiyoshi Ito, Kanae Kobayashi

“For a villain like me, this is a very nice grave.”

In terms of this franchise, Sleepy Eyes of Death 7: The Mask of the Princess represents one key aspect of why it has been so successful: impressive execution. At this point, the formula of what constitutes a film in this series is pretty solidified and almost exclusively etched in stone, so there are plenty of elements to be expected in those regards. However, The Mask of the Princess uses those aspects to continually spin the film in some intriguing directions and plays on the audience’s expectations in some fun ways. On top of that, the film might be one of the more fascinating films of the series on a visual level with director Akira Inoue bringing a great sense of style and purpose to it that layers well with the narrative and script. Even when the film is predictable, it is able to be one of the best in the franchise on sheer execution.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 6: Sword of Satan (1965)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Saga, Machiko Hasegawa, Masako Aboshi, Noriko Hodaka, Kazuko Wakamatsu

“Tsurumatsu! Don’t close your eyes. This is what it means to be a samurai...to kill each other!”

The Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise, by the time the third and fourth entry have hit, certainly found their formula where Kyoshiro, played time and time again by the impressive screen presence of Raizo Ichikawa, essentially stumbles into random conspiracies while on the road. For the sixth entry, titled Sword of Satan for perhaps only one reason that I will get into here in a minute, the film continues to pump out another adventure for our nihilistic hero...and that’s about it. The last couple of entries has seen the series pull back a little bit from the usual gimmicks and tonally that remains for this sixth one, but this is a film that is so bare bones in its narrative that it uses most of its second act to string together somewhat random sequences to keep things exciting. Considering the film runs at such an efficient pace that it only clocks in at a whopping 75 minutes, it’s hard to say that it wasn’t entertaining even if that’s about all it is. Sword of Satan doesn’t have quite the lasting effect that other entries into the series have and that’s perhaps its biggest flaw.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 5: Sword of Fire (1965)

Director: Kenji Misumi
Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura, Michiko Sugata, Sanae Nakahara, Ko Nishimura, Ryuzo Shimada, Koichi Mizuhara, Junko Kozakura, Toru Abe

Aka: Nemuri Kyoshiro 5: The Swordsman and the Pirate

By the time that the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise hits its fifth entry, the series has already seen its fair share of quality shifts and unique approaches to its series formula. It started off on some questionable and pulpy ground, but found a balance between serious artistic merit and those pulpy entertaining pieces with the last few entries. This balance of the previous films is what makes the fifth entry, Sword of Fire, such an intriguing one. Mainly because it’s a film that strips back a lot of the more entertaining elements for a starkly serious thriller tone. Where previous entries use some strong faced characters, snappy dialogue, or dynamic settings, Sword of Fire opts for a ‘less is more’ approach to things and plays its script in subtle ways. For fans of the series, it’s perhaps one of the less memorable ones due to these choices even if the film itself is impressively handled.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 4: Sword of Seduction (1964)

Director: Kazuo Ikehiro

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Ai, Shinjiro Asano, Jyo Kenzaburo, Katsuhiko Kobayashi, Naoko Kubo, Ichiro Nakatani, Akemi Negishi, Shihio Fujimura, Jun Hamamura, Masumi Harukawa, Yoshio Inaba, Saburo Date

Also known as: Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction

After back to back entries that more than impressed, I feel like I was riding on a Sleepy Eyes of Death high, ready to consume more and see if the series could keep up its energetic and impactful run. The fourth entry, Sleepy Eyes of Death: Sword of Seduction, is a film that in concept should be ranked up there with Full Circle Killing and Sword of Adventure, but is held back by a scattered script. It’s one of those films that is overflowing with a multitude of fantastic sequences and ideas just begging for a cohesive movie to put it all together which it sadly never accomplishes. For fans of chanbara films or the series, there is plenty to adore about Sword of Seduction. The film as a whole, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired as it randomly leaps plots to be as entertaining as possible.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 3: Full Circle Killing (1964)

Director: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Junichiro Narita, Yoko Wakasugi, Taro Marui, Kyooko Azuma, Saburo Date, Yuko Hamada, Takamaru Sasaki, Kenjiro Uemura

Aka Sleepy Eyes of Death: Full Circle Killing, Nemuri Kyoshiro: Full Circle Killing

When a niche genre becomes over-saturated, there tends to be a lot of lost classics in the mix. Unfortunately, the Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise – despite getting a nice box set release in the US years ago – has seemingly fallen into being one of those classics that have faded. I say unfortunate because even by three entries in, this series has solidified itself into classic status, forming a tight bridge between the more entertaining exploitative elements and a sharp artistic depth. The third entry, Sleepy Eyes of Death 3: Full Circle Killing continues on the path set up by the previous entry in blending the two sides of a chanbara film into an effective action film with quite a few messages to be said. While it doesn’t quite hit the heart and humanity of the previous one in that balance, it’s still impressive to watch and one that will not disappoint fans of the genre.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 2: Sword of Adventure (1964)

Director: Kenji Misumi

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa

The first Sleepy Eyes of Death film was a decent sword and slash affair that found it a bit difficult to balance its thematic narrative with its entertaining aspects. It’s still a fun film, but hardly the iconic classic that I would have assumed it would be to spawn such a loved cult franchise. This is one of the reasons that it took me so long before getting around to the second film in the series, under the title Sleepy Eyes of Death 2: Sword of Adventure. However, the arrival of the massively underrated director Kenji Misumi to the series fold makes a world of difference for the tone and execution for this film. Instead of gimmicky villains and an almost tongue in cheek nihilistic approach to its characters, Sword of Adventure takes a politically charged approach and it creates a much smarter and streamlined affair that finds the balance between entertainment and depth of writing. It’s such a huge step up in quality that I’m now excited to see what the rest of this series has to offer.

Sleepy Eyes of Death 1: The Chinese Jade (1963)

Director: Tokuzo Tanaka

Notable Cast: Raizo Ichikawa, Tamao Nakamura

Also known as: Nemuri Kyoshiro 1: Sappocho, Enter Kyoshiro Nemuri, the Swordsman, Nemuri Kyoshiro: The Chinese Jade

The Sleepy Eyes of Death franchise has always received a fair amount of praise from its cult fans and fans of chanbara films, so after finishing up the Zatoichi franchise I needed a new swordsman epic to focus my time on. The first film of this  portion of the series, which goes under a few different titles like The Chinese Jade, is a rather mediocre affair considering the hype that surrounds this series. On its surface, it’s a decently entertaining swordsman tale that takes a mystery plot and adds in a ton of pulpy popular elements to it, but the film thinks it’s much smarter and deeper than it actually is.