Sleepy Eyes Of Death: 8 Sword Of Villainy 1966 Original story by Renzaburo Shibata, screenplay by Diasuke Ito, directed by Kenji Misumi. Music by Akira Ifukube.
Raizô Ichikawa returns as Nemuri Kyoshiro. He's in Edo, when we meet him he's being told a story by a hairdresser, an oil dealer and his family were attacked in their home and tied up. When they get rescued they find nothing seems to be missing.
That's the thief, a man called Aizen, while going through the family papers he talked to the family's little girl, he promised to bring her a present. That stick is one many sticks he paints a bit later in the movie. He plans to give them to the little girl. It's one of his many plans.
His big plan is to get back at the government for killing his Master, a political reformer on the side of the poor. The Shogun had him killed and Aizen wants to burn Edo Castle to the ground with a whole bunch of ministers inside. He's going to set off bombs in a couple of oil dealer's warehouses near the castle. It will set fire to much of the city and the castle should be right in the path of the fire. So will the locals. They aren't important to him or his plans.
That's Osoyo on the right, she's a member of a lion dance troupe and she's got vengeance on her mind. She wants to kill a minister who used her to steal from the same man that Aizen followed. Aizen tells her to keep out of his way or he'll kill her. Nemuri helps her not get killed.
Aizen's plan goes forward, Nemuri attempts to stop him but he's tricked by a secret trapdoor in the floor. Aizen sets off his bombs and the fires start. The film ends with a battle between the pair. Nemuri watching the fires at the end of the movie.
Kenji Misumi is a good director, he keeps me interested. The fights are pretty good, especially the Nemuri and Aizen fight. Glad to have seen it. There's another 4 films in the series. Hopefully I'll get to those quicker than this one. I watched number 7 last January. For some reason I just can't seem to chain watch the series.
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