Blind Beast

Blind Beast (盲獣, Mōjū), aka Moju the Blind Beast[1] is a 1969 Japanese film directed by Yasuzo Masumura. It is based on a novel by Edogawa Rampo.[2]

Blind Beast
Original Japanese release poster
Directed byYasuzo Masumura
Screenplay byYoshio Shirasoka[1]
Based onMoju
by Rampo Edogawa
Produced byKazumasa Nakano[1]
Starring
CinematographySetsuo Kobayashi[1]
Music byHikaru Hayashi[1]
Production
company
Release date
  • 25 January 1969 (1969-01-25) (Japan)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Young aspiring model Aki Shima is kidnapped by a mysterious blind man and taken to his home in a warehouse, which is filled with sculptures of human body parts and female figures. The blind man, Michio Sofu, is a sculptor who wishes to use Aki as an unwilling muse for his greatest work. As her time in captivity wears on, Aki soon becomes enraptured by her blind captor and the two soon become lovers, beginning a series of Sadomasochistic games. In the end Aki agrees to become something more than just the inspiration for his masterpiece, becoming the art piece itself, to which Michio agrees. After killing and dismembering Aki, Michio "sculpts" her corpse into a macabre work of art. Seeing his life's work complete, Michio then commits suicide.

Cast

Release

Blind Beast was released in Japan on January 25, 1969.[1][3] The film was released by Daiei International Film with English subtitles in April 1969.[1] It was reissued by Roninfilm under the title Warehouse in February 1974.[1] It was released to Blu-ray in the United States from Arrow Films on August 24, 2021. [4]

Reception

In a contemporary review, Variety praised the cinematography and Shigeo Mano's art direction, while noting that his previous films dealt with sexuality such as Daini no Seo and Manji but "these are kindergarten material compared with The Blind Beast...it's a sick film."[5]

Retrospective reviews include critic Jasper Sharp calling it "One of the most fascinatingly freakish of all the big screen adaptations of the works of Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo".[6] Tom Vick of AllMovie compared the film to The Collector and opined that "Masumura, a master of dark humor and macabre psychodrama, strikes an odd balance between silliness and horror throughout the film. One of the nuttier entries in his oeuvre, Blind Beast is a delicious guilty pleasure."[7] Sight & Sound referred to the film as a "fascinating curiosity" with "bizarre production design, tendency towards outlandish symbolism and eccentric performances, it seems at least partly tongue in cheek even at its most extreme."[8]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. Galbraith IV 1996, p. 122.
  2. "盲獣". Kinema Junpo. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. "Blind Beast". Blind Beast (Booklet). Arrow Films. 2021. p. 4. AV373.
  4. Wilkins, Budd (August 18, 2021). "Review: Masumura Yasuzô's Horror Drama Blind Beast on Arrow Video Blu-ray". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  5. Galbraith IV 1994, p. 183.
  6. Sharp, Jasper. "The Blind Beast". Midnight Eye. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  7. Vick, Tom. "Blind Beast (1969)". AllMovie. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  8. Macnab, Geoffrey (August 2006). "Blind Beast". Sight & Sound. Vol. 16, no. 8. British Film Institute. p. 95.

Sources
  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (1994). Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. McFarland. ISBN 0-89950-853-7.
  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.


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