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July 2017




  

Wolf Guy (Enraged Lycanthrope)
Arrow Video/MVD
Blu-ray Review By: Jaime Pina



A wild and wooly rollercoaster ride from 1975 starring the legendary Shinichi “Sonny” Chiba (The Street Fighter, Kill Bill). Chiba at one time almost rivaled the immortal Bruce Lee as the main man of mayhem at the grindhouses. In New York he was looked at in such awe that when the dope dealers would be selling five dollar bags of weed right in the movie theatres (this was the glorious 70’s after all), they started calling it “cheeba-cheeba” in tribute to the scrappy brawler. He lacked the finesse of Lee but was respected as a no-nonsense battering ram of a human being who did not fuck around.

Based on the Kazumasa Hirai manga and an unofficial sequel to the 1973 adaptation Horror Of The Wolf, Chiba stars this time as lead character Akira Inugami. In the opening Chiba witnesses the gruesome scene of a man being slashed to death by an invisible force and ranting about a girl named Miki turning into a tiger. We learn that Miki was a rising singer who was given syphilis by a member of a band. She had sex with all of the members and they all start dropping dead one by one. She becomes a drug addict and leads a life of shame. It appears she also put a “tiger curse” on all the band members since she was not sure which one gave her the disease. Eventually the mob gets involved while Chiba tries to distance himself from all the drama. It doesn’t work out that way.

Unlike the Inugami character of the manga and first film adaptation, Chiba does not turn into an actual werewolf but has super strong powers that peak during the full moon. And since he’s played by Sonny Chiba he also wears some flashy suits, kicks some serious butt and sexes up lots of ladies. As Chiba gets caught up in all the violence and supernatural goings on the film becomes a crazy quilt of genres including gore, gangster, martial arts and sleaze. And with a fantastic 70’s soundtrack that is bumping this film is a jaw dropper and sure-fire winner.

Arrow’s new release looks and sounds amazing with some of the night shots of the city just popping with that colorful 70’s sheen. And the soundtrack with all manner of cool 70’s genre music from funk to rock to electronic is loud and clear. The extras include interviews with Chiba and director Kazihiko Yamaguchi and a fun trailer.

















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