Kill Bill References Guide/Japanese Cinema

From The Quentin Tarantino Archives

< Kill Bill References Guide

A listing of the various Japanese genre films that influenced and/or were referenced in Kill Bill.

Lady Snowblood (1973) Directed by Toshiya Fujita

  • Also a girl revenge movie that bears lots of resemblances. O-Ren Ishii is largely inspired by this character.
  • The song "Flower of Carnage" is from this film. Meiko Kaji stars in that film and sings the theme.
  • The duel in the snow:

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  • A snow covered garden:

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  • The division in chapters:

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  • The villains look at their victim

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  • A cruel master
  • A tough training
  • The animated sequence

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Battle Royale (2000) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

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  • The Gogo Yubari character somewhat is inspired by Battle Royale. The actor Chiaki Kuriyama stars in Battle Royale
  • The scene where Go-Go stabs a man in the crotch and asks him if he still wants to "penetrate her" is a homage to Chiaki Kuriyama's infamous scene in another Japanese movie, Battle Royale.

Samurai Reincarnation (1981) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

  • This film (of the same director of Battle Royale) it narrates of a sword maker gives Sonny Chiba (Jubei) a sword that he has forged to destroy his undead enemies... this is similar to the scene where Sonny Chiba character Hattori Hanzo gives The Bride his forged sword he tells her "If, on your journey, you should encounter god, god will be cut".

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  • Other analogies can be recovered in the classic Japanese atmosphere and flute music.

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Shikoku (1999) Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki

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  • Film with Chiaki Kuriyama whose weft is following:
  • The Shingon sideboard in Japan narrates that number 88 is to represent all the present evil in the world, and to free yourself from all these evils you can do a tour of 88 Buddhist temples.

Goke: Body Snatcher From Hell (1968) Directed by Hajime Sato

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  • The orange sunset sky behind the airplane in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill is a homage to "Goke", as Tarantino wanted to evoke the look of the opening scenes from it.

(more from imdb.com)

Ichi The Killer (2001) Directed by Takashi Miike

  • A crazy 88 is vertically sliced in half

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  • The camera enters inside the head

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  • Quentin Tarantino chose actor Jun Kunimura to be Boss Tanaka after seeing him scream in this movie.

(more from imdb.com)

Shogun Assassin (1980) Directed by Robert Houston

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  • The bloody fight in the House of Blue Leaves is somewhat inspired from it. Shogun Assassin from 1980 is edited together from the first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies from the 1970s. The producer also added bizarre music and English voiceovers. BB and The Bride watch this in Volume 2

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War of The Gargantuas (1966) Directed by Ishiro Honda

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  • QT ordered the staff to shoot a miniature set of Tokyo like a landscape from the giant monster movie. He even screened a video of Gargantuas to Daryl Hannah because in his mind, Kill Bill is a kind of War of the Blonde Gargantuas.

Fudoh (1996) Directed by Takashi Miike

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  • The gangs in Fudoh are somehow similar to the Crazy88s.

Black Lizard (1968) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

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  • The Crazy 88 inspired by the yakuza gang in this film.

The Streetfighter (1974) Directed by Shigehiro Ozawa

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  • Sonny Chiba classic. Inspired some of the martial arts action in Kill Bill. Tarantino's favorite.

Destroy All Monsters (1968) Directed by Ishiro Honda

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  • Not only this film but many more Godzilla movies and their Tokyo cityscape miniatures found its way into Kill Bill and were an inspiration for it.

Samurai Fiction (1998) Directed by Nakano Hiroyuki

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Tokyo Drifter (1966) Directed by: Seijun Suzuki

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Zatoichi (1962)

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  • Series of movies about a blind samurai swordsman. The scene with O-Ren assuming power of the yakuza with the bosses on the table resembles that at the beginning of Zatoichi.

Sukeban Deka (1987) Directed by Hideo Tanaka

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  • A movie about a japanese Schoolgirl with a ball and chain.

Sanjuro (1962) Directed by Akira Kurosawa

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  • Samurai Fighting, blood fountains. Influencial samurai movie by master Kurosawa.

Battles Without Honor (2000) Directed by Junji Sakamoto

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  • Starring Tomoyasu Hotei
  • The music "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" Composed by Tomoyasu Hotei

The Yagyu Family Conspiracy (1978) Directed by Kinji Fukasaku

  • Music from this film appears in Kill Bill.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Babycart to Hades (1972) Directed by Kenji Misumi

  • aka Lightning Swords of Death
  • Starring Tomisaburo Wakayama as Itto Ogami.
  • In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute, and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
  • A prostitute bites a piece of her pimp's tongue off who dies after a few seconds. (Reminds the scene when the Bride kills the trucker in the hospital)

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  • The one vs one army scene

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  • A solemn and poetic final duel

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