Chanbara Beauty (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Eastern Eye Trailers x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	82:16 (Case: 86)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Yôhei Fukuda
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Eri Otoguro Tomohiro Waki Tarô Suwa Manami Hashimoto Chise Nakamura Ai Hazuki Satoshi Hakuzen Hiroaki Kawatsure Sari Kurauchi Tomoya Nagai Tetsu Watanabe
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Chika Fujino Hideki Ikari

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     A plague of zombies has been unleashed upon the earth by Dr. Sugita (Taro Suwa) as a result of his experiments in recreating life. Aya (Eri Otoguro), dressed in a red bikini, cowboy hat, feather boa and boots, is an emotionless killing machine on a mission to wipe out the zombies wherever she finds them. She is also searching for her sister Saki (Chise Nakamura) who ten years ago killed their father and joined Dr. Sugita. Aya is accompanied by Katsuji (Tomohiro Waki); he is trying to find his sister Asami (Sari Kurauchi) who had been abducted by Saki for Dr. Sugita’s experiments. Along the way they are joined by Reiko (Manami Hashimoto), a biker chick clad in all black leathers, who has her own reason for killing zombies. Together they travel to the complex of Dr. Sugita for a climactic battle against evil, the hordes of zombies and the powerful and deadly Saki.

     Based on the computer game OneChanbara, Chanbara Beauty is wonderful entertainment. For a start it features three beautiful women with something for everyone; the bikini wearing Aya, the figure hugging leathers of Reiko and the sailor suit school uniform of Saki. It also has some energetic fights utilising wire work and stunts done for real with limited CGI (except in the final battle where CGI does intrude), fun zombie make up, lots of blood and gore, and a score that works well. The film wastes no time in getting into the action; within the first five minutes, Aya is in full action mode with her samurai sword against a mob of zombies, and blood splatters and limbs fly to all corners of the screen. However, for a zombie action movie Chanbara Beauty does not shy away from some interesting questions, such is “what is life?”, although we are hardly going to get much of an answer! As well, for all its blood and action, Chanbara Beauty is a surprisingly touching film because Aya, Katsuji and Reiko all have back stories that inform their actions and responses. For example, when Katsuji against the odds finds his sister, the choices he is confronted with veer into high tragedy, and it is moments like this that move Chanbara Beauty away from being just a mindless, bloody action film.

     Chanbara Beauty has had mixed reviews, and may not win favour with those who demand non-stop sword welding action – like in a computer game. But for those who like their action with a bit of heart Chanbara Beauty is a wonderful hybrid: an exciting, bloody, zombie action film that has some surprisingly tender and effecting moments. I certainly was not expecting something as interesting, entertaining, and moving as Chanbara Beauty. And the babes are not too shabby either.

Video

     Chanbara Beauty is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The original ratio is not listed by the IMDb, but I suspect it was 1.85:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a film with many dark scenes which unfortunately appear soft and dull, lacking in contrast. In the daylight, out door scenes the colours look washed out, even the blood, so I suspect that a post production bleach out process may have been used which had the effect in the night scenes of softening the picture to the extent that blacks are OK but shadow detail quite murky and indistinct. Skin tones are on the light side, brightness consistent. This film is by no means unwatchable, far from it, but I was expecting more detail in a recent film, albeit one with a low budget. I noted no film or video to film artefacts.

     The English subtitles are in a yellow font and are easy to read. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps or Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 at 224 Kbps. The 5.1 is not a particularly vibrant audio track but it did do the job. Dialogue is clear but effects are on the flat side with mostly only music in the surrounds. The audio was recorded at a lower level than usual so turning up the volume did help a bit. The subwoofer hardly had a presence. The 2.0 track was not surround encoded, and was quite tiny in the small portion I sampled.

     Lip synchronisation is fine.

     The music by Hideki Ikari was a bit bland in the action scenes but did come into its own in the quieter, reflective moments, when it supported the visuals well.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Original Trailer (2:14)

Eastern Eye Trailers

     Trailers for other films from Madman: Big Tits Zombie (1:38), Vanquisher (1:49), The Chasing World (1:49) and Alien vs. Ninja (3:15).

     The Region 1 US NTSC release seems similar to our version, but includes an English 2.0 dub – which I don’t think is much of a selling point. The Region 2 UK PAL release does include a 35 minute “Making Of”. The Japanese Region 2 version includes the “Making Of”, Premier Footage, and trailer but has no English subtitles. There is a Region 3 Hong Kong release that is advertised to include a Japanese dts 5.1 track, but I cannot verify this. For completeness, the UK Region 2 seems to have the edge for English speakers.

     Chanbara Beauty features a killer babe in a bikini, cowboy hat, feather boa, boots and a samurai sword killing vampires. It is an interesting, bloody, zombie action film that has some surprisingly tender and effecting moments. I certainly was not expecting something as interesting, entertaining, and moving as Chanbara Beauty. And the babes are not too shabby either.

     The video and audio are acceptable, but disappointing for a recent film; a trailer is the only real extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall