Making its UK home video debut, Cruel Tales of the Bohachi Masters of Cinema Limited Edition arrives in September 2026, bringing together Code of the Forgotten Eight and The Villain in a premium 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray release. Limited to just 2,000 copies, this collector’s edition is presented as part of Eureka Entertainment’s acclaimed Masters of Cinema series.
What's inside
- Limited Edition O-card slipcase featuring new artwork by Poochamin
- Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the Bohachi Bushido films by Jennifer Coates, author of Film Viewing in Postwar Japan, 1945–1968
- Disc One (4K UHD) Code of the Forgotten Eight – 4K (2160p) UHD presentation of Code of the Forgotten Eight from a 4K digital restoration
- Disc Two (Blu-ray) Code of the Forgotten Eight & The Villain – 1080p HD presentations of Code of the Forgotten Eight and The Villain
Features
- Optional English subtitles, newly revised for this release
- Original Japanese mono audio tracks
- Audio commentary on Code of the Forgotten Eight by East Asian film expert and Midnight Eye co-founder Tom Mes
- New audio commentary on The Villain by genre cinema expert Arne Venema and film writer Stefan Hammond
- From Codes to Chaos – new video essay on the Bohachi Bushido films and Toei’s evolving production strategies in the 1970s by Japanese cinema expert Joe Hickinbottom
- Remembering Teruo Ishii – interview with director Shinya Tsukamoto (Testsuo: The Iron Man) about working with director Teruo Ishii
- Archival interview with actress Yuriko Hishimi
- Archival audio interview with Japanese filmmakers J-Taro Sugisaki and Takao Nakano
- Original theatrical trailer for Code of the Forgotten Eight
Details
Studio: Eureka Entertainment Limited
Director: Takashi HARADA, Teruo ISHII
Cast: Goro IBUKI, Reiko IKE, Tetsuro TANBA
Run Time: 2 hours and 44 minutes
Number of Discs: 2
Release Date: September 21, 2026
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Official description
Based on the popular mangaby Lone Wolf and Cub creators Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eightis one of the standout films in the career of Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture), known in Japan as the “King of Cult.” A bloody and erotic samuraitale starring an assassin with a death wish, it paved the way for Takashi Harada’s spiritual successor Bohachi Bushido: The Villain.
Code of the Forgotten Eight sees a nihilistic ronin, Shino Ashita (Tetsuro Tanba, Three Outlaw Samurai), join the sadistic Bohachi clan, a group of corrupt samurai who operate a prostitution ring. With nothing else to live for, he acts as their assassin in a war with a rival clan that poses a threat to their business. Then, in The Villain, the condemned criminal Kyushi Issho (Goro Ibuki, Hokuriku Proxy War) falls in with the infamous Bohachi samurai – and he too is drawn into a world of wanton violence and sexual sadism.
Prime examples of the ero guro jidaigeki (or, in other words, period films with a focus on eroticism and the grotesque), Code of the Forgotten Eight and The Villain are perfect portraits of the shifting depictions of sex and violence in Japanese cinema of the 1970s. The Masters of Cinema Series is honoured to present both films for the first time on UK home video.
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