This competition is now closed. The winner is Ross Maclean, congratulations!
Even casual film fans will have at least heard of (if not have seen multiple times) writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s violent two-part epic Kill Bill, but not everyone will know it takes inspiration from a pair of 1970s Japanese films. Those films are Lady Snowblood and its sequel Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, directed by the legendary Toshiya Fujita, and their influence on Tarantino’s hugely successful films is not exactly subtle.
One of the main influences come in the form of the titular character, who looks distinctly like Lucy Liu’s ruthless O-Ren Ishii whom Uma Thurman’s Bride character hunts down in Kill Bill Vol.1. And there’s also similarities in the revenge plotline, music (Lady Snowblood’s theme is used towards the end of the first Kill Bill) and visual motifs. For instance you can see a comparison of the two below.
Lady Snowblood
Kill Bill Vol.1
Monday September 24th sees the re-release of the two Lady Snowblood films on Blu-ray and DVD, fully restored and remastered for the best effect possible by Arrow Video (who also put out the impressive sets of Demons and Demons 2 earlier this year) with plenty of new special features to boot, including an interview with Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp, collector’s booklet and reversible cover artwork.
In celebration of this Thoughts On Film has a DVD/Blu-ray combo copy to give away to one lucky winner. All you have to do to enter is comment on this post with your favourite moment from either of the Kill Bill films. Just make sure to put a valid e-mail address so you can be contacted should you win. The winner will be selected from our favourite comment. Note: The comments below contain major spoilers!
Now time for the the small print:
- Competition open to UK residents only
- Only one entry per person
- Competition closes on Thursday September 27th at 23:59pm GMT
Good luck!
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It has to be the hospital scene with Daryl Hannah’s character Elle Driver approaches The Bride. Great split screen and works really well. Also amazing choice of music for it. Thanks x
The beautiful scene at the end when they fight in the snow
The coffin scene, escaping from it
my favourite scene is the ending scene when she kills bill
It has to be the fight scene at the end in the snow. Such a beautiful stand off between the characters and very well choreographed fight sequences as well.
i love the scene in the snow.
the snow scene is my favourite part
THE FIGHT IN TH E SNOW WONDERFUL PART NICE VIEWS AS WELL
Love the bit where she is buried alive, smashes her way out and then goes on to seek revenge !!
The Pai Mei scenes were really awesome
Fighting in the snow
where they are in eye masks and she cuts the arm off and blood sprays everywhere. Then of course the fight.
Its a film i have never got round to watching and regret so much 🙁
When she is in the car trying to regain control of her body..”Move big toe”…
The way she kills Buck who likes to **** very deserving 🙂
The scene where Hattori Hanzo presents the sword to The Bride. Glorious.
Loads of favourites! Love the anime Oren Ishii sequence, but probably Gogo hitting herself with her mace is the best bit!
The wedding scene, its sets the story so well
When she finds out her daughter is alive.
The fight with the ‘Crazy 88’ epic!
When The Bride takes Elle Driver’s other eye in Budd’s trailer.
the fight scene in the restaurant just loads and loads of blood
I love the manga scene that describe O’rens childhood / genesis. A surprise departure from the rest of the movie but excellent nonetheless.
it has to be the fight scene at the end. great stuff
The whole scene trailer scene………starting with Elle Driver and Budd, the Relief or Regret speech ending with the Black Mamba bite and then Elle reading all the facts she read about the black mamba on the internet, Budds death then out of nowhere a kick ass fight scene between the bride and Elle, and finally Elle getting her other eye snatched out, Classic!
To My Brother Budd, The only Man I Ever Loved, Bill
OK, have to admit I’ve not seen either of them- that’s why I’d like to win, LOL!
(S’pose I could chest & copy someone else’s to hide my ignorance, but my conscience has a very sharp stick to poke me with!)
The wedding day!
After fighting the crazy 88’s looking down on all the mangled corpses and assorted dismembered body parts.
Love the coffin escape
The frenetic trailer fight between Elle Driver and The Bride. It’s such a great down ‘n’ dirty fight scene with excellent close quarters action choreography and an unexpected pay off. For the nasty, brutal war of attrition between these two women to come down to a squalid scrap in a grubby trailer is a sublime piece of comic undermining from Tarantino.
Got to be the kitchen fight scene for me, when Vernita Green try’s to shoot The Bride through a cereal packet named KABOOM! 😀
Hmmm hard to choose, the fight scene in the snowy garden is beautiful, but part of me has to say that my favourite bit is when she slices off that bloody lawyers arm Mwahahahaha! Feels like she is making real progress there!
“Five Point Palm Exploding Heart” scene classic
where uma thurman walks in to the bar and takes on about 100 triads and finally kills the girl dressed as a schoolgirl with a spiked ball on a chain
When the ‘unconscious’ assassin bites off the tongue of a molester. Yikes!!
the walk and whistle down the corridor
I love the fight with the crazy 88 – “woo hoo woo hoo hoo!”
Fighting in the snow
The snow scene is next level!
the scene where Lucy Liu gets her comeuppance!
The eye squishing scene gets me every time!
The Bride VS Elle Driver, the other eye and taking on the Crazy 88s.
The scene in the restaurant is the bit that always stands out to me, it’s just a massive fight scene
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The scene in the church.
Fighting in the snow with Lucy
It has to be the Crazy 88 scene. Just an absolute masterpiece of fight choreography that shows exactly how stylised violence on screen should be done.
When the bride spanks the young ‘Crazy 88’ on the bottom and orders him to go home to his mother 😉
Fight in the snow
The end fight in the snow – it is visually very impressive!
Definitely the fight in the snow – brilliant.
The eye-pulling scene would be one my my favourites…brutal 😀
O-Ren Ishii vs The Bride
the wedding
The House of Blue Leaves fight. The high point of both films.
The Bride vs. Elle Driver when Uma Thurman takes on Daryl Hannah’s Elle Driver in an epic fight and sword battle that takes place in a very small mobile home that gets destroyed in the process.
The entire animated part in Kill Bill I was initially unexpected and just pure awesome.
How can you decide on a favourite scene?. I have three favourites, the one where darryl hannah and uma thurman are fighting. The one where Uma thurman fights Lucy Lui and of course the finale where she kills Bill with that move.
FIGHTING IN THE SNOW IS MY FAV
The fight with Crazy88
When she wakes up, gets out and steals the truck!
The first film Quote “Look at me, Matsumoto. Take a good look at my face. Look at my eyes. Do I look familiar? Do I look like somebody… you murdered?.”