Arrow Video has announced the UK Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) release of the Teruo Ishii’s 1970 Japanese cult classic Blind Woman’s Curse which will be available to own in the UK in March. This deluxe edition, which represents the first time the film will be released on any home video format within the UK, features packaging that showcases stunning newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx and a new high-definition digital transfer of the film prepared by Nikkatsu Studios, the famed studio behind many pinky violence and genre classics, and home to filmmakers such as Seijun Suzuki (Branded to Kill).

Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon-tattooed leader of the Tachibana yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead yakuza girls, their dragon-tattoos skinned from their bodies.

From "The King of Cult" Teruo Ishii, Blind Woman’s Curse (also known as Black Cat’s Revenge) is a thrilling yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock) in her first major role. A bizarre blend of the female yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman’s Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to biker movies!

Featuring a full length audio commentary by author and Japanese cinema expert (and recent curator of a Nikkatsu cinema programme at the British Film Institute) Jasper Sharp, newly-translated English subtitles, trailers for four of the films in the Meiko Kaji-starring Stray Cat Rock series (made at the same studio as Blind Woman’s Curse), a collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, illustrated with original archive stills.

Blind Woman's Curse will be released on UK dual format on 31st March 2014 by Arrow Films at the RRP of £19.99.

The release will have the following extras:

• Audio commentary by Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp

• Original trailer

• Trailers for four of the films in the Meiko Kaji-starring Stray Cat Rock series, made at the same studio as Blind Woman’s Curse

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Japanese cinema expert Tom Mes, illustrated with original archive stills