Sleepy Eyes of Death: A Trail of Traps (1967) User Reviews

The Ninth Enstallment Lives Up to Its Title, A Trail of Traps

[jrd_73 · 8/10 · 20 September 2018]

The Ninth film in The Sleepy Eyes of Death series is titled A Trail of Traps and that is an accurate description of the film.

Kyoshiro Nemuri is approached by a man in charge of confiscated Christian artifacts to guard a golden statue of the Virgin Mary being taken from Edo to a wealthy dye maker in Kyoto as a gift. The harried man in charge of delivering the statue is worried. The vicious Black Finger Cult who worship Diablo (Satan) is determined to steal the statue en route. The man in charge of the statue promises Nemuri money and women. Nemuri requests only one thing, a night with the man's virginal daughter. The father although taken aback agrees, saying a lot for the world the film takes place in. Nemuri has another reason for going to Kyoto. He is rumored to have a sister living there.

Most of the film takes place on the road. There are several stops along the way, many, but not all, of these are traps by the Black Finger Cult. These little vignettes keep the viewer interested throughout the journey. No one knows what will happen next (my two favorites involve a hot spring and a dying designer of loaded dice). The film builds to a fitting finale where Nemuri has to face off against various villains before challenging the leader of the Black Finger Cult (a half-breed like Nemuri) to a duel. A Trail of Traps stands as a better than average entry in the series and is a nice return for director Kazuo Ikehiro, who directed the best entry in the series thus far, Sword of Seduction (aka Kyoshiro Nemuri at Bay).

Raizo Rules!

[makoto64 · 13 April 2005]

If you're a fan of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman films, (Katsu's NOT Kitano's!), and the great Lone Wolf and Cub films with Wakayama-sama then you'll love Nemuri Kyoshiro! Done in A-1 DAIEI Studio style with their ichiban, Raizo Ichikawa, this long running series rivaled Zatoichi's popularity in Japan. Now, I'd seen the first seven films and loved them, but they had English subtitles, so this was a challenge. And finally, after having bought over one hundred Japanese films for my collection/addiction I decided to try one sub-free... and it was cool! Raizo is fantastic, as always, and the swift-paced action, DAIEI's always eye-popping colors, cool sets and perfect direction made it very easy to watch even if I didn't know exactly what was being said. Following the story wasn't as hard as I'd expected. For the neophyte I suggest the subtitled versions of #1-6, "Sleepy Eyes of Death". And after you've become properly inducted/addicted to the "SON OF THE BLACK MASS" you will realize that RAIZO RULES! And soon you too will accept the daunting challenge of going totally sub-free, like me.

"The last person to see in this world was me. What an unlucky fellow."

[chaos-rampant · 20 March 2009]

The Son of the Black Mass returns in this ninth installment in Daiei's longstanding Nemuri Kyoshiro series. This time Raizo Ichikawa as Nemuri is called to see that a gold statuette of the Virgin Mary gets safe passage to Kyoto from the prying hands of a sect of murderous Christian ronin that call themselves the Black Finger Group. As is usual in this type of film, Nemuri first refuses the assignment but finally agrees to it, true to his name, in exchange for the virginity of the contractor's daughter! In the course of the film Nemuri, serving himself as a decoy while the contractor's daughter going incognito carries the statue, has to avoid the scheming, ambushes and traps set on his path by the Christian sect (a "trail of traps" as the title promises). This particular sect happens to be one of the most cheesy and funny things one will encounter in sixties chambara. They consider their pinkies religious symbols and those losing it in combat receive a hearty flagellation (!), sing prayers to Giabo the God of Hell in front of a cross (!!) and are as mean-spirited, sonofoabitchin' villains as it can possibly get. Of course all this provides a very convenient opportunity for Nemuri to indulge his anti-religious side when he confronts their leader in a final duel. Nemuri, perhaps more so than any other film in the series, hands out acerbic one-liners left and right, concluding an inconsequential subplot involving loaded dice in a gambling hall after he chops off a thieving scoundrel's arm with "you can't fight or gamble with one hand but at least you'll be able to make love to your woman", an epic line that perfectly underscores Nemuri's mentality and personal philosophy. That a dark, violent, not particularly chivalrous character who treats women like sex objects (in his own words) like him managed to get a 12-part series of his own and that such a series became immensely popular in 60's Japan, shows how many light-years ahead Japanese genre cinema was compared to its American counterpart.