Lone Wolf and Cub (Blu-ray Box Set)

All seven films in the Lone Wolf and Cub Japanese samurai action series.

Viewed by many as the pinnacle of Japanese exploitation cinema, the films chronicle the adventures of disgraced Shogun assassin Ogami Itto (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and his son Daigoro (Akihiro Tomikawa), who sell their services as assassins while continuing their bloody quest for revenge against the hit squad who killed Itto's wife.

In Sword of Vengeance (1971), executioner Ogami Itto is framed for treason and declared an outlaw. Accompanied only by Daigoro, he sets out on a trail of vengeance against the secret society that murdered his wife and poisoned his reputation.

In Babycart at the River Styx (1972), Itto - aka 'Lone Wolf' - continues his bloody quest through the land he calls Hell. The Yagyu clan are determined to see him dead, and send the deadly female assassins, the Akashi after him. Beyond them, Lone Wolf must defeat the Gods of death in order to win his 500 pieces of gold.

In Babycart to Hades (1973), the Lone Wolf shows a rare streak of compassion when he rescues a young girl from her pimp. On the road again, the Wolf finds his services in demand, as he and the child travel a violent path to Hades.

In the fourth film, Babycart in Peril (1972), the Wolf has become separated from his Cub, who has fallen into the hands of Itto's deadly rival. A rescue is effected, but Itto must also carry out his latest assignment; to kill tattooed martial arts mistress Oyuki (Michie Azuma).

In Babycart in the Land of Demons (1973), Lone Wolf is hired by the Kuroda clan to protect the destiny of its succession. This duty leads him into a confrontation with the evil Retsudo (Minoru Ohki), as well as forcing him to turn against the very clan he is supposed to be protecting.

In White Heaven in Hell (1974), the Wolf and Cub face a new peril when Yagyu clan leader Retsudo employs his bloodthirsty daughter to destroy them once and for all. If she fails in her task, Retsudo will unleash the supernatural might of the Yagyu army, against which even the Lone Wolf cannot stand.

Shogun Assassin (1979) is the re-cut version of the first two films, which was famously banned as a video nasty on its initial UK release in the early 1980s, and subsequently had its cult status cemented for a new generation of fans by extensive sampling of its English-dubbed audio track on GZA's seminal hip hop LP Liquid Swords.

• New 2K digital restorations of all six films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks
• High-definition presentation of Shogun Assassin, the 1980 English-dubbed re-edit of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub films
• New interview with Kazuo Koike, writer of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga series and screenwriter on five of the films
• Lame d'un Pere, l'ame d'un sabre, a 2005 documentary about the making of the series
• New interview in which Sensei Yoshimitsu Katsuse discusses and demonstrates the real Suio-ryu sword techniques that inspired those in the manga and films
• New interview with biographer Kazuma Nozawa about filmmaker Kenji Misumi, director of four of the six Lone Wolf and Cub films
• Silent documentary from 1937 about the making of samurai swords, with an optional new ambient score by Ryan Francis
• Trailers
• New English subtitle translations
• PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay and film synopses by Japanese pop culture writer Patrick Macias