After originally being made available on Amazon last year through subscription services such as Shudder, Amazon Prime members can now watch Belladonna of Sadness as part of their membership. The film is in its original Japanese language with English subtitles.
The film, produced by Osamu Tezuka and directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, has had some extensive distribution around the world theatrically in art houses and other circuits, but was previously largely been unavailable in North America. It was originally released in 1973 and Cinelicious Pics worked some limited theatrical engagements in North America prior to their home video release that came out on July 12th, 2016.
“It took months of negotiations to convince the Japanese rightsholders to entrust us with the original camera negative of the film which we’re restoring in-house,” said Cinelicious Pics’ President Paul Korver back when it was acquired in summer 2015. “People will be simply blown away by the wild, hallucinatory images and soundtrack,” he added. “BELLADONNA OF SADNESS belongs on a short list with Rene Laloux’s FANTASTIC PLANET and Ralph Bakshi’s WIZARDS as one of the trippiest animated films ever conceived,” added Cinelicious Pics’ EVP of Acquisitions & Distribution Dennis Bartok. “This is a major rediscovery – and I have to give credit to Hadrian Belove at The Cinefamily here in L.A. for bringing the film to our attention.”
Plot concept: An innocent young woman, Jean (voiced by Katsutaka Ito) is savagely assaulted by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself (voiced by Tatsuya Nakadai, from Akira Kurosawa’s RAN) who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire. The film is fueled by a Japanese psych rock soundtrack by Masahiko Sato. The deal was negotiated by Cinelicious Pics’ President Paul Korver, President of Business Affairs Kristine Blumensaadt and EVP Dennis Bartok with Japanese rightsholders Gold View Co. and Mushi Productions.
[Source: Belladonna of Sadness]
