Don't let the title of this film scare you – you do not need to have seen Shogun Assassins 1 – 4 to be able to follow this storyline. All you need is a love for supernatural killing machines, Godfather-like family feuds, katana-filled action sequences and copious amounts of spurting blood.

The story – which has been recounted in book and anime form as the Lone Wolf & Cub series – follows Ito Ogami, a rogue samurai and assassin-for-hire who is wandering through Japan with his young son after the death of his wife. His matchless skills as a killing machine come in handy throughout as the head of a powerful clan whose three sons have all been killed by Ito is hunting him.

What follows is a long stretch of gory action and quiet set up sequences, framed in unusual ways that felt strangely influenced by the way Fellini set up shots in 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits. The rest of the film is not handled as artfully as others, but for a pure genre flick, it is brilliantly entertaining and brought out the giggling 13-year-old in this reviewer with every outlandish bit of blood spray.