When we think of a hitman movie, there’s certain sequences we expect to occur. At some point in the film, the hitman has to clean their gun or rifle. Later they smuggle it into a prime target spot quickly assemble the rifle so they can see their human target in the crosshairs of the sniper sight. But what about a hitman who has a different kind of weapon? In A Certain Killer and the sequel A Killer’s key, the hitman has a simple yet unorthodox lethal weapon. The two films came out in 1967. A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key are finally getting released outside of Japan on this Blu-ray.
A Certain Killer (82 minutes) has Shiozawa (Shinobi: Band of Assassins‘ Raizō Ichikawa) arrive in a small town and sets up his own sushi bar where he is the chef. He’s a mysterious kind of guy as his room upstairs is rather sparse. He runs into Keiko (Gate of Flesh‘s Yumiko Nogawa) when she can’t pay her bill at a different restaurant. He picks up her tab and she follows him out. They run into her “husband” and Shiozawa puts the pimp jerk into the dirt. He hires her to work at his restaurant since her loud and flirty ways go over well with the customers. This however is not a goofy romance between the chef and his waitress. Turns out Shiozawa is more than a sushi chef. He’s Japan’s top hitman who specializes in taking out Yakuza members for their rivals. He gets an offer to kill the head of a Yakuza clan that’s been dealing more in vice than the other clan which is in construction. Unlike other hitmen, Shiozawa has to get close to his target because his favorite weapon is a large needle. Things get a bit complicated for his business when Keiko and a third person get involved in his next venture.
A Killer’s Key (79 minutes) was released four months after the first movie was a hit. Shiozawa returns with his dayjob being teaching traditional dance at a small studio. He gets a rather large offer to take care of Yakuza head. He finds the ideal moment to stick the needle in the mobsters. What he doesn’t count on is the people who hired him setting him up to be snuffed to tie up loose ends. He doesn’t like this and begins to freelance his revenge. It’s as good as the first film with a new set of twists for the hitman.
A Certain Killer and A Killer’s Key make a great double feature. Raizō Ichikawa has such a coolness to him when he’s plotting to puncture his targets. There’s a great moment when Shiozawa mentions he’s never killed anyone for free, but he’s willing to make an exception. He does make quite a few exceptions. What’s astounding about the films is that in the era of James Bond with all the high-tech gadgets being flaunted in movies, these films go back to a simple needle in the back of a neck. Somehow the film has the feel of a spy flick without ripping off 007 elements. Director of Photography Kazuo Miyagawa elevates the action in A Certain Killer. Among his other masterworks are Rashomon, Floating Weeds, Yojimbo and Tokyo Olympiad. The shots at the airport near the runway is pure art. These two films are almost a hybrid Yakuza film from this era. It lets us know that the whole code of the mobsters is a fraud. Shiozawa knows they can’t be trusted, and he makes it his business to profit off their distrust. A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key puts Raizō Ichikawa into an elite level of the hitman genre.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 1080p transfer is sharp as you see the details of the hitman life. The Audio is Japanese LPCM 1.0 mono. It’s a clear soundtrack so you can hear the delicate ways the hits go down. The movies are subtitled in English.
Audio commentaries for both films by critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns. He gives plenty of details about the film, cast and crew.
The Definite Murderer (32:41) has Japanese film scholar Mark Roberts give an introduction to both films. He sees them as ingenious takes on the hitman genre. The background of director Kazuo Mori is explored. He did a lot of period piece films for Daiei studio. These films being shot in the contemporary times was an outlier of his career. He directed 30 movies with Raizō Ichikawa.
Original theatrical trailers for A Certain Killer (2:16) and A Killer’s Key (2:06) look like slick mobster films. This is a sold as a hitman who didn’t need guns or knives.
Image gallery has 19 press photos for A Certain Killer and 13 press photos for A Killer’s Key.
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Jasper Sharp and Earl Jackson.
Arrow Video presents A Certain Killer/A Killer’s Key. Directed by Kazuo Mori. Screenplays by Yasuzo Masumura, Yoshihiro Ishimatsu & Mitsuro Kotaki. Starring Raizō Ichikawa, Yumiko Nogawa, Mikio Narita, Mayumi Nagisa, Asao Koike, Ichirô Nakatani, Kô Nishimura,Tomomi Satô, Isao Yamagata & Yoshio Kaneuchi. Boxset Contents: 2 movies on 1 Blu-ray disc. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: Febuary 11, 2025.
