ZA KARATE 2 (1974)

Tadashi Yamashita is back as Tadashi Yamashita in the second of three ZA KARATE/THE KARATE movies. He's still blind from getting his eyes burned with a hot poker, which gives him the opportunity to do some of the blindfolded swordsman stunts he was known for at the time (like slicing watermelons balanced on people's stomachs). It turns out he also won that World Karate Championship, a source of rage for martial artists around the world who start flying in to Kyoto to pick fights with him, beginning with the Guillotine Brothers from New Guinea, who attack him while he's eating ramen barely three minutes into the movie (and that's counting the recap and the opening credits). They're followed by Blue Geller (West Germany), Dr. One (Sweden), Killer Samson (USA), and best of all, Bolo Yeung as Dracula Jack (Hong Kong), who's first shown slamming his head through a car windshield, punching a hole through the hood, kicking off the passenger door, and finally -– because none of that was badass enough -– lifting the car with his bare hands. The main plot involves a sword called the Onikirimaru, a national treasure of Japan, which was en route to the US for an exhibit when it was stolen by a gang that's now using it to try and wrestle the Seibu-kai Association away from tournament organizer Master Suzuki. The leader of the gang kills people using a method called “Kishin-Style Hidden-Fist: Fragmentation,” identified in text superimposed over a freeze frame of arterial spray as one victim's ribcage is pulverized. No sophomore slump here, just a lot of fun with more real karate guys in exciting fights with Yamashita, all filmed cleanly and competently. Because New Line bought the first ZA KARATE movie and sat on it until 1978, this one was simply titled KARATE when it opened in Honolulu on October 8, 1975.